Here’s a 96 question test for you to see how knowledgeable you are about our country. An interesting question, given how often we hear about how bad the schools have become, is how well would the high school grads from this year would do. Another one would be how would they (or the general population) do against a group from another country? I’d like to see how candidates for President would do.
In order to become a US citizen, immigrants must pass the Naturalization Test. American citizenship bestows the right to vote, improves the likelihood of family members living in other countries to come and live in the US, gives eligibility for federal jobs, and can be a way to demonstrate loyalty to the US. Applicants must get 6 answers out of 10 in an oral exam to pass the test. According to US Citizenship and Immigration services, 92 percent of applicants pass this test.
You must get 58 or more of these test questions correct in order to pass.
Did Rick Perry pass his driving test, yet?
96 questions, 192 page reloads. Thanks!
100%, however I graduated long before no child left behind. Continually reloading the page became rather annoying after question 30.
I passed. Where do I pick up my green card?
are those the real questions? The UK citizenship test questions are much harder and who wants to live here.
I doubt it. The questions were very easy and seemed to have a skewed direction towards conservative answers. Albeit it could be subconscious on my part as it was done by the xtian science monitor.
I got a few wrong because I’m Canadian and answered politely and honestly.
Q: Who has to obey the laws of the United States?
A: Everyone except the gubament.
Annoying setup, have to click twice for every question? Still, got 92 out of 96 and two of those wrong answers were due to the confusing way the question was put and one was a misclick.
“You answered 74 of 96 questions correctly for a total score of 77%.” which I thought was pretty damn good for a Canadian ex-pat living in England ….
Question 28 has the wrong answer.
Q:
– What does the judicial branch do?
A:
1- resolves disputes
2- decides if a law goes against the Constitution
3- reviews laws
4- all of these answers
The correct answer (according to the site) is 4, but reviewing laws (enacting) is the job of the legislative branch.
The judicial branch has to apply those laws.
That one was one of the few I got wrong… pretty much for the same reason.
Got this one wrong as well. I chose #2.
The question wants to test if you know the principle of “judicial review” of laws.
Did anyone see percentile norms anywhere to see how good a given score would be? “Pass-fail” isnt very specific.
I stopped after three questions. As others have said, two clicks per question is annoying. Do advertisers really put stock into these inflated page views?
I was tripped up by the Selective Service question, but got all the rest correct. I was disappointed to see that the question listing various ways of participating in our democracy didn’t include “Compare the sitting president to Hitler.” That’s a favorite for many, and perhaps it’ll find its way into a future test.
Yeah – I got tripped up on that too.
There is a “skill” in taking tests that has nothing to do with knowing the subject matter. Take the dispute question above.
Once you see “review the law” as a confusing, ambiguous, poorly worded question, then you look at the preceding issue “decideds if the law goes against the Constitution”—in effect having the issue presented==that law review comes only by a lawsuit asking for such review. So–either #1 or #4 is correct. But #1 has the same problem as 2 and 3–disputes are only resolved by a lawsuit being brought.
So–either all the answers are wrong, or all or correct. If there had been a fifth response: None of the Above, I too would have gotten it wrong.
Ha, ha.—–ok, now with the stick out of my ass, its questions like that that get culled on review: you take the group that only missed one question====odds are one question will stand out as confusing. Delete that.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Actually, they look at the percentage of times each option was chosen, looking for a distractor (wrong answer) that is chosen much more often than the other distractors. Any time a single distractor is chosen as often as the answer we have a problem.
Some analyses compare the candidate’s overall score to the difficulty of the question, but the first approach is most common.
I failed!
I’m a Canadian. I got 85 correct and 11 wrong. Some of the answers given were actually wrong, imo. So, when to I get my citizenship papers?
That and $5 will get me a latte.
I passed. I will stay British though – safer.
Olo==you say: “Any time a single distractor is chosen as often as the answer we have a problem.” //// On the face of it, it would seem that a distractor is a popularly wrong answer? One for this test could be: “America was founded on which religious principles?”
1. Protestant Religion
2. Anti State Imposed Religious Bigotry
3. Free Market Capitalism
4. No New Taxes
5. None of the Above
I assume most would choose #1 whereas only #5 could be correct?
Well, that joke is not as “focused” as it needs to be. Isn’t it valid that a test question might invoke a popularly wrong belief in the test takers rather than a poorly worded question? Or whats the difference that should not be tested for?
I think much more emphasis needs to be given to the first 8 years of our country under the articles of incorporation. Lots to learn there about what works, what doesn’t work, and why. So many pukes want to impose those unworkable rules.
Same as it ever was.
Yeah, a subject matter expert can often trump a psychometrician, but not for high-stakes tests. In a low-stakes situation you can get away with one or two borderline questions if the test is large enough, but in a certification or ACT/SAT it can’t happen. The SME will be told to re-write or they will drop the question.
In most cases you’re writing the question to verify some training or instruction, so if the curriculum is ambiguous you have bigger issues. In any event questions on controversial subjects will result in bad stats for that item, and it gets flagged and dropped for review if it makes it past beta.
As for the first eight years…look at the Texas textbook debacle for a preview of how well that might work.
On the face of it, it would seem that a distractor is a popularly wrong answer?
True, but you generally want the available distractors chosen somewhat equally and the answer chosen most often. A never-chosen distractor makes the question too easy (one-of-three instead of one-of-four), and a distractor chosen almost as often as the answer is probably misleading or poorly taught/learned as in my earlier comment. At some level of bad test design you’re just creating a poll.
BTW, this is called item analysis. I’m no expert, but I was involved in exam development for IT certs.
I took the quiz up to #42. Got all of those right without blinking. Got bored of clicking through. Any citizen who can’t answer these needs to get exiled (Yes, I know. That is unconstitutional. I didn’t miss that one, but hell…..)
LOL. The majority of American sheeple don’t know the three branches of government but can name 3 beer brands.
Got bored of the page refreshes at Q.40
Had got 29 right and 11 wrong
Worse than I thought I would do :-
Who is the vice pres ….. guessed correctly
What party is the pres from ….. got it wrong lol
I missed one because I read it incorrectly. Got the other 96 correct.
The question I liked:
I am Dutch, and listen to NoAgenda. I got 74 of 96 correct. ’nuff said.
What a miserable format for a long test. Kudos to any who finished it. I only lasted for 10 questions!
Patiently waded through the pitiful quiz for a score of 96/96. I would hope my former civics students would do almost as well.
I did not cheat and usually the correct answer was my 2nd choice.
77%
I got them all right but one – I forgot how many amendments there were to the Constitution – I said 21. I was shocked by how easy the exam actually. How does knowing someone’s name teach you anything about government? Also, why is it important to know the name of a war and when it took place? How does that make anyone a better citizen?
I posted this to MetaFilter
http://metafilter.com/108980/Challenging-ALL-MeFites
… The hive mind will dissect and offer up productive content-related information.
90 out of 96. If that’s actually material for a citizenship exam, I think it’s reasonable. Not biased, fact based, idealistic.
Well got 88% USA here I come : P