Civic Literacy Test--interesting

[PStreet1]

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Are you more knowledgeable than the average citizen? The average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the following test was 49%; college educators
scored 55%.

Can you do better?


Take the Full Civic Literacy Exam
Intercollegiate Studies Institute - Educating for Liberty

 

[Passepartout]

I'm not even smart enough to find the test. I don't think there's much hope.

OK- Thanks Scoop for the link. I missed 4. No excuses and I'm not telling which ones.

DW got 31/33 One incorrect one was the same question Basham queried in post #12. And she messed up on What FDR threatened to do to the Supreme Court regarding the New Deal. I missed that one, too.

Jim

 

[hefleycatz]

I'm not even smart enough to find the test. I don't think there's much hope.

Jim

:rofl: :hysterical:

 

[ScoopKona]

30 of 33 -- Should have been 32 of 33. Two stupid mistakes...



The test is not hard to find: http://www.isi.org/quiz.aspx?q=FE5C3B47-9675-41E0-9CF3-072BB31E2692

 

[Ridewithme38]

Wow, i did horrible....I definately made some dumb mistakes...but somethings i really just didn't know....I haven't heard anything about the puritans since junior high history class!

You answered 22 out of 33 correctly — 66.67 %

 

[HatTrick]

31 of 33.

 

[Tia]

You answered 22 out of 33 correctly — 66.67 %

 

[DaveNV]

It said I got 22 right, but then showed me my "wrong" answers. Trouble is, some of the questions it said I answered incorrectly I know I answered right. They somehow tallied my answer wrong. So I have no idea how I truly did.

Dave

 

[heathpack]

"Only 24% of college graduates know the First Amendment prohibits establishing an official religion for the United States."

The scariest quote from the discussion section of the quiz.

H

 

[kenie]

The good part is I got 28 of 33 correct.
The bad part is I'm Canadian.

I wonder how I'd do on a Canadian version...

 

[laura1957]

24 right, 72.73%

college educators scored 55%.????

 

[ausman]

I got 25, not too bad for a non US person.

This one I disagree with:

Question:
If taxes equal government spending, then:
Your Answer: government debt is zero
Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

I think I was more right than the official answer. Shades of right, you shouldn't reduce a group question to an individual basis.

 

[DeniseM]

I got 25, not too bad for a non US person.

This one I disagree with:

Question:
If taxes equal government spending, then:
Your Answer: government debt is zero
Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

I think I was more right than the official answer. Shades of right, you shouldn't reduce a group question to an individual basis.

The reason it is incorrect is because it doesn't take into consideration the possible debt from previous years.

 

[ScoopKona]

I got 25, not too bad for a non US person.

This one I disagree with:

Question:
If taxes equal government spending, then:
Your Answer: government debt is zero
Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

I think I was more right than the official answer. Shades of right, you shouldn't reduce a group question to an individual basis.

Change "debt" to "deficit" and the answer would be correct. If we balanced our budget (first we'd have to PASS a budget), we would still have a whopping big debt to take care of. Make sense?

 

[ausman]

I do agree both answers are right.

There is no time value implied in the question, could be for the current fiscal year or the past 200.

Anyway, even with the explanations given, I still think the question could be better asked or a better alternative answer available.

Appreciate the discussion.

 

[Tacoma]

Not great 20/33 but I am Canadian as well. I'm guessing a lot of your college educators are immigrants.

 

[Steve]

I got 32 of 33 correct. The one I missed was regarding the phrase "wall of separation between church and state". I guessed on that one, and I guessed wrong.

This was a fun test. Thanks for posting it!

Steve

 

[LisaH]

I got 25, not too bad for a non US person.

This one I disagree with:

Question:
If taxes equal government spending, then:
Your Answer: government debt is zero
Correct Answer: tax per person equals government spending per person on average

I think I was more right than the official answer. Shades of right, you shouldn't reduce a group question to an individual basis.

I got 26 out of 33 correctly, not bad for someone who grew up in China and did not come to US until I was 22

I got the same wrong answer for "tax and government spending" question, and I now know why I was wrong

 

[PStreet1]

I missed two, and should have gotten the two I missed--just goes to show that reading is a good thing.

 

[BevL]

26 out of 33, another Canadian here.

 

[SpikeMauler]

26 out of 33 correct - 78.79%
Just about my H.S. average, lol. I guess I'm consistent

 

[Talent312]

Results: 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97 %
... but then, I'm a history nerd.

 

[Mosca]

The reason it is incorrect is because it doesn't take into consideration the possible debt from previous years.

I thought about that, and decided that the term "government spending" in the question included interest from previous years, and that the term "government debt" meant "current"; ie, that the question was asked in a vacuum, so to speak. I understood that the other answer, the one with averages, was also correct, but that it, too, would have to exist in a vacuum and sort of made no sense in that it was too simple. It was like asking,

"True or false: 300,000,000/300,000,000=1/1"

Well, yeah, but so what?

32/33, with that one marked as wrong, but I had my reasons.

 

[ScoopKona]

I thought about that, and decided that the term "government spending" in the question included interest from previous years, and that the term "government debt" meant "current"; ie, that the question was asked in a vacuum, so to speak. I understood that the other answer, the one with averages, was also correct, but that it, too, would have to exist in a vacuum and sort of made no sense in that it was too simple. It was like asking,

"True or false: 300,000,000/300,000,000=1/1"

Well, yeah, but so what?

32/33, with that one marked as wrong, but I had my reasons.

I owe $100,000 on my credit card. And during my current fiscal year I pay the interest, but not any of the principal on that debt. I spend exactly the same amount that I make. My revenue and expenditures are IDENTICAL this year.

Does that somehow wipe out my debt? That question had only one right answer. The other three were wrong.

 

[nightnurse613]

29/33 But I would have missed one more if I hadn't read the postings first!!:ignore: