{"id":9851,"date":"2026-05-27T20:31:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9851"},"modified":"2026-05-27T20:31:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:31:46","slug":"many-national-spelling-bee-contenders-pursue-mastery-for-a-few-its-more-about-memorization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9851","title":{"rendered":"Many National Spelling Bee contenders pursue mastery. For a few, it\u2019s more about memorization"},"content":{"rendered":"

By BEN NUCKOLS<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Shrey Parikh finished third in the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee before making a stunning exit from his school bee last year. Now in his final year before he ages out of the competition, he\u2019s fully committed.<\/p>

Read more Election 2026: Is it too late to mail your ballot? Why California election officials are urging voters to send them early<\/a><\/p>\n

The 14-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California, works with three coaches. He pays for word lists and study guides. He tries to learn every Greek and Latin root, every language pattern, every spelling bee-worthy word he can find. And he competes throughout the year in online bees that pit him against the country\u2019s other top spellers.<\/p>\n

Shrey\u2019s approach has proven effective for spellers seeking to hold the trophy, and it was good enough to make him one of 54 kids competing in Wednesday\u2019s semifinals and seeking a spot in Thursday\u2019s finals. But at least one semifinalist has gone old-school, shunning outside help and using the dictionary as his guide.<\/p>\n

Their opposing strategies have revived a long-running if good-natured debate in spelling circles: Which is more important, mastery of languages or rote memorization?<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of finals, most of the words aren\u2019t going to have a really clean-cut language pattern or rule that you can pull from. So I think memorization is really important,\u201d said Sam Evans, who coached each of the past two champions. \u201cSometimes it gets a bad reputation, but you have to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every word is in the dictionary, if you can find it<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s all but impossible to reach the finals without knowing the components that make up words absorbed into English: roots and languages of origin. But some champions have stood out for their incredible recall, the ability to instantly visualize any word they\u2019ve run across or even recite dictionary definitions verbatim: Nihar Janga in 2016, Zaila Avant-garde in 2021 and Bruhat Soma in 2024.<\/p>\n

Sarv Dharavane might be the next of that group.<\/p>

\n<\/div>\n

Sarv finished third in 2025 as a relative unknown in the spelling community. There\u2019s a reason for that. The 12-year-old sixth-grader from Dunwoody, Georgia, has no coach. He doesn\u2019t participate in online bees. And his only study guide is the source for every word in the competition: Merriam-Webster\u2019s Unabridged dictionary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe book is my coach,\u201d Sarv said.<\/p>\n

And given his past success, he saw no reason to change it up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really change anything because my strategy got me far last year, but I did more of what I did before,\u201d Sarv said.<\/p>

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI used to read the dictionary and set aside difficult words to study later,\u201d he explained. \u201cI did it a lot, so I got a lot of words and it was really easy just to go through them. I\u2019ve always been able to remember pretty well, and I can read through long lists without getting tired, so this strategy works pretty well for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simple, right?<\/p>\n

Many spellers think there\u2019s a better way.<\/p>\n