The Two-Question Cross-Ex Drill

New debaters often waste cross-examination asking vague questions ("So, what is your case about?") that do not set up anything for later speeches. This drill fixes that.

The rule

Every cross-ex question must do one of two jobs. Before you ask a question, silently label which job it is doing:

Job 1 — Clarify: "What exactly does your criterion mean by [term]?" Used to pin down a definition or claim precisely enough that it cannot be reinterpreted later. Ask this when something in the opponent's case was vague.

Job 2 — Set up: "Would you agree that [fact], and that [second fact]?" Used to get the opponent to concede two small points that, combined, box them into a contradiction you will exploit in your next speech. Ask this when you already know what you want to say in rebuttal and need the opponent on record first.

The drill itself

Have a partner (or a parent) read you a short case summary from any topic in the 40 Practice Resolutions resource. Within 30 seconds, write down two questions: one Job 1, one Job 2. Say both out loud. Then explain, out loud, exactly what you would do with the answer in your next speech. If you cannot explain what you would do with the answer, the question was not purposeful, it was a Job 1 or Job 2 question in disguise as a real one.

Why only two questions

Cross-ex is three minutes. A debater who asks eight scattered questions gets eight shallow answers. A debater who asks two sharp questions and follows up on the answer gets material they can actually use. Depth beats volume here every time.