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What is your Civic Literacy?

AndrewAndrew
edited April 2008 in Politics
Here is a very good sixty question exam on civic literacy in America. I just took it and I think it would be fairly difficult to complete if you are not an American, but I think you should try it anyways. Perhaps you will learn something new.

The highest college average is Harvard with a mean of 69.46% correct.

I got a 78.33% A lot of the economic questions slipped me up.

Remember, DON'T CHEAT AND GOOGLE THE ANSWERS!! ~_^
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Comments

  • DiagorasDiagoras
    You answered 52 out of 60 correctly — 86.67 %
    Average score for this quiz during April: 67.2%
    Average score since September 18, 2007: 67.2%
  • HungryJoeHungryJoe
    83.33%
  • jccjcc
    75%. I'm satisfied. :)

    There's more to civic literacy than memorizing dates and names, though. A better test of civic literacy would be to provide a scenario that required civic literacy to solve, and then to review the answers.
  • HungryJoeHungryJoe
    There's more to civic literacy than memorizing dates and names, though.
    Sour grapes.
  • RymRym
    You answered 50 out of 60 correctly — 83.33 %

    Most of the ones I got wrong were economic questions. And no, we did not demand that Germany tear down Hadrian's wall... ^_~
  • jccjcc
    There's more to civic literacy than memorizing dates and names, though.
    Sour grapes.
    Would you say then that there isn't any more to civic literacy than memorizing dates and names? :)
  • HungryJoeHungryJoe
    The quiz didn't really even ask for dates. It asked for a range of years. You wouldn't necessarily have to know that the Berlin Wall went up in 1961 to correctly guess the range 1955-1965, especially when the other ranges were way out of place. That's a pretty forgiving way of asking for dates.
  • RymRym
    Would you say then that there isn't any more to civic literacy than memorizing dates and names?
    I'll say this. Nearly all of those "date" questions could be trivially answered with even a general knowledge of the historical periods in question: a little contextual understanding easily eliminated all of the incorrect answers.
  • ......
    Meh, stopped trying after the first 10 questions. Then kept hitting 'A' with the exception of "Tear down this wall" for that one I definitely knew.

    Result:
    You answered 17 out of 60 correctly — 28.33 %
    Seems probable, 20% chance of guessing correctly, some questions tried. 1, 6, 8, 9, 45 correct.

    Also, in what case is knowing a date useful?
  • RymRym
    edited April 2008
    Also, in what case is knowing a date useful?
    Knowing rough chronologies of important events and eras is critical to understanding history. You don't need to know that the Battle of Hastings was in 1066, for example, but you'd better damn well know that it happened during the Middle Ages, well after the Carolingian Renaissance, and before the so-called "High Middle Ages." Barring that, you at least need to know, at bare minimum, that it happened during the middle of the Middle Ages, and that it ended Albion's cultural and economic detachment from the continent and signaled the fall of Saxon rule and even much of their culture there.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • ZakoSoldierZakoSoldier
    86 and two thirds. I had one of those questions on my history test today. Which either mean that some of those are AP US History questions (since the teacher only uses AP Questions) or she took that question.
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    40/60. I hang my head in shame.

    Though I misclicked a couple of answers and was sort of half paying attention throughout the whole thing.

    Truthfully, though, while I have a rough sense of history, many details will elude me. I tend to look things up as I need them, and then reread and remember all that stuff as I need to.
  • rhinocerorhinocero
    You answered 57 out of 60 correctly — 95.00 %

    I missed "58) What is a major effect of a purchase of bonds by the Federal Reserve?", "60) The Federal government’s largest pay out over the past twenty years has been for:", and "31) Which author’s view of society is presented correctly?" (Friggin' Edmund Burke.).

    Still pretty happy with my results.
  • N15PCAN15PCA
    Got 37 out of 60.
  • SailSail
    edited April 2008
    It looks like my last history final. I don't need to take this test again, I know this stuff.
    Post edited by Sail on
  • Double ZDouble Z
    25/60, almost half.
  • onewildonewild
    37/60 61.67%, which considering I'm British I thought was pretty good, if it was a university test, well then you didn't go to a decent university since it has multiple choice questions , however if it was I would have got a 2:1.
  • thaneofcawdorthaneofcawdor
    45/60 - Not bad, considering my non-Americanity. It was the US history stuff that threw me.
  • UsagimaruUsagimaru
    40/60 - I'd consider it pretty good, considering I got a C in the only real History class I've ever had.
  • ThaedThaed
    You answered 51 out of 60 correctly — 85.00 %
    Average score for this quiz during April: 67.0%
    Average score since September 18, 2007: 67.0%
  • CremlianCremlian
    You answered 47 out of 60 correctly — 78.33 %

    I missed the abortion question because I thought the one case actually restricted parental consent... whoops

    and for some reason I placed Jamestown in the 1500...
  • EsonLinjiEsonLinji
    50/60

    A few I kind of half guessed with only a little information. I got when was "Lincoln's presidency?" by vaguely remembering that the last of the civil war veterans were still around a little while ago.
  • StarfoxStarfox
    What? What do you define as "a little while ago"? The civil war was in the 1860s. If you were fighting you were at least a late teenager. So that puts your birthday in the 1840s. You would be about 160 years old now. They've all been dead for a long time.

    Well, all of them except Edmund. But he was already old when that war started.
  • rhinocerorhinocero
    They've been dead for probably 50 or 60 years, that's not that long.
  • AmettoAmetto
    I got 31 right. If this were an art history test, I would've done much better.
  • Armchair-CitizenArmchair-Citizen
    I got 53 correct - I have just completed a U.S. History course, (perhaps the 5th in the dismal public cirriculum), so I may have had a slight advantage.
  • ΣπεκωσποκΣπεκωσποκ
    47/60 - 78.33%
  • Linkigi(Link-ee-jee)Linkigi(Link-ee-jee)
    Fifty correct. Not bad, considering that I don't take AP US until next year.
  • SailSail
    Yeah. This test really isn't intended for people like us who are still in high school. All this sort of stuff is fresh in our minds.
  • HungryJoeHungryJoe
    Well, all of them except Edmund. But he was already old when that war started.
    I'm really not that old. I barely remember any stuff that happened before indoor plumbing became common.
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