How is your civics knowledge?
By and large, our collective (American) civics knowledge sucks, to the tune of 49% correct on the 2008 version of the basic civics quiz published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
Click here to take the quiz. There are 33 questions, and the whole thing will probably take you eight to ten minutes. Take it closed book.
If you’re so inclined, come back and share your score (be honest!). I got 28 out of 33 correct, or 84.85%. I’ll accept that with minimal grousing, I suppose. If some interesting discussion develops, I’ll share which ones I missed.
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I got 29, 87.88%.
But what do I know?
You answered 30 out of 33 correctly — 90.91 %
Average score for this quiz during November: 78.1%
Average score: 78.1%
You can take the quiz as often as you like, however, your score will only count once toward the monthly average.
If you have any comments or questions about the quiz, please email americancivicliteracy@isi.org.
You can consult the following table to see how citizens and elected officials scored on each question.
Where to from here?
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #7 – D. Gettysburg Address
Question #10 – C. Religion
Question #14 – B. stressed the sinfulness of all humanity
I got’em all… I have very little to do with my time these days.
I also got 84.85%. I think I read somewhere that it was our leaders in Washington who only averaged 49 percent on this test. Oddly enough I learned most of this stuff via discussions and articles I found on the internet and not in school.
87.88% – the ones I missed were most definitely in the I have no idea so I’m making a wild guess category. I did really have to think a while on some of them (and they were probably wild guesses that were lucky).
You answered 29 out of 33 correctly — 87.88 %
Could’ve tipped me over with a feather, because that was a bear of a test. Guess I remembered more from high school history and college political science than I realized.
I’m delighted to see so many great scores. What a smartified readership have I. 🙂
My misses were:
Question #8 – C. appoint additional Supreme Court justices who shared
his views
Question #11 – A. their arguments helped lead to the adoption of the
Bill of Rights
Question #30 – C. decreasing taxes and increasing spending
Question #31 – A. an increase in a nation’s productivity
Question #33 – D. tax per person equals government spending per person
81.82%. Well at least I’m above average. I need to read the Federalist Papers. But I’ll bet I’m older than the rest of you, so my brain is starting to leak knowledge now.
Cheryl: You’re on the younger side of the median in the crowd above. 🙂
You answered 31 out of 33 correctly — 93.94 % (missed 13 and 29)
I got 30 out of 33 (90.91%).
So maybe I actually did learn something in Coach Sizemore’s government class besides how to break down football film…
You answered 30 out of 33 correctly — 90.91 %
I missed questions about economics:
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #27 – A. the price system utilizes more local knowledge of means and ends
Question #31 – A. an increase in a nation’s productivity
Question #33 – D. tax per person equals government spending per person
You answered 29 out of 33 correctly — 87.88 %
Average score for this quiz during November: 78.1%
Average score: 78.1%
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #10 – C. Religion
Question #13 – E. certain permanent moral and political truths are accessible to human reason
Question #26 – C. revenue minus expenses
Question #27 – A. the price system utilizes more local knowledge of means and ends
You answered 28 out of 33 correctly — 84.85 %
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #4 – B. Would slavery be allowed to expand to new territories?
Question #8 – C. appoint additional Supreme Court justices who shared his views
Question #13 – E. certain permanent moral and political truths are accessible to human reason
Question #14 – B. stressed the sinfulness of all humanity
Question #27 – A. the price system utilizes more local knowledge of means and ends
You answered 28 out of 33 correctly — 84.85 %
28 out of 33. Better than I thought I’d do, to be honest.
You answered 30 out of 33 correctly — 90.91 %
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #29 – B. a resident can benefit from it without directly paying for it
Question #32 – C. buying or selling government securities
Question #33 – D. tax per person equals government spending per person
The part of this that is scary, other than how bad the general public does, is that elected officials do so much worse! Did you happen to go to that results page?
http://americancivicliteracy.org/2008/additional_finding.html
Good grief! Only 15.07% knew the source of the phrase “a wall of separation…”