<p>Did anyone here take the Jeopardy online test? My dad took it and I helped him out a bit. Together, we got around 25/50. I feel like if it was me, I could’ve gotten at least 30… but he was typing… slow</p>
<p>I took it. I have qualified three times to be in the contestant pool but never picked to be in the show. Back in the day, the 1990s, you would show up to a location in person. First you would take a 10 question test and if you passed that they would administer the fifty question test with Alex reading the questions on a tv monitor. Unlike the online test of today, everyone who passed the 50 question test would get invited to an audition. At the audition you would fill out a questionnaire on which you would indicate what chit-chat you would have for Alex on the show. Then groups of three would play mock games and talk to the contestant auditioners. </p>
<p>My impression is that at least forty out of fifty was passing. </p>
<p>I think I would do well on the show. I’ve both won trivia contests and regularly bore my friends with trivia. </p>
<p>I have no idea why I didn’t get picked. Maybe I bored them too. </p>
<p>But now with three kids, I fantasize using my winnings to pay for college.</p>
<p>Once placed in the contestant pool, for adults, isn’t it completely random if you get selected or can you get priority in that pool depending on your audition?</p>
<p>Under the current arrangement, if you take the online test and score high enough, you may be invited to audition at one of a number of sites around the country (about 6 or 8 sites a year). I suspect that everyone with a really high score is invited to audition. There might be some randomness in the selection among people with scores just above the cut-off. At the auditions, there is another written test, an interview with the traveling Jeopardy! team, and short mock games played by 3 contestants at a time. Everyone who passes the second test (in person) is in the contestant pool. However, they seem to invite about 10 times as many people to audition as they can accommodate on the show in a year. Again, I think that those with really high scores on the written test (50/50 or close) are more likely to be invited to be on the show. There is also a personality rating, based on interactions with the Jeopardy! team. I suspect that there might be ratings based on looks, also–not sure about that. </p>
<p>I auditioned twice and have not been invited to be on the show, although technically I am still in the contestant pool from the second time. Travel to the auditions is at your own expense. If you are invited to be on the show, you also have to pay for travel to Los Angeles, although they have a connection with a nearby hotel that offers rooms at reasonable rates, so even if you come in 3rd, you should still break even on the experience (or possibly do a little better, depending on your air fare).</p>
<p>I actually had a great time at both auditions, and would recommend going if you are invited to audition and can manage it. Both audition groups that I met had exceptionally nice people in them, and some of the people’s stories were absolutely fascinating. Even if you are the most boring contestant they interview all day (that would be me), the Jeopardy! team is very polite and friendly.</p>
<p>For the auditions, I traveled to one city where I had stayed many times before, and enjoyed re-sightseeing; I also traveled to one city where I had never stayed previously, and saw and learned quite a lot while I was there.</p>
<p>Quick recall is the key to doing well on the online test. With a lot of the questions, you probably know the answers, if only you can dredge them up in the time limit. If you practice a little, you can improve your recall ability, quite a bit I’d suspect.</p>
<p>Good luck to anyone taking the online test and/or auditioning! </p>
<p>coureur might show up on this thread after a while–unless I am mistaken, coureur is a 5-time Jeopardy! winner, from the era when a contestant had to retire after winning 5 times.</p>
<p>My friend was a 2x jeopardy winner. She even won a dining room set that they SAID she had to pay postage/handling on but never charged her for. She found it a lot of fun & said it was tough to get the precise timing. If you try to answer TOO early, you are blocked out. Of course, too late & the others answer before you have a chance to. They came & did an audition at USC & S got a shirt but wasn’t chosen. I think he’d be excellent & would do well, but D said he was probably “too boring” for them. Not sure how far he got in screening. I would do poorly–can’t get the timing right & sometimes even tho I know the answer, have the “deer in the headlights” brainfreeze. Oh well!</p>
<p>My Dad auditioned years ago but he couldn’t get the buzzer timing. there is a regular CC poster who I’m sure will chime in here later. Everyone says lots of people know the answers but it is about rhythm and buzzer timing if you want to win.</p>
<p>Yes I was referring to courer. I didn’t want to “out” him but QuantMech already did!</p>
<p>Conventional wisdom is that 35 is a passing score, though I could have sworn I only got 34 the year I was selected to audition. Those who make the cutoff are randomly selected to audition–50 doesn’t give you any better odds than 35.</p>
<p>There’s a transcript of the test at JBoard.tv: [Online</a> Test Discussion (Eastern), January 17, 2012](<a href=“Online Test Discussion (Eastern), January 17, 2012 - JBoard.tv”>Online Test Discussion (Eastern), January 17, 2012 - JBoard.tv)</p>
<p>My BIL took the test tonight, but he said it was hard. He has tried several times, but I am guessing this might be his last try.</p>
<p>Sorry, didn’t mean to “out” coureur, but had learned about the Jeopardy! experience on the CC Parents Forum a year or two ago. I think it’s very impressive to be a champion a single time, let alone five times.</p>
<p>Yes (ahem), I was a five-time Jeopardy champion back in the day (looks at the floor modestly). The tryout method I went through was very similar to the one latichever describes in post #2, except we didn’t have a 10-question pre-test. We went straight to the 50 question test.</p>
<p>About 100 people took the test in the same group as me, and exactly six of us passed it. To the best of my knowledge I was the only one of those six who was actually chosen to be on the show.</p>
<p>The whole process took more than a year:<br>
- I saw the LA Times ad for Jeopardy try-outs in January.
- After I tried many times with no luck they finally answered their phone in Feb. to schedule a try-out.
- I took the test and audition in about March
- They called me to schedule a taping date in July
- I sat through a day of taping in August but didn’t get to play
- Called back for a second taping date in Sept.
- Went to the second taping day in late Sept and won all 5 of my games, one after the other, in a single taping day.
- Shows aired the first week of January
- They sent me the check for my winnings in March. (You don’t actually “win” until your show airs. If for some reason your show never airs, you get nothing.)</p>
<p>Did they send you the exact total amount you won or did you lose any portion of it?</p>
<p>I kind of soured on the process after making the contestant pool three times, but not being chosen. I think I’d have the potential to well on the show, although there is some element of luck in the categories you get. Ask me about all the Edwards who were kings of England, and I’m there. Ask me about recent Grammy winners and I’m lost, although I can kill if asked who were the members of Cream or on which album did Neil Young join CS&N. I remember the Cheers episode in which Cliff Claven had an insurmountable lead at Final Jeopardy, but blew it by betting it all. He had categories like “The History of Beer.” They called it his “dream board.”</p>
<p>That said, if chosen, I’d know what to study. I would know all the recent Grammy winners, and I’d make sure to brush up on the order of all the preseidents and vice presidents, state and country capitals, largest lakes, longest rivers, highest mountains, and etc.</p>
<p>Back in the 50s when Quiz Shows were all the rage before the scandals, Joyce Brothers became famous for knowing all about boxing (that’s a good question, “Joyce Brothers category.”) on the $64,000 question, where you would be questioned only on a category of your choosing. Before going on the show, Brothers knew nothing about boxing, but she realized it’s a finite subject capable of being mastered in a finite amount of time. She was savvy in choosing boxing too, as a woman.)</p>
<p>(Jeopardy question, state your answer in the form of a question: “Female American novelist who is an expert on boxing.” Bonus for College Confidential denizens: “The college where she is a professor.”)</p>
<p>I didn’t know that there were 10 times as many contestants in the pool as needed for the show, but a recent contestant’s Alex chit-chat emphasized he had been trying for 16 years to get on the show. I have the impression that the selection is not totally random, and they try for some kind of balance… They have more than enough lawyers or psychologists (I fit into one of those categories) but if you are a longshoreman or bus driver, you’re in.</p>
<p>At the rate I’m going, maybe I’ll eventually get selected on the basis of advanced age. Hey, look at the TV. Gramps is wiping the floor with them.</p>
<p>^^^ My D was a winner on a GSN show. They waited a few months after the show aired to send the check…</p>
<p>Well, well, well Coureur a FIVE time jeopardy winner! A celebrity among us!!!
What were your final questions ? Were your games close ?</p>
<p>They deduct CA state tax from your winnings. I only came in 2nd (to a five-time champion), so I’m not sure how they handle taxes for those who win alot of money.</p>
<p>My experience was much more condensed. I went to a regional audition, took & passed the 50-question test, nine of us did mock games (I think I was the only one utltimately chosen as a contestant), and less than 3 weeks later got called to appear on the show only 3 weeks after that. It was the summer, so I don’t know if they had more trouble getting contestants who were available. </p>
<p>Getting the timing right on the buzzer was my downfall, especially when playing against someone who’d already played the game 4 times. I think I was too anxious to try to buzz in before she did & locked myself out instead. It was still a great experience.</p>
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<p>They sent me a check for the full amount. No deductions. It was up to me to pay the taxes.</p>
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<p>Some were to the effect of:
This rock star has had a Billboard top-50 hit in each of the past three decades. (Elton John)
The largest ethnic group in the US is people with ancestry from this European country. (Germany)
Chapter (xx) from this novel is titled Cetology. (Moby Dick)</p>
<p>I can’t remember the other two off the top of my head. I’ll have to look at my old tapes.</p>
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<p>The first one was. I had to come from behind in FJ to win that one. After that I hit my stride and began crushing my opponents. The other four games were all run-aways, where I couldn’t lose unless I made a real dumb FJ bet and got it wrong.</p>
<p>My biggest win was my 5th game where I totally dominated. The only smudge on that game was when I bet big on a DD and missed it. The clue was “This is the only Ivy League school known as a college instead of a university.” I didn’t know and guessed Brown. The correct answer is Dartmouth. The huge irony is that now, many years later, D2 is a Jr. at Dartmouth COLLEGE. </p>
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<p>Button timing is crucial. I estimate that for about 70-80% of the clues, all three players know the correct answer. It’s the one who masters the button the best who will win. Only on the very hardest questions does knowledge sort out the contestants.</p>
<p>I got called back for a special Ultimate tournament more than a decade after I first played. I was playing against other former champions. And I got my butt kicked. It was terrible. I still had all my old knowledge but I couldn’t get the button timing back.</p>
<p>I tried out for the show when Art Fleming was the host. It was a written test given in New York City - I didn’t go on to the next round.</p>
<p>(Please don’t respond, “Who is Art Fleming?”)</p>
<p>dadinator, I always think of Alex Trebek as “that new, young host.”</p>
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<p>Who is Joyce Carol Oates?</p>
<p>What is Princeton?</p>