2013 Jeopardy! online test thread

I took their test many years ago in the 90s when they had a contestant search event in Atlantic City. I am very good at trivia but somehow I bombed the test bad so it discouraged me from ever doing it again. Until now!

I took the test at RAF Mildenhall in 1990. Did fine on the test, but bombed the interview…

I’m supposed to take the test tonight and I don’t see where to log in. Is there a change when the time rolls around?

I’ve auditioned twice, and just now took the test again. Realistically it feels like another score in the low 40s…hopefully I’ll get another shot at the audition…

Ugh, there were some I had NO idea on. Will have to wait until the questions/answers are posted to be sure. Probably another score in the low to mid 30s. I suck at this online thing!

I felt like I did much better on this test than others, which suggests to my low self-esteem that it was easier than previous tests. Completely blanked on two questions that I knew I knew the answer to (and have blissfully forgotten one of those already), and only had one or two where I knew outright I had no clue as to the answer. We shall see.

For the first time in three online tests, I actually left one answer blank. I hope I get to audition again.

…and I just realized there was one question that I didn’t know the answer to, but which I should have made a better guess at. Which would have been right.

Does anyone have any idea what the passing score is? I think I got somewhere in the low 40s tonight, which seems like it’d be too low, but I’d rather know for sure than keep wondering.

Holy crap, I got a 42! I’ve never broken 40 before! Hell, I’ve broken 33 before!

I can’t believe it!

Where’d you get the questions/answers, Justin?

God dammit…completely flaked on taking the test. Just looked at the clock and realized I blew it.

Glad for the extra nights – have to make it up on Thursday.

Questions

  1. Novel Heroines
    This 1847 Charlotte Brontë title character gets a job as a governess

  2. Reality TV
    This supermodel has hosted “Project Runway” since 2004

  3. Scientists
    In 1955 his polio vaccine was pronounced safe and effective

  4. African Geography
    This country is bordered by Sudan to the south and Libya to the west

  5. Ivy League Schools
    Ithaca, New York is home to this university

  6. British History
    In 1838 she began her decades-long reign as queen

  7. Shakespearean Characters
    This king of the fairies likes to play with a Puck

  8. That’s My Business
    Steve Ballmer is CEO of this tech company

  9. In His Book of the Bible
    Boils sent by Satan are among the many tribulations of this man

  10. Get Your Drink On
    It’s the main alcoholic ingredient of a Cuba Libre

  11. Six-Letter Words
    A counting device using a frame set with rods and moving balls

  12. World Capitals
    It’s the capital of Ukraine

  13. Name That Movie
    Panem is the setting of this post-apocalyptic 2012 film

  14. Author! Author!
    He spent most of his 1895-97 jail sentence in Reading Gaol

  15. Ancient Rome
    The first of these three wars between Rome and Carthage began in 264 B.C.

  16. Space Exploration
    On August 6, 2012 this appropriately named robotic vehicle landed on Mars

  17. Art and Artists
    This American gave us the drip painting “Number 10, 1949”

  18. Newspapers
    The team of Woodward and Bernstein came to fame working for this newspaper

  19. Colorful Language
    It precedes “fever” and “pimpernel”

  20. 20th Century Literature
    This 1982 novel tells the story of an African-American woman named Celie

  21. 19th Century America
    Gold found on this man’s land in 1848 precipitated the California Gold Rush

  22. Online Games
    In 2010 this Zynga game “grew” to be #1 in average daily users on Facebook

  23. Novelists
    In 2011 he penned the bestseller 11/22/63

  24. Gemstones
    July’s birthstone is this red variety of corundum

  25. Mountains
    South America’s highest peak, Mt. Aconcagua, is found in this mountain range

  26. Pop Singers
    In 2010 she was “Rolling in the Deep”

  27. World Authors
    During his sailing days, this “Heart of Darkness” author may have been involved in illegal gunrunning

  28. Scientific Discoveries
    In 1953 Watson and Crick discovered the structure of this genetic molecule

  29. U.S. Cities
    It’s the capital of Wisconsin

  30. Classical Music
    This “Four Seasons” composer helped develop the Baroque concerto

  31. Rhyme Time
    An azure sneaker

  32. Canadian Postal Abbreviations
    “P.E.” stands for this Canadian province that’s off the North American mainland

  33. Early America
    These documents served as our basic charter of government from 1781 until the Constitution in 1789

  34. The Late 20th Century
    In 1991, Slovenia and Croatia became free republics, breaking away and declaring independence from this country

  35. American Lit
    Queequeg is a tattooed former criminal and harpooner in this great American novel

  36. U.S. Geography
    This southernmost U.S. state is also one of the smallest in area

  37. Cable TV
    TV shows on this cable channel include “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”

  38. Weights & Measures
    Used for measuring wheat and other grains, this unit of measure equals four pecks

  39. The elements
    Atomic number 92, this element named for a planet is an important nuclear fuel

  40. French Lit
    Works by this Algerian-born existential author include his masterpiece “The Stranger”

  41. “X” Marks the Spot
    Fear of foreigners

  42. Bodies of Water
    Though called a sea, this body of water east of the Caucasus is really the world’s largest lake

  43. Fashion
    This designing woman with the real first name Gabrielle introduced her classic “little black dress” in 1926

  44. Explorers
    A sea, a strait, and an island all bear the name of this Dane, who explored the Siberian coast in the 18th century

  45. Political Parties
    The African National Congress saw this man, its leader, elected president of South Africa in 1994

  46. Modern Fiction
    Young Susie Salmon tells her story from heaven in this Alice Sebold novel about [a/her] murder and its aftermath

  47. “D” in Science
    It’s the process of evaporating a liquid and then condensing the vapor back into a purified liquid

  48. At the Movies
    Andrew Garfield helped reboot this superhero['s?] franchise in 2012

  49. Contemporary Authors
    “Brokeback Mountain” is one of the short stories included in this author’s collection “Close Range”

  50. Starts with Two Vowels
    Home for an eagle

Answers

  1. Jane Eyre
  2. Heidi Klum
  3. Salk
  4. Egypt
  5. Cornell
  6. Victoria
  7. Oberon
  8. Microsoft
  9. Job
  10. Rum
  11. Abacus
  12. Kiev
  13. The Hunger Games
  14. Oscar Wilde
  15. Punic Wars
  16. Curiosity
  17. Jackson Pollock
  18. Washington Post
  19. Scarlet
  20. The Color Purple
  21. Sutter
  22. FarmVille
  23. Stephen King
  24. Ruby
  25. Andes
  26. Adele
  27. Conrad
  28. DNA
  29. Madison
  30. Vivaldi
  31. Blue Shoe
  32. Prince Edward Island
  33. Articles of Confederation
  34. Yugoslavia
  35. Moby Dick
  36. Hawaii
  37. Bravo
  38. Bushel
  39. Uranium
  40. Albert Camus
  41. Xenophobia
  42. Black Sea
  43. Coco Chanel
  44. Bering
  45. Nelson Mandela
  46. The Lovely Bones
  47. Distillation
  48. Amazing Spider-Man
  49. Annie Proulx
  50. Aerie

Thanks Justin! 41 right - I swear, every year I’m in the 40-42 range.

The answer to #42 is incorrect above.

It’s the Caspian Sea, not the Black Sea.

Fuck, only got 35.

Every year, it seems they go really heavy on certain categories…and it’s always shit I don’t know. Usually history or geography…this year, it was literature.

Ten literature questions…eleven if you count the Bible as literature. I got a few, but man, that’s BS. I demand more science and math questions!

(Though I guess those didn’t help me as much as I wanted, because I said plutonium was the element…fuck me, I don’t memorize atomic numbers, so I had to guess between the two.)

Hey! I got 40! 41 if they count my misspelling of #50 as Eerie. I started off badly but had a couple long strings in the middle. Switched to uranium at the last second and totally guessed on Chanel.

If those are the answers, I only got 42, my lowest ever.

  1. Missed Adele, Curiosity, ruby, Spiderman and The Lovely Bones.

I’m posses because I could even see Mark Whalberg and Stanley Tucci in that stinker of a movie. I only pulled one blank (the last).

I got a 43 last year and no invitation. I would rate this a fairly easy test as Jeopardy! tests go. I have passed the final test to get on the show three times, twice in the cattle call days and once since the online test was instituted.

The first time I took the test they let slip that a 35/50 was passing. The online test is meant in part so that people don’t drive eight hours just to be dismissed after taking the 50- question test (the first time I took the test two of us in a room of about sixty passed). Another reason, I’m sure, is that they don’t wind up with a room full of unqualified potential contestants.

Because you pass the online test doesn’t mean you will get an invitation. And because you get an invitation doesn’t mean you are on their list of “potential contestants” although they will tell you you are. If you don’t do well enough on the second 50-question test, I don’t believe they will consider you. If, when all is said and done, you meet the demographic requirements of the Contestant Coordinators, you will stand a better chance of getting on than someone like me will.

So if you are a middle-aged white man, like me, do what I do: Endeavor to persevere. If you make it on the first try, congratulations. I’ m envious, but not bitter.

Good Luck to all.

40, including some lucky guesses (Wilde, The Color Purple and Camus). Hadn’t a clue on some of them, such as Adele and The Lovely Bones.