Huh.

[camwyn]

So there's this Full Civic Literacy Exam from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute goin' around. Basically, 'are you more knowledgable than the average citizen' about all manner of stuff to do with how America works. The quiz info page says 'The average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the following test was 49%; college educators scored 55%. Can you do better? Questions were drawn from past ISI surveys, as well as other nationally recognized exams.'

I seem to've answered 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97%, it says. The one question I got wrong was about what it means if taxes equal government spending. I think I'd like to thank my grandmother, the history teacher and superpatriot daughter of immigrants, for making sure I got set on the proper path.

Quiz starts here if you're interested.

Comments

[emmasee100.livejournal.com]

I'm Australian and have never lived in the US, and got 77%. I mostly missed US history and structure of the government questions. OH, and some of the US constitution questions.

Everything I got correct, I'd picked up from reading, and general knowledge.

[wal-lace.livejournal.com]

As a Brit, I got 81.82 per cent, and was slightly disturbed by just how "capitalism, yay!" the last few questions were.

It was mostly a lack of knowledge of America's long-term economic policies that undid me.

[feonixrift.livejournal.com]

87.88%, almost entirely due to one semester of history class, though i did forget what FDR did with being a crankypants. Definitely showed my weak points though, had to think a lot hard about anything that wasn't between 1855 and 1950. (Taken on the bus, when i sshould have been taking acetaminophen instead.)

[burningofroissy.livejournal.com]

I got 81.82%. Hm.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

I got 90.91%. Missed two of the economics questions (no surprise there, as Macroeconomics was my worst class in college) and the "wall of separation" quotation.

[ceitfianna]

That's a helpful quiz, I ended up getting 84%.

[ymfaery]

Must have been too long since my last history class--I got around 78%.

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

I got 100%!

Though looking though the site, I am busy laughing at conclusion #3 of their report. "Civic Self-Education Increases Active Civic Engagement; Video Games Detract"

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

And 90% on the other quiz on that site - I didn't know what supreme court case established judicial review.

[derien.livejournal.com]

Pretty much everyone I know on LJ who lives in the US has gotten a better score than I did (a little over 72%), and I'm wondering about their 'average Americans.' Of course I do think most people I know on LJ are pretty smart... and I don't like to hang with people who are dumber than me so I guess I'm choosing the right people. ;)

[nesmith.livejournal.com]

I scored 75%, which is not too shabby considering how long it's been since my last government course--eleven years.

[quinby.livejournal.com]

I got the same score, and got the same question wrong that you did.

I see where they're getting the answer that they are, but I... I don't know. I don't think their 'right' answer is actually right. The phrasing's off.

[bodldops.livejournal.com]

81.81%, when done after a long-ass day of surgery. There's a couple where, after reading the correct answer, I kinda facepalmed and went 'yeeeeeah, I remember reading that. Oops.'

AKA no, I will never outgrow my tendency to not re-read the questions and available answers before hitting 'yes, C! Final answer! ... NO B OMFG B!'

[janewt.livejournal.com]

Huh, much to my surprise I got a 32/33 also--misplaced the "by the people, for the people" quote.

Like someone mentions above, the WOOHOO CAPITALISM section was a little weird.

[purplekitte.livejournal.com]

31/33--I disagreed with the woohoo capitalism in the international trade bits.