What are...your knowledge specializations?

[Athena]

This is a follow up to the discussion in All Episodes Talk.  You can use this topic to discuss trivia and knowledge that you're good at, iffy at, what you'd like to see if you were a contestant (or again if you were), and what you would like to improve. You can even get recommendations on books, resources, and tips to expand your knowledge since it seems we have a diverse group.

 

I'll start it off:

 

My ideal categories would involve European history (including art), sociology, public health, international affairs, English literature, food, and probably some others I haven't considered.

 

My bad categories: math and all the hard sciences. I probably could do some biology, but as much as I try (I read a math books yearly), I find it hard to remember certain principles.

 

We can change the title at any time or this whole topic really. Have fun!

[pandora spocks]

My dream categories would be Psychology, American History, Classic Rock or TV Sitcoms, Word Origins, and Foreign Films.

 

My Achilles heels would be Sports, Opera, World Geography, Ballet, and the Ancient World.

 

I need to expand my horizons.

[Abstract]

Jane Austen, Shakespeare, classical music, opera, ballet, the Bible (I'd probably go for a TDD in that one no matter what), British history, especially the Tudors, American history. I usually do well on the general vocabulary categories too.

I'd be up a creek with sports of any sort, and I'm not good with geography either.

Edited July 18, 2014 by Abstract

[Prevailing Wind]

Please keep me away from "Those Darn Etruscans"

[Gilmel]

My ideal categories are literature, mostly of the pre-19th century kind, so definitely Shakespeare or anything medieval. Geography. Religions and mythology. Languages. Ancient cultures. British monarchy.

 

My bad categories are sports, music, and math. Especially when you have to do math in your head for the answer. Ugh.

[ae2]

How does everyone generally do on clues that involve word play of some sort? Do you like those categories? Things like anagrams, the word is hidden in the clue, rhymes, and I'm sure there are others.

 

My mind doesn't generally work quickly enough to come up with them before someone else does. (Actually, if I ever got on the show, I would probably be the kind of contestant that you guys hate - ringing in on nearly every clue and having to think for a second before answering.)

[Athena]

How does everyone generally do on clues that involve word play of some sort? Do you like those categories? Things like anagrams, the word is hidden in the clue, rhymes, and I'm sure there are others.

 

My mind doesn't generally work quickly enough to come up with them before someone else does. (Actually, if I ever got on the show, I would probably be the kind of contestant that you guys hate - ringing in on nearly every clue and having to think for a second before answering.)

 

I am not very good at these. Sometimes with the rhyming ones. I've always been poor at anagrams. There's also before and after which I'm not too good at either.

[Abstract]

How does everyone generally do on clues that involve word play of some sort? Do you like those categories? Things like anagrams, the word is hidden in the clue, rhymes, and I'm sure there are others.

 

My mind doesn't generally work quickly enough to come up with them before someone else does. (Actually, if I ever got on the show, I would probably be the kind of contestant that you guys hate - ringing in on nearly every clue and having to think for a second before answering.)

It depends. Sometimes I'm really quick on them, and sometimes I'm terrible.

[Etta Place]

I like the wordplay categories. I do pretty well at US history, world capitals and geography, pop culture, literature, languages. On everything else, my knowledge is of the inch-deep, mile-wide variety. I consider baseball, science, and math my worst categories.

[opus]

Your Cliff Clavin dream board:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=botdmsQilnU

[Sharpie66]

Best categories for me would be British royalty, British history, medieval history overall, military history (especially the American Revolution and Civil War, and WWII), archaeology/anthropology, U.S. presidents, Doctor Who, 1980s music, The Beatles, Astronomy/Physics, and Chicago.

 

Bad categories for me would be detailed sports questions/stadiums (but not the Olympics--I'm a geek about those stats!), modern art, some classical music (I have a smattering of knowledge there, but not as much as I would be comfortable competing with) and opera, and most wordplay categories (I just don't think that fast!).

 

What I have to study up on: just about anything in a world almanac, including geography, flags, and world leaders, pop music from 1990-today, gardening, anatomy.

[Tigershark]

Good categories for me: History in general, but especially American History; British Monarchy; Geography; math; Science, particularly categories that deal with abstract concepts of hard science, but ones that deal with scientists or technology I'm not as strong on; anything related to theater or plays, especially musicals; Presidents; Supreme Court cases; Movies, TV, and most pop culture related categories.  I also tend to do fairly well with the sports categories, particularly the baseball and football ones, but I wouldn't want to go on Sports Jeopardy.

 

Okay categories: Literature or books- I did pretty well with the ones I got in the DJ round, but then wiffed on the FJ I got on British Authors.  Wordplay categories- I'm all over the map.  Opera is a category that I usually get the lower valued clues, but not the higher valued ones.

 

Bad categories- last night there was a country music category.  That was not good.  Anything dealing with space or anatomy.  Also, Classical Music.  And World Leaders (seriously considered risking $0 when that came up in FJ.  In hindsight, I should have).  Before I was on Jeopardy, I probably would have put economics on the list because I hated that class with a passion, but the category I got wasn't that bad. 

[Totale]

I'm decent in music both classical and popular (although on pop stuff I collapse around the year 2000), books/authors/literature, pop culture, movies/theatre, technology, and the sort of general history one picks up from reading widely.  I suck at sports, military history (ain't gonna study war no more), and everything having to do with religion of all flavors,  most especially including bible studies.

[Bastet]

How does everyone generally do on clues that involve word play of some sort? Do you like those categories? Things like anagrams, the word is hidden in the clue, rhymes, and I'm sure there are others.

 

 

I love those and tend to do quite well.  Same with categories where one must do math to solve.

 

I also generally do well in categories about sports (if it's football, I'm pretty much guaranteed to run the table), the space program, most sciences, film (especially classic films), music (except I'm very spotty on the past ten years or so), the law, vocabulary, geography and capitals (with both, I'm great at US and decent at world - but definitely good enough for the modern version of the show, which has resorted to highlighting countries on a map), medical conditions, and social history.  Any category with "Women" in the title, since the clue writers draw from such a limited pool.

 

I would need to do some serious studying on religion/mythology, opera, art history, musical theatre, military history, and who was leader when.

 

Everything else, it's pretty hit and miss.

[Rick Kitchen]

What killed me when I was on the show was "German Composers".  The guy who beat me (I came in second) ran the category.  I know very little about classical music.

 

I did get a Daily Double in the category of "Fires".  The question was about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.  I got it right.

[Abstract]

After watching Thursday's show I can now confidently add country music to my list of dream categories.

[DXD526]

I thought it was funny when they had the Madonna videos category the other day. When someone is going to be on Jeopardy! they usually brush up on their history, geography, etc, to get ready. I bet no one has ever thought, "I better brush up on my knowledge of Madonna videos!"

[Athena]

For the former contestants, did you have any of those moments, "I wish I had studied more Madonna," etc. after your shows or any things you didn't need as much ie. "Well all those days with US Presidents flashcards went to waste..."?

[6 MeowMeowBeenz]

Dream category: cars--brands by make, mechanical, history...you name it. I'm a female car guy

Also sitcoms, classic rock, anything that requires a smattering of German or French, US history, a little bit of literature, sports, current events

 

Shoot me now: opera, ballet, country or rap music, anything requiring knowing which number each President was, Shakespeare after the easy ones :)

[Tigershark]

I definitely brushed up on Presidents because it comes up a lot, but that was a total waste, because I didn't get any questions pertaining to any presidents.  Maybe I should have brushed up on world leaders instead.  Two things I was glad I brushed up on were space and Canadian geography.  I got a $1000 in the Jeopardy round about Jupiter's moons and a $2000 question in the Double Jeopardy round on a lake in New Brunswick that I would not have gotten if I hadn't reviewed those categories. 

[proserpina65]

My dream categories: Opera, Music (including Classical), Shakespeare, European and Military History, Art, Television and Movies.

 

Nightmare ones: Math, Science, Politics/Government, Sports (except for Soccer and the Olympics) and, as I discovered during my Final Jeopardy, Inventors.  Thanks a lot, F**king Alex - f**king Ander f**king Graham f**king Bell (as he will forever be known in my house) and your f**king ear!

How does everyone generally do on clues that involve word play of some sort? Do you like those categories? Things like anagrams, the word is hidden in the clue, rhymes, and I'm sure there are others.

 

I hate those, mainly because, like you, I can't figure them out quickly enough.  Although I am getting better at rhyme time.

For the former contestants, did you have any of those moments, "I wish I had studied more Madonna," etc. after your shows or any things you didn't need as much ie. "Well all those days with US Presidents flashcards went to waste..."?

I wish I'd read up on the aforementioned inventor.  And a little more on government.  But mostly I wish I'd not answered stupidly on the very first question (The!  The answer is "The"!), not guessed at a couple answers late in DJ (otherwise I might've had enough to win if I'd wagered nothing on the FJ because we all got it wrong), and been picked for the game right before mine, because I knew that FJ when none of those contestants did.

[Tigershark]

Two things I should have brushed up on- Internet Slang and Dr. Seuss.  Who expects to get those categories on Jeopardy?

[Abstract]

Vocabulary categories, where all the answers start with a certain letter or contain a certain combination of letters. Those are usually good for me.