OTISFIELD – “The students were distressed by the desultory lesson because it was:

a) random and disconnected

b) fatally inaccurate

c) dull and dated

d) culturally insensitive”

This question, from the Reader’s Digest Web site, is one that three students from Otisfield Community School may face when they compete in the Reader’s Digest National Word Power Challenge next month.

The correct answer is a.

All fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders at the Otisfield school competed in a written and oral vocabulary test last month. The questions ranged from “What is a John Hancock?” to those which “most of the staff had no clue what the word was,” said sixth-grade teacher Ruth Wilson.

Jillian Jacobs, fourth grade, Chris Alberi, fifth grade, and Tucker Johnson, sixth grade, were the school-level winners in Otisfield. Each received notice recently that they were among the top 100 scorers in the state and had qualified to compete at the state-level challenge on Feb. 27.

The winner of the state competition will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Williamsburg, Va., for the national competition in March. NBC “Today” show’s Al Roker will serve as quiz master, and the competition will be aired on television. The students will be competing for one of three college scholarships, totaling $50,000, to be awarded by the Campbell’s Soup Co.

“I’m psyched that they’re going,” Wilson said. “The kids are excited.”