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How Smart Are you?

Nov 5th 2007Jeremy MyersUncategorized

How Smart Are You?Did you hear that most of us are pretty dumb? We’ve all seen it on Jay Leno when he asks basic political and current event questions to random people on the street and in the mall. We laugh at how ignorant they are. Well, the proof is in:

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) has just released the second study of its kind. In a measure of how well students at American colleges and universities know basic U.S. civic facts, some of the worst performers turned out to be from University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Yale, Princeton, and Duke.

ISI distributed the tests to over 14,000 college freshman and seniors at 50 American colleges and universities. The 60 question, multiple choice exam covered American history, government, international relations, and market economy.

College freshman scored an average of 50.4% on the test. Seniors’ scores were scarcely better at an average of 54.2%. All American colleges and universities failed, and some of the best in the country came out at the very bottom.

So, how smart are you? Take the test here and report back here on how you did (if you dare)! You can read more about this here: Civil Literacy Report.

And just for fun, that opening picture at the beginning of this post came from a little online IQ test you can take.

10 Comments »

10 Responses to “How Smart Are you?”

  1. David Annabell on 05 Nov 2007 at 12:12 pm #

    Jeremy, you neglected to mention what YOU scored. :)

  2. andrewrmcneill on 05 Nov 2007 at 12:40 pm #

    Gulp. I only got 41.67%. Do I get excused because I’m British? I did manage to get higher than Texas A&M average score though!

  3. Jeremy Myers on 05 Nov 2007 at 2:09 pm #

    I got 60%. My excuse is that economics, government, and political history have always been areas of ignorance for me. Also, I’m terrible at dates and geography. So, in other words, I’m pretty dumb. Ha ha.

    But the IQ test went much better for me. I was a little depressed after the ISI test result, but then I did several of the IQ tests, and now I feel pretty happy. (No, I will not post my score.) I’m not sure how reliable those IQ tests are, but if they are somewhat accurate, it just goes to show that IQ is not necessarily linked to smarts in other areas.

    What we need next is a Bible knowledge exam. If you know of a good one online, post it here in the comments section.

  4. Jeremy Myers on 05 Nov 2007 at 2:11 pm #

    By the way, Andrew, I’d say that 41.67% is fantastic for a British. If you gave me a test like this for British history and politics, I’d get about 10%.

  5. David Annabell on 05 Nov 2007 at 2:58 pm #

    OK, I am relieved to say I got 71.67%. I live in New Zealand, which is where I was educated. My degree is in Computer Science. I studied Bible in the US for 1 year, and my wife is from the US.

    I would suggest caution in drawing conclusions from the results of this test. For instance, is it more important to know which document(s) contained the phrase “separation of church and state” or understanding what the founders of the nation understood by the idea?

    For instance, the first time my (American) wife went to vote in NZ, she was horrified that the voting booth was INSIDE a church building. Yet that didn’t bother me at all.

    As usual, it is easier to test for factual knowledge than understanding. So that is what gets tested.

  6. freegraceguy on 05 Nov 2007 at 3:17 pm #

    I feel bad posting this, but I got a 90%. I always was a history buff. :0)

  7. Jeremy Myers on 05 Nov 2007 at 5:58 pm #

    Ok, I should not have asked people to post their results! Now I’m starting to feel ignorant again. Ha ha.

    David, where in NZ are you from?

  8. David Annabell on 05 Nov 2007 at 6:51 pm #

    Jeremy, glad you asked. I live in Auckland, where my family & I attend Auckland Bible Church.

    If you go to http://www.abcchurch.co.nz, choose Resources, then Sermons, you will find a photo.

  9. Pam on 13 Nov 2007 at 3:08 pm #

    Hi, everyone. Late to the party. I got an 80%, not because I’m so smart but it’s because I home school a 5th grader, and we use the A Beka program. Otherwise, I would not have done as well. :)

  10. Jeremy Myers on 14 Nov 2007 at 10:47 am #

    Pam,

    Just goes to show you that homeschooling does a good job! Thanks for participating.

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