Take the civics quiz

[pokerfan]

Test your knowledge by answering the sixty multiple-choice questions below. You must answer all questions. When you are finished, use the button at the bottom to submit your quiz for scoring.

You will be given a score for the number of questions you answered correctly. For those questions you missed, the appropriate answer will be provided.

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx

[QueenOfCalifornia]

1. OMG

Yikes

[pokerfan]

2. That was fast!

[ghostsofgiants]

3. I would, but I don't know shit about cars.

[some guy]

4. 49 of 60 = - 81+ % n/t

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. Eee gads, I am appalled by my results. 86.67%

It was the economics questions that nailed me. I was a C student in college in Economics 101 and 102 required for my Politics major. No f-ing wonder. Oh well, I guess I'm still above average so my ego is relatively intact.

[supernova]

9. Same here

Econ theory isn't my specialty. Didn't study it at all, but I got most of the history/gov't questions.

[CTyankee]

31. I had one Econ course in grad school. Hated it. But it did save my butt

on the questions involving Keynes and Adam Smith.

I too got the 86.67% score, but I loved history all throughout school so I paid attention.

We were required to take Civics in Jr. High so we could learn about the system and structure of our government. That was a long time ago...

[pokerfan]

6. 53

but I blew most of the economics questions as well as some others.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

7. I just took this thing

and it is waaaay harder than "Whose burried in Grant's tomb"

I scored higher than the average but I thought I was doing way better than the grade I got...

I dare you guys to take this without saying WTF? to some of the questions....

[hfojvt]

21. the only question that really made me say 'WTF'

was the one about 'just war', and the answer makes no sense to me. According to that screwball theory, a war is a "just" war whenever a King or a President says it is.

[tjwmason]

25. Necessary but not sufficient condition.

I do object to the wording of the question - it suggests that there is this glorious "just war theory" thing out there, whereas the reality is that most people have conceptions of what makes a war just or unjust and many have expressed different ideas on it.

That said, by a process of elimination D is the only commonly accepted answer. Of course every version of just war includes other criteria which needs to be satisfied as well, or it would be precisely as bonkers as you suggest.

[hfojvt]

30. it still seems bonkers to me

because it implies that a war of revolution against a despot is an 'unjust' war.

[pokerfan]

34. Wiki actually has a prety good article on the subject

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_war#When_is_a_war_just_by_the_criteria_of_Just_War_theory.3F_.28jus_ad_bellum.29

Copied from a polysci text, no doubt.

[supernova]

8. 81.67%

You answered 49 out of 60 correctly — 81.67 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 75.0%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 75.0%
You can take the quiz as often as you like, however, your score will only count once toward the monthly average.

[YankeyMCC]

10. Did that yesterday 86.6%

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=6946578&mesg_id=6946578

[QueenOfCalifornia]

11. I'm impressed

I did good with the history but the economics part made me cry like a little girl.

[huskerlaw]

12. Ouch. 68.33%

Economics and theory killed me.

[Burma Jones]

39. Still better than most of the Ivy League........

[Va Lefty]

13. 85%

economics and economic theory has never been my strong suit

[RubyDuby in GA]

14. 93% - It was the economics that killed me

I was just hoping for a decent result or I wasted thousands of dollars getting that degree in History.

[Deep13]

15. 88.33% or 53 out of 60. nt

[SoxFan]

16. Who da man?!?!?

You answered 57 out of 60 correctly — 95.00 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 75.0%


:puffpiece:

[RubyDuby in GA]

18. Excellent!

I tip my hat to you sir!

[terrya]

17. 83.33% correct.

I guess that's ok.

You answered 50 out of 60 correctly — 83.33 %

[hfojvt]

19. I got 90% but it seems more about history than civics

I didn't know about Marbury vs. Madison, and got the Cuban missile crisis question wrong :blush:

I kinda dispute question #55

55) Over the past forty years, real income among American households has:
A. remained the same when averaged over all households.
B. involved the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.
C. involved the poor getting richer and the rich getting poorer.
D. decreased for the middle class and increased for the upper class.
E. increased for the lower and middle classes and increased most for the upper class.

At least, according to my e-mail signature line (see below) B is closer to the truth than E. Although it may be tricky because they go back 40 years and Kuttner only goes back 30 or 37. Also the share of aggregate income which the bottom 20% receives has fallen from 4.2% in 1968 to 3.5% in 2001 (and probably lower now). So the poor are certainly poorer - in relative terms, than they were in the 1960s and 1970s.

"the incomes of the richest 300,000 Americans, adjusted for inflation, more than tripled between 1970 and 2000. Incomes of the bottom 270 million Americans -- 9 Americans in 10 -- were basically flat. The real incomes of the working poor fell." Robert Kuttner

[no name no slogan]

20. 90% -- 54/60

I should have done better but I'm at work and in a hurry
/ PoliSci major in college, a looooong time ago

[tjwmason]

22. Official score - 95%

57/60 - however I disagree with two of the answers which it states I got wrong.

[Burma Jones]

26. Was one of them #55?

[tjwmason]

29. Nope

I could tell what answer they wanted me to give there.

But I would like to have a discussion with the author on the definitions used to produce their answer - it is right if you put the boundaries in the 'right' place...that's the problem. Also when the chosen criterion is "real income" it produces a pretty meaningless statistic because it is essentially analysing a group without reference to its situation (in this case, in a society of fast growing prosperity...and thus growing alienation and societal isolation on the part of the poorest sections of society).

[Burma Jones]

23. 95% 57 out of 60

You answered 57 out of 60 correctly — 95.00 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 75.0%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 75.0%

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 [e-mail].
You can consult the following table to see how freshmen and seniors scored on each question as part of the survey administration.

Where to from here?
Answers to Your Missed Questions:
Question #36 - D. The authority of a legitimate sovereign.
Question #55 - E. increased for the lower and middle classes and increased most for the upper class.
Question #58 - B. An increase in the volume of commercial bank loans.

[SoxFan]

35. #58

Did ANYONE get that one right???

[hfojvt]

36. I did. Apparently it helped a little bit to be an econ major.

But I still foolishly got the budget question wrong and also question #55 which I disputed above.

[billyskank]

24. You answered 43 out of 60 correctly — 71.67 %

Is that good?

[Burma Jones]

27. In case you were feeling bad about a low score........

Check this out, it's the ranking of how Seniors did on the same quiz:
http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/report/rankings.html

NO COLLEGE EARNED BETTER THAN A “D+”
Rank College Mean Senior Score (2006) (% correct)
1. Harvard University 69.56%
2. Grove City College (PA) 67.26
3. Washington & Lee University (VA) 66.98
4. Yale University 65.85
5. Brown University 65.64
6. University of Virginia 65.28
7. Wheaton College (IL) 64.98
8. University of Pennsylvania 63.49
9. Duke University 63.41
10. Bowdoin College (ME) 62.86
11. Princeton University 61.90
12. University of Notre Dame 61.25
13. Rhodes College (TN) 61.18
14. Smith College (MA) 60.07
15. University of Rochester (NY)* 59.32
16. University of Wisconsin 57.87
17. University of Georgia* 57.76
18. University of North Carolina 57.68
19. Cornell University 56.95
20. Carnegie Mellon University* 56.90

[billyskank]

28. Go the english dude!

Who knew?

[SteppingRazor]

32. Took this a few days back when a friend posted it on his blog.

Got four wrong.

[UTUSN]

33. 50/60 = 83+ n/t

[Parche]

37. WOW

You answered 37 out of 60 correctly — 61.67 %
Average score for this quiz during September: 74.9%
Average score since September 18, 2007: 74.9%

You can take the quiz as often as you like, however, your score will only count once toward the monthly average.
:hi:

[martymar64]

38. It doesn't work for Macs

I answered all the questions, but it says I skipped them all.

WTF!!!!

MS trash!!!

(on Edit) I did miss a question. I got 88.33%
Mostly missed on Econ questions.