Comments on: Test your civic knowledge

By: tx2vadem

tx2vadem — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:36:28 +0000

Great website link! Thanks!

I got 33/33, 100%! I should be in government! Though I fail to see how knowing anything about the Puritans helps me in my daily life. =)

By: Alter of Freedom

Alter of Freedom — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:28:40 +0000

32/33- managed to botch the Gettysburg Address answer but admittedly guessed on the Monkey Trial and philosophical question.
I would have liked to see a “civics” vs. “politics” question givern so many people believe they are the same thing.

By: Anon E. Mouse

Anon E. Mouse — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:39:38 +0000

By: LittleDavid

LittleDavid — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:37:58 +0000

Something tells me that we primed the pump by telling all of these high recent result owners which questions to pay particular attention to.

As for the higher online results, if you notice every month you can retake the test and then have your improved result (after experience) added to the average. Better confidence could be given to results from tests that were honestly administered in the blind.

As for me? I’ll put my AFQT (I never took the LSAT, ACT or SAT) results against any of you. I’ll only say that my scores were so high when I took the test before I completed high school the military suspected cheating. They made me retake the test once I got into boot camp. Under perfect conditions (plenty of exercise, three squares a day and adequate rest) I then scored even higher.

Pehaps it is wrong for me to toot my own horn. But I feel I am just joining others in the concert.

By: Don Tabor

Don Tabor — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:55:57 +0000

The only really clear result from the test is that the people who should be running the country are blogging instead.

By: Newport News Dem

Newport News Dem — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:33:40 +0000

got ‘em all…. )

By: MB

MB — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:07:47 +0000

It’s not a trick question, David. It’s a question of logic. Just because A *may* be true, it doesn’t mean it *is* true. The ratio is the only answer that must be true, given the information presented.

LSAT, trick questions? I wouldn’t say so. But neither would I call myself an LSAT defender. It is what it is.

I – out of sloppiness – missed the Gettysburg Address question. Eh. I don’t think it was a particularly challenging exam, but I do understand some objections to a couple of the economics questions.

And I’ve got the LSAT (and ACT, and SAT) scores to back it up. You can’t be as lazy as I am and get into decent schools without a talent for silly multiple choice standardized tests

By: Randy Klear

Randy Klear — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:57:45 +0000

You answered 33 out of 33 correctly — 100.00 %

Average score for this quiz during November: 77.8%
Average score: 77.8%

Evidently people taking the test online aren’t getting the same results as “average people”.

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:14:50 +0000

You answered 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97 %

Missed #31 – ugh.

By: LittleDavid

LittleDavid — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:41:14 +0000

MB,

I am unfamiliar with the LSAT. Is the LSAT full of trick questions?

Can you be honest with us and tell us just how many you (you LSAT defender) got right?

Be truthful now. We’re not going to believe 100% unless you have the LSAT scores to back it up.

By: MB

MB — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:25:12 +0000

33 is classic LSAT question. The ratio answer was the only one that could have been true, given the info provided.

By: aznew

aznew — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:06:58 +0000

Dang. Got 30/33. Also got fooled by #33, as well as the question on Puritans and and on Plato, et al.

Apparently, I’m over qualified to be both an elected official or a college professor, which is just as well since neither of those careers is a realistic option for me anyhow.

By: LittleDavid

LittleDavid — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:52:21 +0000

I got only 29 out of 33 correct, 87.88%.

I will admit I got lucky on a couple of answers with educated (uneducated?) guesses. For example I was surprised I didn’t get the Lincoln/Douglas debate issue wrong.

I agree #33 was a bad, or at least a trick, question. I answered “Government debt is zero” on that one. OK, OK, debt could refer to prior years’ spending and that answer would have been correct only if the word “deficit” was used instead of “debt”. But I bet that question is amongst the most missed.

By: spotter

spotter — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:35:55 +0000

31/33. 93.94%.

The economics questions should be worded more clearly.

By: MB

MB — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:41:29 +0000

If the average score was indeed 49%, we’re getting painfully close to losing one of the (essential, I believe) pillars of democracy – an informed populace.

By: Don Tabor

Don Tabor — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:45:49 +0000

93.94%

#33 was phrased so badly I suspect that accounts for a lot of randomness in the results.

But if elected officials are scoring anything less than 90%, that explains a lot.

By: virginiadem

virginiadem — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:39:19 +0000

“You answered 31 out of 33 correctly — 93.94 %”

By: CR UVa

CR UVa — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:29:33 +0000

Tough quiz, particularly when the economic questions came up, but I still managed to get 27 right. Clearly, though, I managed to do just fine despite the average politician or educator.