The spellers agree -- the preliminary test this morning wasn't easy.
The first few questions weren't that bad, said Marlene Schaff, speller 66, a seventh grader from Illinois. After that, it got much harder.
After the test started, said Asritha Sure, speller 269, she gained confidence. And Thalia Nguyen, speller 8, said she relaxed as the test went on.
Martin Bautista, speller 271, said the vocabulary part was difficult.
"I didn't like it that much," the Wisconsin sixth grader said.
For Ammaar Mohammed, speller 43, some of the roots were easy to figure out. Others just made no sense.
"I think I got lucky with some guesses," said Jashun Paluru, speller 74.