Schools Quiz decided to institute a "lifeline'' for quiz participants who were stumped by a current events question.

But the lifeline nearly turned out to be the end of the line for the four schools in Tuesday's quiz semi finals when the team's coaches -- the official lifelines -- supplied the wrong answer every time.

But Youth and Sport Director and MC Anthony Roberts said the coaches' failure was taken in good heart. "The audience loved it,'' he said.

One student who had no need for a lifeline was Mount St. Agnes' Nicola Arnold who posted a perfect score as she led her school to victory.

MSA scored 250 points, surging ahead of defending champions Warwick Academy (205) after picking up 30 bonus points on questions other schools had failed to answer.

Sandys Secondary came third with 160 points and new entrant Spice Valley came fourth with 140 points. The top three teams go to Saturday's final at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.

Mr. Roberts said the lifeline was the biggest change to the competition.

The idea is modified from "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire'' in that only the team coach can give a lifeline which can only be used once during the current events segment of the competition.

"All the teams have one life during current events,'' said Mr. Roberts. -- "If an individual member cannot answer, the team has 15 seconds to answer or call for a lifeline. Once they request the lifeline, the moderator asks the coach if he or she has the answer, the coach must answer immediately. The team needs to accept the answer or else give a different answer immediately.

"But each time they went to the coach last night and accepted the answer it turned out to be wrong!'' Nonetheless, the lifeline will stay in the quiz tonight when Saltus, CedarBridge (last year's runner-up), Clearwater and newcomer Dellwood vie at Mount St. Agnes auditorium at 7 p.m. for the other three places in the final.

Mr. Roberts said the final, which is aired live on ZBM TV, will feature a scoreboard this year to make it easier for viewers to follow.

And he promised an exciting show, saying: "The kids have studied and studied well. Teams obviously made a lot of preparation.''