If you only had a week to study...

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Tigershark
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Re: If you only had a week to study...

Post by Tigershark »

Austin Powers wrote:One week is not sufficient time; you should just enjoy the opportunity with the understanding that you'll probably lose.
I wouldn't say that you would necessarily lose. I studied a bit before my appearance, but not nearly as intensely as other contestants the same week as me. In four shows, there were two questions that I would not have gotten if I hadn't studied. 2 out of 484. One was about space (which was a weakness of mine) and the other was about Canadian geography (it comes up a lot!). Studying can help, but it's not as important as relaxing and having fun. Remember, a number of factors that you have no control over can affect the outcome of any one game. A good set of categories, a FJ that you don't know, another contestant who gets lucky on DD.

I would agree about Presidents. I reviewed the Presidents, even though it's an area I felt strong about, because it comes up a lot. I ended up getting zero questions about Presidents. Also, know the major British monarchs and their dates as well. On my show, there was DD about British monarchs, and if the defending champion had answered it correctly, she would have won. Shakespeare comes up a lot as well.
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econgator
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Re: If you only had a week to study...

Post by econgator »

ElendilPickle wrote:I would spend some time on wagering strategy. http://thefinalwager.co/ is a great place to start.
http://justwager4000.co/ is easier. :)
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The Talking Mime
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Re: If you only had a week to study...

Post by The Talking Mime »

alietr wrote:
Blue Lion wrote:And if you don't have a teenage kid in your house, borrow one for the week.
Jerry Slowik followed that advice. Look where it got him.

(I'm totally going to hell for this one.)
I think I'm going to see you there for laughing at this.
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dhkendall
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Re: If you only had a week to study...

Post by dhkendall »

Rafferty Barnes wrote:Trivia triage time. Brush up on pavlovs, viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2202&hilit=pavlovs and viewtopic.php?f=1&t=343&hilit=pavlov

Above all, know that you are already good enough to win on Jeopardy. What you have now was enough to pass the test and will be enough on the show. What you want to focus on right now are the mechanics of the game. Watch Jeopardy standing up. If you have time, watch three in a row, commercials included, since they break on set at the same time. Then they take a break for lunch, then two more in the afternoon.

It is a long day. Try to sleep well the night before and eat a hearty breakfast. It was a great sacrifice, but I didn't eat the donuts in the Green Room because I knew all that sugar would make me crash.

Have fun! 100,000 people take the test every year, and out of all of them, you were one of 400 chosen! On the shuttle bus or in the audience, bring a piece of paper and try to get the contact info of all the other contestants willing to stay in touch. They'll be the only people who you can really share this experience with for a few months until the shows air.
This. I didn't study before the online test and I got 42/50. I didn't study for my audition* and I got about the same. If I did study, just being On Stage might make me forget. They would have called me based on what I know then, they think that's good enough, and I should have the confidence to agree.

*save for the fact that my wife brought along two boxes of Trivial Pursuit cards in the car and quizzed me endlessly on them on the 14 hour car ride to Kansas City. I figure if I could answer trivia while doing 130 on the Interstate watching the road I could handle the audition and the pressure of the stage.
"Jeopardy! is two parts luck and one part luck" - Me

"The way to win on Jeopardy is to be a rabidly curious, information-omnivorous person your entire life." - Ken Jennings

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patkav
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Re: If you only had a week to study...

Post by patkav »

Tigershark wrote: Also, know the major British monarchs and their dates as well. On my show, there was DD about British monarchs, and if the defending champion had answered it correctly, she would have won. Shakespeare comes up a lot as well.
These are two of the four subjects I spent a lot of time on between call and show. And of course they were questions or categories in other shows taped the same day I did, but not my show. Of course not my show.

<sigh>
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Rex Kramer
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Re: If you only had a week to study...

Post by Rex Kramer »

If you only had a week, there is not much you could study and actually make yourself better off. Your best bet would be to sharpen up in areas that you know but not perfectly -- things you already have the context you can use to retain new information. Otherwise, I agree with Austin Powers.

Rex
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triviawayne
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Re: If you only had a week to study...

Post by triviawayne »

dhkendall wrote:
Rafferty Barnes wrote:Trivia triage time. Brush up on pavlovs, viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2202&hilit=pavlovs and viewtopic.php?f=1&t=343&hilit=pavlov

Above all, know that you are already good enough to win on Jeopardy. What you have now was enough to pass the test and will be enough on the show. What you want to focus on right now are the mechanics of the game. Watch Jeopardy standing up. If you have time, watch three in a row, commercials included, since they break on set at the same time. Then they take a break for lunch, then two more in the afternoon.

It is a long day. Try to sleep well the night before and eat a hearty breakfast. It was a great sacrifice, but I didn't eat the donuts in the Green Room because I knew all that sugar would make me crash.

Have fun! 100,000 people take the test every year, and out of all of them, you were one of 400 chosen! On the shuttle bus or in the audience, bring a piece of paper and try to get the contact info of all the other contestants willing to stay in touch. They'll be the only people who you can really share this experience with for a few months until the shows air.
This. I didn't study before the online test and I got 42/50. I didn't study for my audition* and I got about the same. If I did study, just being On Stage might make me forget. They would have called me based on what I know then, they think that's good enough, and I should have the confidence to agree.

*save for the fact that my wife brought along two boxes of Trivial Pursuit cards in the car and quizzed me endlessly on them on the 14 hour car ride to Kansas City. I figure if I could answer trivia while doing 130 on the Interstate watching the road I could handle the audition and the pressure of the stage.
130 on the interstate...I really need to start looking at the kilometers on my instrument cluster...would feel better when driving a car with 85 horsepower.
Total game show career losings = $171,522
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Khaleesi1287
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Re: If you only had a week to study...

Post by Khaleesi1287 »

Blue Lion wrote:If you don't follow pop culture (raises hand), study a list of the most recent Emmy and Grammy winners, books that made the NYT best-seller list, #1 songs on the Billboard chart, and the top-grossing movies and who was in them. And if you don't have a teenage kid in your house, borrow one for the week.
I am probably closer in age (and music taste, and interest in celebrities, I'm ashamed to admit) to a teenager than the average Jeopardy! contestant, but I did appreciate a few people admitting that current pop culture would be their focus for studying. If the rest of you could teach me your geography knowledge (maybe by osmosis?), I would be much obliged. I'll give you the rundown on the Drake - Meek Mill beef.
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Re: If you only had a week to study...

Post by nightreign »

Khaleesi1287 wrote:
Blue Lion wrote:If you don't follow pop culture (raises hand), study a list of the most recent Emmy and Grammy winners, books that made the NYT best-seller list, #1 songs on the Billboard chart, and the top-grossing movies and who was in them. And if you don't have a teenage kid in your house, borrow one for the week.
I am probably closer in age (and music taste, and interest in celebrities, I'm ashamed to admit) to a teenager than the average Jeopardy! contestant, but I did appreciate a few people admitting that current pop culture would be their focus for studying. If the rest of you could teach me your geography knowledge (maybe by osmosis?), I would be much obliged. I'll give you the rundown on the Drake - Meek Mill beef.
I'd suggest studying the Billboard Hot 100 chart (http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100, usually updated Wednesdays/Thursdays), and, if you can take it, put on a pop music station while in the car. I do really well with any current music category that way.
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Re: If you only had a week to study...

Post by opusthepenguin »

ElendilPickle wrote:I would spend some time on wagering strategy. http://thefinalwager.co/ is a great place to start.
This. Except I'm not sure The Final Wager is the best starting point. What I'd do is start with the archive. Pick a game within the last couple of years. Write down what each player has going into FJ. Decide what the first place player should wager. Do the same for the second place player. Use lots of paper but don't use a calculator. At the beginning, don't even worry about third place. Learn to juggle two balls first.

When you've got your wagers written down, compare results. Assume that everything else is the same. Any player who missed FJ still misses it; any player who got it still gets it. Did your suggested wager for first place work out better or worse against the actual wagers made by the other two? Same question for second place, then for third (once you decide to add that in).

Click on Next or Previous and do another game. Some basic principles should start to come together for you after a while. Then The Final Wager becomes much more fun.

If you have trouble getting started, ask yourself the following questions about each wagering scenario:

1. How much should the first place player wager to GUARANTEE a win if she gets FJ right? This is known as the "(minimum) shutout bet". It's a common strategy and very often a good one. So write that wager down for the first player unless you can come up with a good reason not to.

2. How much will the first place player have left if she misses FJ? Write that number down. Remind yourself that second and third place CANNOT win against the shutout bet unless the first place player misses. Wagering everything or everything but a dollar will not change that cold reality. Internalize it.

3. Compare the amount first place will have left after missing FJ to the amount the second place player already has. Can second place win even if he misses FJ? Or will he probably have to get FJ right to win? Use that info to decide on a wager for second place. Write down what second place will have if he gets FJ right, and what he'll have if he gets FJ wrong.
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dhkendall
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Re: If you only had a week to study...

Post by dhkendall »

opusthepenguin wrote:
ElendilPickle wrote:I would spend some time on wagering strategy. http://thefinalwager.co/ is a great place to start.
This. Except I'm not sure The Final Wager is the best starting point. What I'd do is start with the archive. Pick a game within the last couple of years. Write down what each player has going into FJ. Decide what the first place player should wager. Do the same for the second place player. Use lots of paper but don't use a calculator. At the beginning, don't even worry about third place. Learn to juggle two balls first.

When you've got your wagers written down, compare results. Assume that everything else is the same. Any player who missed FJ still misses it; any player who got it still gets it. Did your suggested wager for first place work out better or worse against the actual wagers made by the other two? Same question for second place, then for third (once you decide to add that in).

Click on Next or Previous and do another game. Some basic principles should start to come together for you after a while. Then The Final Wager becomes much more fun.

If you have trouble getting started, ask yourself the following questions about each wagering scenario:

1. How much should the first place player wager to GUARANTEE a win if she gets FJ right? This is known as the "(minimum) shutout bet". It's a common strategy and very often a good one. So write that wager down for the first player unless you can come up with a good reason not to.

2. How much will the first place player have left if she misses FJ? Write that number down. Remind yourself that second and third place CANNOT win against the shutout bet unless the first place player misses. Wagering everything or everything but a dollar will not change that cold reality. Internalize it.

3. Compare the amount first place will have left after missing FJ to the amount the second place player already has. Can second place win even if he misses FJ? Or will he probably have to get FJ right to win? Use that info to decide on a wager for second place. Write down what second place will have if he gets FJ right, and what he'll have if he gets FJ wrong.
Wow. I have been trying to wrap my head around wagering for a very long time. The archive hasn't helped that much, and the scores of wagering scenarios (Shortegery, Faith Love, 3/4) makes it even worse. Keith helped a bit, but it still goes a bit fast for my liking. But something in this really clicked with me. [Henry Higgins]I think he's got it! I think he's got it![/Henry Higgins} Thanks opustheviking, if Keith ever needs someone to fill in for him, I can recommend a certain flightless Antarctic bird ...
"Jeopardy! is two parts luck and one part luck" - Me

"The way to win on Jeopardy is to be a rabidly curious, information-omnivorous person your entire life." - Ken Jennings

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DadofTwins
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Re: If you only had a week to study...

Post by DadofTwins »

Relax.

Seriously. The slower the rest of your body is going, the clearer your head is going to be.

A game of Jeopardy is a deep-dive into your long-term memory. Which is to say, if the information isn't there 7 days before tape day, it probably wont be accessible on stage. The key is to give that long-term memory the best chance of performing at optimum. Breathe. Go back in your memory to a place where you feel safe and relaxed, and pretend you're playing there. It's the same game that you played when you were twelve sitting all by yourself in the tree house watching on your little rabbit-ears TV (unless you don't remember life before cable/satellite/digital TV, in which case GET OFF MY LAWN).

I would actually recommend against studying anything you don't already know at this point. Sure, you might see something that leads to a right answer, but more likely you'll see something that looks kind of familiar-ish, chase it, and be wrong.

Also, be absolutely sure you're right the first time you buzz in. The first couple of clues will probably be top-row, so this shouldn't be a problem, but I've seen too many contestants get beat on the buzzer early, then chase one lower on the board just to get in, be wrong, and emotionally collapse from there.

No matter how prepared you are, or how good you are, AP is right to think about the outcome probabilistically. Preparation is about increasing your chances, but the vast majority of the factors that produce outcomes on Jeopardy are beyond your control. And the range of possible outcomes, even for the very best players, is wide indeed, as many on this board can attest personally.

Its quite a ride. Enjoy it as best you can.
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opusthepenguin
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Re: If you only had a week to study...

Post by opusthepenguin »

dhkendall wrote:Wow. I have been trying to wrap my head around wagering for a very long time. The archive hasn't helped that much, and the scores of wagering scenarios (Shortegery, Faith Love, 3/4) makes it even worse. Keith helped a bit, but it still goes a bit fast for my liking. But something in this really clicked with me. [Henry Higgins]I think he's got it! I think he's got it![/Henry Higgins} Thanks opustheviking, if Keith ever needs someone to fill in for him, I can recommend a certain flightless Antarctic bird ...
Delighted to help! All the stuff you mention can be useful once you've discovered a few simple moves. And I say "discovered" advisedly. I think for most people, myself included, you can't just tell us the moves. We have to work the moves out on our own. Then something clicks and we're able to puzzle through more complicated discussions (which, make no mistake, are still difficult and headache-inducing). Otherwise it's like trying to learn card counting when you've never played Blackjack and don't even know basic strategy.
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Re: If you only had a week to study...

Post by NielsH »

Driving down I-5 from the Bay Area to LA the day before my taping, I had my wife quiz me on/help me review common topics I knew well but didn't feel 100% on such as world capitals, the periodic table, constitutional amendments, etc. It wasn't to learn new things, but rather an effort to avoid my fear of blanking on an answer I knew. I was OK not knowing something but I didn't want to lose because of a brain hiccup. For part of the drive, I did ask my wife to review with me a few topics I felt weak on. Poetry, for instance. I don't recall any of it factoring in my game, but a very specific Maya Angelou fact she told me ended up being an answer in another game on my taping day! So you never know...
I finished second on the April 2, 2015 episode.
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