Washington ? Ninety die-hard contestants will compete for the title of the nation’s top speller today, after surviving the crucible of Round 1 plus a grueling, 25-word written test in Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee.

The competition began early Wednesday with 250 contestants, but only 175 made it as far as the test.

Participants in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee await the start of the event in Washington. The national competition began early Wednesday with a record 250 finalists.

One of them, Sarah Brand, 12, of Knoxville, Tenn., said she studied an 18,000-word list of all the words from past spelling bees, an exercise that “helped me with a couple of the words.” She’ll continue to the final rounds.

The written test was unprecedented but necessary to reduce the competition from three days to two, organizers said. The 25 words ran the gamut from elementary (“allot,” “solvency”) to advanced (“decoupage”) to nearly impossible (“geusioleptic,” “boswellize,” “scagliola”).

Most contestants said the exam was tougher than they had anticipated.

“This was the hard part, this test,” said Michael Zivat, 14, of Chicago, as he looked over the list. “The oral rounds were easier you only had one word and you had time to think it over.”

Asked how he did, Michael shook his head. “Not too good.” He went back over many of the words, changing the spellings. “I second-guessed myself.” He didn’t make it, missing more than the nine words allowed.

As he reviewed the official list, Andy Wade, 10, of Scott Depot, W.Va., said he got 18 correct. Asked how he knew, Andy simply said, “I remembered how I spelled the words.” He was right he’ll continue on Thursday.

Abhijith Eswarappa, 14, of Memphis, Tenn., said he copied his spellings onto scrap paper and matched them with the printed list, which was “surprisingly hard, compared to the practice test.”

Abhijith, who tied for seventh place last year, said the words this year seem “somewhat harder” than last year’s. He will continue today.

Spelling bee lists are always tricky, but this year’s list has its share of humdingers, including “scrobiculate,” “escabeche,” “farinaceous,” “iatrogenic,” “psittacism” and “Nietzschean.”

Jessica Menor Palola, 14, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, didn’t make it, but she impressed the crowd earlier by slowly ticking off the many letters of “trichotillomania,” an abnormal desire to pluck out one’s hair.

Other contestants stumbled on words that would make even well-read adults pull their hair out: “soubise,” “seguidilla,” “thalassocrat,” “heaume,” “Ogygian” and “ulotrichous.”

This year’s winner takes home $12,000. The spellers come from every state except Vermont and Utah, and from several U.S. territories.