Congrats! Are you based in the D.C. area? I'm in NYC still waiting to hear anything about auditions this yearEJVA wrote:I just received an invitation to audition in Washington DC on April 10! Wow! I have taken the test several times with scores on the low end of passing. Never really thought I would get an audition.
Should I study for this? I definitely plan to study like crazy when I am in the pool, but not sure how much I can do before April 10. So excited!
Timing of Audition Invite Emails
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Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
I can't disagree -- you have to "dance with the guy what brung ya." I would certainly say to keep up the normal activities, but knowledge is probably less important at the audition than "stage presence." If you're not experienced with public speaking, some time speaking extemporaneously in front of an audience might be helpful.skullturf wrote:My two cents on the question of whether one should "study" before an audition:
One shouldn't *cram* before an audition, and one shouldn't stress out about trivia knowledge before the audition. Anyone auditioning almost certainly already has enough trivia knowledge to do well at the audition.
But I would say *keep* studying in the way that most trivia people keep studying -- do what you normally do, but maybe just a little more of it. Keep watching Jeopardy, keep doing crossword puzzles, keep reading newspapers, keep playing trivia games, keep going to pub trivia, keep doing Sporcle quizzes, and so on and so forth.
Don't think of it as "studying" like the stereotypical image of the stressed-out med student, but do keep "studying" in the fun and stress-free sense of continuing to actively pay attention to interesting little facts around you.
We had about 25-30 people at my audition, and were called up three at time to the front of the room to play a mock game and participate in simulated "post-commercial chat." There were several in the group that the rest of us felt sympathy for -- lots of "ums, ers, and ahs," got flustered or embarrassed easily, stuttered and stammered through their chat stories, and so on. Pretty sure none of them made it into the final contestant pool, regardless of how they scored on the online or audition tests.
If you have a touch of stage fright, it could only help to find a way to get in front of a group of people and try to improve your comfort level. Maybe a meeting or two with Toastmasters or something similar could help.
I'm not the defending Jeopardy! champion. But I have played one on TV.
- dfawcettSD
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Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
Congrats on the audition invite, EJVA!
Lots of good advice from others, here. Mostly, I'd say, do whatever will make you as comfortable and relaxed as possible, whether it's study a bit more or prepare to talk a bit about yourself. I was helped by the Jeopardy! Audition Webinar on YouTube made by Randy Gold and Stephanie Jass—https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MxiKwSZA2M.
One of the easiest ways to "study" when you have some spare time is just to go to J! Archive and run through the answers from a couple of old shows. You learn a bit, and you do so within the game format.
I guess I can now say that I speak from experience, because yesterday—WAY sooner than I'd even thought possible—I got a call from Culver City! Here's the breakdown:
Online test: 6 October 2016 (also 26 January 2016)
Audition email: 23 January 2017
Audition: 6 February 2017, 11:30 (second of two audition groups in San Diego)
The Call: 27 February 2017
I had looked back at some recent posts here and figured I wouldn't even let myself think about getting a call for six months or so. But my experience does prove triviawayne's point a few posts back: "...the call could come at any time."
I didn't my list late-March taping date because I'm invited as one of that day's alternates. (So my case also shows that San Diego is within the radius from which alternates are drawn.) I was told I've got an even chance of being a contestant that day or not, and if not I'd be guaranteed a taping date soon thereafter. I'd be fine with that, really. I think it would be great to see how things go and how I respond to the stress, then get to come home and study some more.
And speaking of studying...aaaaaahhhhhh!
Lots of good advice from others, here. Mostly, I'd say, do whatever will make you as comfortable and relaxed as possible, whether it's study a bit more or prepare to talk a bit about yourself. I was helped by the Jeopardy! Audition Webinar on YouTube made by Randy Gold and Stephanie Jass—https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MxiKwSZA2M.
One of the easiest ways to "study" when you have some spare time is just to go to J! Archive and run through the answers from a couple of old shows. You learn a bit, and you do so within the game format.
I guess I can now say that I speak from experience, because yesterday—WAY sooner than I'd even thought possible—I got a call from Culver City! Here's the breakdown:
Online test: 6 October 2016 (also 26 January 2016)
Audition email: 23 January 2017
Audition: 6 February 2017, 11:30 (second of two audition groups in San Diego)
The Call: 27 February 2017
I had looked back at some recent posts here and figured I wouldn't even let myself think about getting a call for six months or so. But my experience does prove triviawayne's point a few posts back: "...the call could come at any time."
I didn't my list late-March taping date because I'm invited as one of that day's alternates. (So my case also shows that San Diego is within the radius from which alternates are drawn.) I was told I've got an even chance of being a contestant that day or not, and if not I'd be guaranteed a taping date soon thereafter. I'd be fine with that, really. I think it would be great to see how things go and how I respond to the stress, then get to come home and study some more.
And speaking of studying...aaaaaahhhhhh!
- barandall800
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Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
Congrats on the Call!
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Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
Congrats dfawcett! Yes, from my experience there are two alternates for the second/Wednesday day, and only room for one, unless a triple-0 occurs of course. But the other alternate gets to come back and is guaranteed to get to play on their comeback. Both of my days there we had a person who had been an alternate once and now got to be on. At the very least, you get to see how it all works so that it's not so daunting the second time and you're more at east.
- goatman
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Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
I've said this so many times idk why I repeat it no one seems to take free advice but; go to AMZN.com and buy a brand spankin new 5th edition of Steven Ferrill's Game Show Trivia.tv formerly aka The Cultural Literacy Trivia Guide, and read it cover to cover, then read it again and then read it backwards twice. FTW. There is a thread in this board with certain errors that were never corrected beware of learning the wrong clues LOL. And go to J-Archive and review all the games from the past year at least, better if you can go back two or even three years worth of clues. That's about 230*61 ~14K clues per annum, you can knock those out in a few days!morbeedo wrote:Congrats! Are you based in the D.C. area? I'm in NYC still waiting to hear anything about auditions this yearEJVA wrote:I just received an invitation to audition in Washington DC on April 10! Wow! I have taken the test several times with scores on the low end of passing. Never really thought I would get an audition.
Should I study for this? I definitely plan to study like crazy when I am in the pool, but not sure how much I can do before April 10. So excited!
The corridors of my mind are plastered with 3M Post-It notes!
- dhkendall
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Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
I can definitely agree with this - I've been a member of Toastmasters for just over 26 years now and I find it has really helped me; I can also recall issues of the magazine that profiled the odd Toastmaster that has been on Jeopardy! and them speaking of their experience. I would wholeheartedly agree with checking it out (although, while "a meeting or two" will help you, by no means will it change that much. Getting the experience of actually having a mentor helping you with your nervousness or your ums and ahs, repeated speaking before the group and receiving positive, constructive feedback on how you can improve, and giving speeches is the best way to have something like Toastmasters help. I can also say this: in my interview segment where Glenn said "tell me about yourself" (completely ignoring the stories that I had prepared on the info sheet, way to put me on the spot, Glenn!), one of the things I had mentioned was that I was a 24 year (at the time) member of Toastmasters. Glenn visibly seemed interested in that as soon as I said it, and took notice - people who are proven to be able to speak (such as the skills I've received from Toastmasters) is something that they are looking for (and Glenn at least is very aware of the organization, although it's headquartered not far from Culver City.)Kevin S. wrote:I can't disagree -- you have to "dance with the guy what brung ya." I would certainly say to keep up the normal activities, but knowledge is probably less important at the audition than "stage presence." If you're not experienced with public speaking, some time speaking extemporaneously in front of an audience might be helpful.
We had about 25-30 people at my audition, and were called up three at time to the front of the room to play a mock game and participate in simulated "post-commercial chat." There were several in the group that the rest of us felt sympathy for -- lots of "ums, ers, and ahs," got flustered or embarrassed easily, stuttered and stammered through their chat stories, and so on. Pretty sure none of them made it into the final contestant pool, regardless of how they scored on the online or audition tests.
If you have a touch of stage fright, it could only help to find a way to get in front of a group of people and try to improve your comfort level. Maybe a meeting or two with Toastmasters or something similar could help.
"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
Follow my progress game by game since 2012
"The way to win on Jeopardy is to be a rabidly curious, information-omnivorous person your entire life." - Ken Jennings
Follow my progress game by game since 2012
- Blue Lion
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Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
Agree totally. By the way, his website contains a good preview of what's inside the book, which I highly recommend.goatman wrote:I've said this so many times idk why I repeat it no one seems to take free advice but; go to AMZN.com and buy a brand spankin new 5th edition of Steven Ferrill's Game Show Trivia.tv formerly aka The Cultural Literacy Trivia Guide
Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
Congrats EJVA. Looks like another year wondering what in god's name it will take for me to get an audition. Apparently 8 consecutive tests of 40+ scores is not sufficient.EJVA wrote:I just received an invitation to audition in Washington DC on April 10! Wow! I have taken the test several times with scores on the low end of passing. Never really thought I would get an audition.
Should I study for this? I definitely plan to study like crazy when I am in the pool, but not sure how much I can do before April 10. So excited!
Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
Preach! Are you D.C. based?Setho wrote:Congrats EJVA. Looks like another year wondering what in god's name it will take for me to get an audition. Apparently 8 consecutive tests of 40+ scores is not sufficient.EJVA wrote:I just received an invitation to audition in Washington DC on April 10! Wow! I have taken the test several times with scores on the low end of passing. Never really thought I would get an audition.
Should I study for this? I definitely plan to study like crazy when I am in the pool, but not sure how much I can do before April 10. So excited!
Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
Sorta. I am between Baltimore and DC, closer to Baltimore.morbeedo wrote:Preach! Are you D.C. based?Setho wrote:Congrats EJVA. Looks like another year wondering what in god's name it will take for me to get an audition. Apparently 8 consecutive tests of 40+ scores is not sufficient.EJVA wrote:I just received an invitation to audition in Washington DC on April 10! Wow! I have taken the test several times with scores on the low end of passing. Never really thought I would get an audition.
Should I study for this? I definitely plan to study like crazy when I am in the pool, but not sure how much I can do before April 10. So excited!
Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
barandall800 wrote:OK, one last time:
Online test: January 2016
Audition email: June 22
Vegas audition: July 15
The Call: February 8, 2017
(My tape date is March 8 and it will air at the end of June.)
I. Got. The. Call. I GOT THE CALL!
I don't think I saw this; although I may have seen it on Twitter?
WAY TO GO, BRANDON! Go get it.
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Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
Just got The Call!
Online Test: September 2016
Audition: January 2017
The Call: 7 March 2017
Taping: April 2017
Time to cram like never before...
Online Test: September 2016
Audition: January 2017
The Call: 7 March 2017
Taping: April 2017
Time to cram like never before...
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Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
Congrats!theamazingchong wrote:Just got The Call!
Online Test: September 2016
Audition: January 2017
The Call: 7 March 2017
Taping: April 2017
Time to cram like never before...
- Blue Lion
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Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
Congratulations! Wishing you the best!theamazingchong wrote:Just got The Call!
Online Test: September 2016
Audition: January 2017
The Call: 7 March 2017
Taping: April 2017
Time to cram like never before...
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Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
Good luck on your tape day today! May it be the first of many!barandall800 wrote: My tape date is March 8 and it will air at the end of June.
- BobF
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Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
I hope you live up to the first word in your handle!theamazingchong wrote:Just got The Call!
Online Test: September 2016
Audition: January 2017
The Call: 7 March 2017
Taping: April 2017
Time to cram like never before...
Was once hugged by Maggie Speak!
- jeff6286
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Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
The?BobF wrote:I hope you live up to the first word in your handle!theamazingchong wrote:Just got The Call!
Online Test: September 2016
Audition: January 2017
The Call: 7 March 2017
Taping: April 2017
Time to cram like never before...
Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
Yes! Be definite!
(Best of luck to you, theamazingchong.)
(Best of luck to you, theamazingchong.)
Teems with quiet fun.
- BobF
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Re: Timing of Audition Invite Emails
Hahaha, good catch. My mind often drops leading articles like the and a.jeff6286 wrote:The?BobF wrote:I hope you live up to the first word in your handle!theamazingchong wrote:Just got The Call!
Online Test: September 2016
Audition: January 2017
The Call: 7 March 2017
Taping: April 2017
Time to cram like never before...
Was once hugged by Maggie Speak!