Jeopardy Contestants?

My Dad and I are discussing the television game, "Jeopardy." I believe the contestants study prior to coming on the show. It is my guess the show's staff gives each contestant specific categories that will be presented on the show; therefore allowing the contestants the ability to prepare through study material prior to competing on the show. Does anyone know what the preparation consists of prior to the contestants' arrival, if any? Thanks.Jeopardy Contestants?
no they don't prep the contestants by letting them know the categories, it's random. here's how it works, you take the online test, if you do well enough they call for an in-person interview and another test, if they like you, you get to go do the show, they do a couple mock games so you get the feel for the buzzer and how quick the game actually goes, then you go on tv. But at no time, do they give you the categories to prep ahead of time, some people just actually know those random things that no one else knows.Jeopardy Contestants?
Yes they study but are not told what to study. Read the books by Bob Harris (Prisoner of Trebekistan) and Ken Jennings--don't remember the name of that and you will see how they prepared.

Ken Jennings was kind of a ringer, because he did Quiz Bowl in college, and continues to write questions for Quiz Bowls. But, when he made the cut to get on the show, he studied up a lot.

Bob Harris was lucky, he got on and won a game sort of randomly, then he was told to come back in a few months because there was a break. So he took that time to study.

Ken Jennings, being a Mormon, knows nothing about "potent potables", a frequent category. But, once he started going on the game he had his wife ask him questions from a bartender's guide.

I myself recently took the online test and "may" have done well enough to get called in. I did some studying but knew a lot of the information just from years of reading, etc.

If you watch the game more than a few times you know certain categories repeat over and over, you need to know Bible, mythology, literature, state capitals, certain things like that. One weird thing I did do was I thought, ok there are often questions about Canada so I memorized the capitals and their provinces. And, I actually walked into my computer room to take the test repeating "Regina Saskatchewan" to myself and lo and behold that exact ? was on the test. Weird.Jeopardy Contestants?
no, if they did Watson would have answered everything correctly