SPELLING BEE RULES.

Time
Each speller has exactly two minutes and 30 seconds to provide the proper spelling. This official time begins from the second the the announcer says the word that is to be spelled. For the first minute and 45 seconds the speller can see a green light, after which the light turns to yellow for 15 seconds. At the two minute mark the light turns red and speller also sees a timer counting down the final 30 seconds

Misunderstood Words
The speller himself is held responsible any misunderstanding of a word with the following exceptions. The pronouncer must give the correct pronunciation of a word. The pronouncer must provide correct information regarding definition, the country of origin and the part of speech. The speller is also not held accountable if he spells a homonym and the pronouncer fails to distinguish the two words
Elimination
The speller is automatically eliminated if he misspells a word and none of the rules regarding misunderstanding applies. All the spellers that are eliminated within the same round will be considered tied for that placing in the final results.
Pronunciation Repetition
During a spelling bee the speller traditionally repeats the word before and after he has spelled. Spellers are encouraged to do this in order to make sure they heard the word correctly.

Final Two
The rules change when the competition gets down to the final two. If the first speller misses a word, the second speller must correctly spell that word and then another in order to win. If the second speller spells misspells the new word, then the first speller gets the chance to correct it. If he spells it correctly he then gets a new word and if he spells that word correctly he is declared the winner