Sign Up<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cMy family has been telling me for years to take what\u2019s called the \u2018anytime test\u2019 \u2014 the first step that you take to getting on the show,\u201d Patel added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She explained that she was in \u201ccomplete shock\u201d upon receiving an invitation to compete on the show.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When she received a phone call with the invitation, she was still completing her Master of Science in Applied Digital Health at the University of Oxford.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely a little bit hectic, but honestly, I was just excited by the prospect of getting to have this experience,\u201d Patel said.<\/p>\n
Before the trivia show, Patel watched old episodes of \u201cJeopardy!\u201d and read books on a variety of topics. She compared her study technique before the competition to the preparation she undertook before a high school history competition and spelling bee, adding that she worked through large trivia question banks.<\/p>\n
She also attributed a \u201cbig part\u201d of her preparation to her time at Penn.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely got exposed to a wide range of different topics and a wide range of knowledge while I was at Penn,\u201d Patel said. \u201cA lot of the knowledge that I just accumulated over the years was what I used to prepare.\u201d<\/p>\n
During a portion of the episode dedicated to contestant interviews, she shared a story about a bioengineering course at Penn that included a cockroach lab. Patel expressed that she was happy to see members of the Penn community \u201crespond\u201d and \u201crelate\u201d to her story online since the episode aired.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Patel explained that competing in the show introduced new layers to her understanding of the show \u2014 especially with the added component of using a buzzer to answer questions. Once the host has finished reading aloud a clue, contestants must be the first to click a buzzer in order to deliver the answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is really hard to buzz in on time,\u201d Patel explained. \u201cEven if you know the answer, sometimes you\u2019re not the person that gets the answer just because of how quick you have to be on the buzzer.\u201d<\/p>\n
While she initially felt \u201ca little nervous,\u201d she was eventually able to calm her nerves throughout the episode.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way I kept myself pretty calm was just remembering that this is an extension of something that I already really like and enjoy,\u201d Patel said.<\/p>\n
Beyond the trivia game itself, one of the most meaningful parts of the competition for Patel was forming friendships with the other contestants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually did gain people in my life that I genuinely feel are newfound friends,\u201d she said. \u201cObviously we are competitors when we filmed, but everybody there was genuinely so lovely, and we all came out as friends.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She and her fellow contestants formed a group chat and continue to stay in contact with each other, exchanging book and travel recommendations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowledge and trivia can be really fun, and it can bring people together.\u201d Patel added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last year, 2025 College graduate Shaan Mishra championed<\/a> \u201cJeopardy!\u201d<\/p>\nMishra competed against three-time defending champion and 2007 University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School graduate Tom Devlin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2025 School of Engineering and Applied Science graduate Kayla Patel appeared as a contestant on \u201cJeopardy!\u201d last week.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-314317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}