What It Takes to Win the National Spelling Bee, According to the Victor's 16-Year-Old Coach

When 14-year-old Karthik Nemmani won the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night, it was the culmination of months of highly specialized training. He studied carefully curated lists of words and learned the patterns and mechanics of word etymologies he was statistically most likely to encounter on the big stage.

This is way past studying the dictionary and memorizing words.