Are you scientifically literate? Take our quiz

CSM ^ | 12/11/12 | Eoin O'Carroll, Staff

[P.O.E.]

50 questions, no fair googling. You may use a pencil & paper. Advisory: takes at least 100 clicks to get through all 50 questions. Mostly high school stuff back in the day, but nowadays.... I got the newtons question wrong.

[eclecticEel]

Well, I’d probably get them all, but my finger crapped out around click number 21.

[justlurking]

36 right out of 50. I didn't look up any, although I haven't had to remember some of them for 30 years.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks P.O.E.

An “extra, extra” ping to the APoD list members.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks P.O.E.

Shoot, I only got four right.

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks P.O.E.

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks P.O.E.

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[I see my hands]

I think the questions are so simple because it's really a test of how easily one can be manipulated to pursue a frivolous goal. They got me to go 7 in.

[napscoordinator]

This test tells me not to change my day job. Sure high school stuff that for me was 25 years ago. i took some science courses in college too but man some of that was familiar but I got a lot of questions wrong. You say you only got one wrong? I feel REALLY REALLY dumb. I would imagine that most FREEPERS will do well on the test. I on the other hand....well I am just happy to be part of such a great group of people.

[EEGator]

44 out of 50. I should have done better for being a senior in engineering...oh well, maybe I’ll be management.

[mamelukesabre]

That site bogs down my computer. I’d say they are up to something. Too much snooping into my computer.

[I Shall Endure]

40 out of 50.

[dsrtsage]

46/50. Should have got 47, lol

[El Sordo]

41 correct. Mainly flubbed biology and astronomy questions.

[arrogantsob]

No high school kids (other than the scientifically oriented) would have done even as well as I “even back in the day”. And my score was not impressive 37-50. They might have remembered the difference between a watt and a joule for about a month. Or fluorine vs bromine. Even in the 60s (and I was well taught in the sciences, enough to make my living in labs on occasion) a lot of this was not taught except in the advanced courses.

In those days Earth Science was about as far as science was taught to the typical student, along with algebra. Today’s better public schools teach adv. physics and chemistry, adv. calculus and adv. statistics. Way beyond what we had available. I never had any calculus until college.

[arrogantsob]

My guess is even freepers would only get about half right. But what would you expect when these subjects are 30 to 40 yrs in the past unless you are in the sciences.

[thecodont]

Out of 50 questions, 42 right. I took this same online exam a month or so ago.

[Melas]

46. However, I want to note that I figured out a lot of them where I was clueless by the generous clues they gave. I scored 46 pretty much on my knowledge of Latin, Greek, mythology and history, not science. Not a good quiz IMHO.

[crazyhorse691]

20 right out of the first 20, then, I got bored by the slow response time and the double clicking.

[21stCenturion]

49 of 50.

Didn’t get the Newtons conversion ...

21stCenturion

[Swordmaker]

45 Right out of 50... blush... I am going to have to brush up on some modern developments of scientific history. . . and one brain fart about nanometers. Might have something to do with recovering from a nasty bout with the flu. With this one even my HAIR ached!

[Fledermaus]

I got 42 correct with another three missed on a 50/50 guess.

[CtBigPat]

43 out of 50.

[Vendome]

got 17 out of 25.

My ADD won’t let me finish.

[gogogodzilla]

40 right, 10 wrong.

Not bad...

15 years in the USAF, now a MSgt.

[stylin19a]

well, once again I blew up the lab...

[MadJack]

32. Am I scientifically illiterate enough to qualify for a job in government?

[rfp1234]

50 but what a pain with all the popups. They should give extra credit for using Explorer.

And I'll bet Santorum would get a higher score than 0bambi, because the former likely studied plenty of Latin while the latter was dawdling on the couch wearing a straw hat.

[Mugwump]

Argh! Flunked. I only got two-thirds right

[Mugwump]

Argh! Flunked. I only got two-thirds right

[Mugwump]

Argh! Flunked. I only got two-thirds right

[Mugwump]

...And I only hit “post” once.

[MrEdd]

alas, only 34 out of 50.

Dag nab it my mind is slipping.

[Steve Van Doorn]

Got board answering questions at about 25 missed 1 question which i think I was right. I knew it was atomic number 8 which if I just went with that I would have gotten it right but they claimed it was the most abundant atom on earth. After that question I knew this was a waste of time

[mtrott]

Doh! 30 out of 50. I guess that’s what happens when you were a Humanities major—in the 1970s!

[GATOR NAVY]

40 out of 50.

Me too.

[HeartlandOfAmerica]

Sigh. 39/50. Thought I’d do better. But could have done MUCH worse I suppose ;)

[hattend]

39 of 50

Not bad I guess considering I never took Chemistry

[Billthedrill]

47. I missed the one about Algore being the savior of the universe. My bad.

[Quix]

Welllllllll

for some foolish reason . . .

even though I never took chemistry;

dropped out of physics in high school after a couple of weeks;

am fairly poor at complex math;

And don’t know a lot about a lot of science . . .

somehow, I still managed to score 66%.

LOL.

[Beowulf9]

I got 21 out of 50.

That qualifies me to be a Democrat, and must’ve voted for Al Gore.

I’m going off to occupy Wall Street now, oh, wait. It’s cold in NY. I’m going off to occupy mom’s house.

[SuziQ]

Well I only got 58%, but I’m proud of that! Some of those questions were difficult! I should pay more attention to the science shows my husband and kids watch all the time. ;o)

[lkco]

46/50. My last two degrees were in finance, but my first was in microbiology. However, I have an unfair advantage ... our son is a high school senior with plans to major in theoretical physics ... imagine our dinner conversations.

[gleeaikin]

Well I got the first 5 right before my computer jumped back to the post page. Now my guy is yelling it is way past our bedtime. Oh, well tomorrow is another day.

[gleeaikin]

With 50 right I just had to check out your home page. What fun. ;-)

[Publius6961]

43 out of 50, which may or may not answer the question, since no definition of "literate" is suggested.
Other factors coming into play is that I never took academic courses in biology, astronomy or genetics, but am self-taught.

With my 5 year-old computer, I give myself top grades for patience and endurance, as it took 1hr-45m to complete the quiz in the middle of the freaking night.

[skinkinthegrass]

?

[SirKit]

Got 49 of 50. Missed the question on the meaning of Nimbus.
Quite challenging for an on-line quiz. I liked the fact that it really was a science quiz, and not a science “news” quiz.

[ADemocratNoMore]

bttt

[Tarantulas]

That was fun, thanks for posting. With a score of 37, it’s a good thing no one is depending on me to make scientific advances.