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Certamen

Certamen is a game of fast recall of facts about classical civilization and its peoples, languages, and cultures. You are indeed to be commended for the hard work you have no doubt put forth in preparation for this competition.

There are various certamen scrimmages and tournaments throughout the year. Check out the events page for information on past and upcoming certamen events.

The following guidelines are presented with the purpose of making the game go quickly and smoothly in the time allotted.

Levels of Competition

There are three levels of competition: Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced.
  • The Novice level is ONLY for students who are registered as Latin 1⁄2 or Latin 1 at the convention. Furthermore, students may only play once at the Novice level at convention. That is, students may NOT play at more than one national convention as a Novice - e.g. as both a Latin 1⁄2 and as a Latin 1 in the following year. If a student plays at the Novice level as a Latin 1⁄2 in one year, that same student MUST play at the Intermediate level in the following year, regardless of the level of Latin. There are no loopholes for this rule. To provide another example, if a student who is a Latin 1⁄2 decides to play at the Intermediate level, then that student MUST AGAIN play at the Intermediate or Advanced level when he or she is registered at convention as a Latin 1. To make this perfectly clear, a student is only eligible to play at the Novice level if he or she is a Latin 1⁄2 or Latin 1 AND this is the first year of national Competitive Certamen competition at any level for that student.
  • The Intermediate level is primarily for students who are registered as Latin 2 at the convention, though Latin 2, Latin 1, and Latin 1⁄2 students may compete on an Intermediate team if they wish.
  • The Advanced level is primarily for students who are registered in a level higher than Latin 2 at the convention, though any student may compete in the Advanced level if he or she wishes. The competition is open only to JCLers. No student may compete in more than one level.

Certamen Preliminaries
Certamen Preliminaries are held at the State Convention.
  • If a chapter wishes to compete at Prelims, it must attend the State Convention.
  • The top three teams of the Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced Levels who place at the Certamen Prelims will compete in the Final Round during State Convention.
  • The Advanced Level Trophy may not be awarded to an out-of-state team.

Selection of Massachusetts Certamen Teams for Nationals
  • Team selections for National Convention will be made after State Convention.
  • Players generally will be selected from the top three teams for each level.
  • The team coach may also add any players from teams that did not place in the top three at the State Convention.
  • Players who are eligible and going to Nationals will be invited by the team coach to practice and the selection for the final team and its alternates will be made by the coach based on commitment, skill level, and chemistry.
  • The team coach for each level will be the coach of first place team for each level from State Convention for that level.
  • In the event that this coach has multiple first place teams at different levels, cannot attend National Convention, or does not wish to coach the team, he or she will defer the coaching of the team to another willing coach.
  • The coach of each National team is in charge of contacting the players involved and setting up practices, either in person (if possible) or on online. Each coach may enlist assistance from other coaches and Certamen alumni.

Adherence to NJCL Rules: Massachusetts follows the guidelines set by NJCL Certamen
  • The Novice level is ONLY for students who are registered as Latin � or Latin 1 at the convention AND they may play Novice level at only one State Convention.
  • Students may NOT play at more than one convention as a Novice, i.e., as both a Latin � and a Latin 1 in the following year.
  • If a student plays at the Novice level as a Latin � in one year, that same student MUST play at the Intermediate level in the following year (if at all), regardless of the level of Latin.
  • This rule does not affect Certamen levels at local tournaments.
  • Open Certamen play and wild card play at State Convention do not count against eligibility for the next year.

Past Certamen Questions
(some of these questions may contain errors since they may not have been edited after the event)