Two NIU students were excited and hopeful when they were chosen to be tested for possible participation in the upcoming College Jeopardy Tournament.

One of those students, Amy Davis, said, “Well, I watch Jeopardy as much as I can and one day they showed an address where people could send in postcards for the college tournament.

“From all the postcards they receive nationwide they pick people at random. I was just lucky at this point,” she said.

Then Davis, a 39-year-old senior, had to go to the Westin Hotel in Chicago (the Mid-Western Training Center) for the priliminary testing.

“The test was on a television monitor,” Davis said. “Alex Trebek’s (Jeopardy’s host) voice was used to ask the questions while they simultaneously appeared on the monitor.

“Each question was from a different category so your overall knowledge was tested. So that everyone had an equal amount of time to answer there was a 10 second time limit. Either you got it right or you didn’t,” she said.

About 50 people were at the testing site. All the questions they were tested on were worth $800 to $1000 (in an actual Jeopardy show these are the most difficult questions), Davis said.

Unfortunately Amy Davis did not pass the test and was not able to go to the next phase. She said, however, that the test made her appreciate the importance of general education courses.

“In my group there were about seven people who passed the test. Out of the entire nation they only select 15 people. Those 15 then have to take another test,” she said.

“While they were grading the tests Alex Trebeck came out and talked to us. He’s so nice,” she said.

If a person actually makes it to the preliminary testing Griffin productions (the show’s production company) pays his airfare and accomodations in California, where Jeopardy is taped. “No matter what you win you still get $1000,” Davis said.

Tom Ryan, an aquaintence of Davis and a NIU student, took the test but was also unsuccessful.

Ryan and Davis prepared for the test by playing Jeopardy on their computer.

The test was “kind of grueling and it was really nice to meet Alex Trebeck. It (taking the test) was worth it. I had a good time,” he said.