countyguy wrote:
What is the minimum at home Coryat to be likely...
2. to consistently pass the online test?
I have to disagree with econgator about this. He says $20K, and that's been my average for many years now, but I only (just barely) passed the test for the first time this year (though I passed tests that I wasn't taking "for real" with much bigger numbers this year and other years).
What I would say is that that Coryat isn't the factor there, it's passing the test. Do you want to know how you will do on the test? Look up some of the old tests (they're all archived here on jboard, I'm sure many people will chime in with helpful links to the actual test questions) and take them. Then see what your score is.
countyguy wrote:3. to have a decent shot at winning (or at least put up big numbers
like the contestants did on tonight's show
)?
Best way to tell this comes from Karl Coryat himself where he
describes the Coryat method:
Karl Coryat wrote:Record your scores for at least two weeks, and average them; this will give you a handle on where you stand performance-wise. I estimate the typical Jeopardy contestant on the show would average around $24,000 if you adjusted for Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy and eliminated competition — in other words, if nobody were able to beat him or her to the buzzer. Mathematically, a group of three players with more-or-less random overlap of knowledge — each able to answer $24,000 worth of material on his or her own — accounts for the average accumulated sum of $38,000 to $40,000 you see on the show (on j-archive.com they call this the "combined Coryat"). For a real challenge, measure yourself against this combined score — it's a humbling experience!
If you average under $16,000 (I averaged about $12,000 when I began my training — which, back before they doubled the dollar values, was only $6,000), you can either plunge in and take the contestant test again and again until you pass, or you can get to work to bring up your score. (See below.) If you can consistently score around $24,000, you have a fairly good chance at passing the test, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to bring up that average. If you can consistently score around $28,000, I'd say you have a very good chance of getting on the show, if you have any personality at all. However, if you think you're prone to stage fright or if pressure weakens your ability to think, or you're just really ambitious, my advice is to overbuild your knowledge as much as possible. (You just know most of those contestants on TV play better when they're in their comfy living rooms.) In that case, you might wait until your average is up to $32,000 or even $36,000 before you try out for real. By the way, my at-home average was close to $36,000 ($18,000 in 1996 dollar values) by the time my episodes were taped — but don't let that scare you. I did it, and so can you.
county guy wrote: I have not effectively convinced [my dad], or if I have he is still trying to compliment me. Maybe I should show him the online test to show that it really is hardcore stuff.
Speaking as a dad for all of dad-dom, he's your dad, if he's not complimenting his son and encouraging him, he's not doing his job. Don't worry about what your dad says, and don't try to convince him, he'll always be encouraging you. (qv. several champions on the show (I think at least one who was in the BotD) said that they didn't think they could get on, but a spouse or parent really encouraged them to try, and they did.) Parental and spousal encouragement brought us some great players, you could be one.
