How important is the written test?

An 8 is considered satisfactory which is what I got on my test. If your energy was good, then I'd have hope. It's all about patience at this point. So I guess just wait for the mail.

I probably only got half right on the written test, I was asked to stay for the 2nd part. I did much better with the ones on the screen, solving two. I’m also a rule follower, so I did everything they told us to

I've actually wondered that too. If you read through the test and you were pretty confident you had a perfect score, would it be better to throw one or two just to make yourself a little less of an eyebrow-raiser? Obviously there's nothing too weird about a regular viewer recognizing every puzzle given that they come from the show itself, but would they be less inclined to take you if they think you're a word animal who is going to run roughshod over two regular people? (Obviously this can still happen as per your example but I wonder how much they seek to limit it!)

It took me two final auditions to make it on the show. The first time, I got 14/16 on the test. One of them I genuinely did not know (B&A: STAND PAT SAJAK; never heard the term "stand pat" before then, so I guessed STONE PAT SAJAK ), and the other I struggled with partially because I'm 99% sure that they accidentally only gave us one of the two N's in BILL CLINTON (__LL CL____N), so that threw me off and I just filled in "BILL CLEMMON", not even realizing it was supposed to be CLINTON until discussing it with others afterward.

Second time, I got 16/16 and didn't even think about throwing any answers, but I did make sure to spend the rest of the time double and triple checking my answers, even pretending to erase and rewrite letters, rather than being like the know-it-all kid in class who sits up straight and awkwardly looks around the room waiting for "pencils down".

I think the reason I didn't make it the first time was because I was told that I didn't have a "million dollar smile" when I was playing, and because I didn't wait for the room's applause to die down when calling a T, so it was misheard as Z (which was still there) and I corrected them, which was a dumb thing to do in retrospect. They scolded me for not being clear enough on that call, but that was one thing I really made sure to improve on the second time.

Took awhile but proud to report that 7 correct (with a few other random words filled in) was enough to make the cut!

Way to go!

Good stuff! Let us know when you air!

Congrats! 🎉