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WINSTON-SALEM – With buzzer in hand, senior Chris Taylor was one of several students showing off his academic prowess Thursday.

The Winston-Salem Forsyth County School Academic All-Star Match Up puts the students in a lightning round academic competition.

"They cover English, mathematics, science, social studies and general knowledge," Alexandra Hoskins, with Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools, said.

"You think it's a bunch of nerds sitting around, which we are a bunch of nerds, but at the same time we're a bunch of nerds who have a lot of fun," Taylor said.

Preparing for competition is no easy task. Taylor says his team from East Forsyth High School spends around seven hours a week practicing.

"I think a lot of sports teams, football, basketball, things like that, they like to think that their practices are harder than everybody else, at the same time. We like to think that our practices are harder than theirs, I mean we study a lot, I mean we put forth a whole lot of work into this," Taylor said.

The event also gives students a chance to flex their academic muscles outside of the classroom.

"We make sure that the students feel very much so appreciated and celebrated because these are students who don't always get acknowledged for their intellectual abilities," Hoskins said.

And for students like Taylor, it's a chance to show off their skills outside of sports.

"It's very competitive and I'm a very competitive person, so I enjoy the competition of it," he said.

Next week, academic teams from all over WSFCS will compete in a three-day tournament.