# Are you proficient in American history? Test **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 28, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625 "2011-07-28T15:39:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/21 "2011-07-28T16:48:59Z")
Sometimes a textbook will create a “factoid” from general information. I don’t recall anyone saying the frontier closed on such and such date either. Alaska was still a frontier well into the 1940’s. I just picked the closest & most reasonable answer for the frontier question and lucked out. That usually works on multiple choice tests. 🙂 > [@mkecane](#): > > 10/10 - These seemed rather easy. The only question that gave pause was the frontier question. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/22 "2011-07-28T16:55:06Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > 10/10. I don’t think any of them really used my history knowledge but rather my critical thinking skills which ideally is a cross-discipline skillset. What he said. 10/10, too. ---
**Author:** ![2ply](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/b2d939/32.png) [@2ply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ply)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/23 "2011-07-28T16:58:13Z")
10/10 - Every single question on that test was something I was taught before high school. I remember the colonial Atlantic trade route being taught in the fifth grade, and we read the Fredrick Jackson Turner quote in the 8th. Seriously, they do teach a lot in history classes. And I went to public school. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Bosstrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstrain)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/24 "2011-07-28T17:08:31Z")
The most I’ve ever learned about history was on :eek: THE HISTORY CHANNEL! :eek: My teacher (as all teachers do) never made learning fun and exciting (probably 'cause teacher are severely underpayed and don’t enjoy their jobs). It wasn’t till I finally got away from the super boring classroom, went outside (metaphorically), and found things that I was actually interested in learning. My interests diversified when I found out that filling my head with information and knowledge could be fun. I also realized that the world expected you to be experienced, not just well trained to sit down and look at text books. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/25 "2011-07-28T17:10:38Z")
I recall a lot of repetition in my grade school and junior high history classes. Every year we went over the colonial period, the revolution, War of 1812, Civil War and so on. In grade school these were entertaining stories. Then in junior high we started analyzing the events and looking at the geopolitical factors. High school added even more layers to the same history. Freshman College history dug even deeper into the same material. Thirty years later I still remember most of it because we covered it so many times. I feel bad for kids today if they aren’t being taught history in such detail. It is very important. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/26 "2011-07-28T17:16:07Z")
10/10, and I’m not American. I did hesitate long on the “closing of the frontier” question as I’d never heard of that, but the other plausible answer (the number of Western pioneers who’d lost their farms) was too imprecise so I assumed it couldn’t be that. Also, in the triangular trade question, the one I got was the North America-West Indies trade (sugar and rum vs. grain and meat), not the transatlantic trade. ---
**Author:** ![CCYMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@CCYMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCYMan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/27 "2011-07-28T17:19:32Z")
9 out of 10. I struggled with the one about George Washington’s foreign policy. The US was young and weak and needed France’s help to win the war, so the idea that we wanted to avoid international alliances didn’t seem right. But hey, ignorance fought! ---
**Author:** ![FeAudrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/28 "2011-07-28T17:21:30Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > … I don’t recall anyone saying the frontier closed on such and such date … The _Cliff’s Notes_ version: “… the director of the U.S. Census Bureau announced that the frontier was closed. The 1890 census had shown that a frontier line, a point beyond which the population density was less than two persons per square mile, no longer existed …” [http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study\_guide/The-Closing-of-the-Frontier.topicArticleId-25238,articleId-25176.html](http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/The-Closing-of-the-Frontier.topicArticleId-25238,articleId-25176.html) I think that the colonial trade question tripped up a lot of people because the map wasn’t well-presented. Not me, but I’m an old poli sci major, history buff, and map freak (10/10, and would have been embarrassed by anything less). ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/29 "2011-07-28T17:25:47Z")
> [@FeAudrey](#): > > The _Cliff’s Notes_ version: > > “… the director of the U.S. Census Bureau announced that the frontier was closed. The 1890 census had shown that a frontier line, a point beyond which the population density was less than two persons per square mile, no longer existed …” > > [http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study\_guide/The-Closing-of-the-Frontier.topicArticleId-25238,articleId-25176.html](http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/The-Closing-of-the-Frontier.topicArticleId-25238,articleId-25176.html) And Jackson’t thesis was basically that the “Frontier” is what made the United States the United States. It gave us our independent spirit, our work ethic and it also acted as a societal safety valve. His talk came at the right time because the U.S. was in a pretty big recession at the time plus there were labor issues going on, so people grabbed on to this theory with two hands. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/30 "2011-07-28T17:34:36Z")
I missed the apprenticeship one because I thought the factory system was significant in the second half of the 1800’s but not in the first half. I recall learning as a teenager that America had essentially run out of frontier in 1890. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/31 "2011-07-28T17:38:47Z")
10/10 The only question I had a problem with was #8 with the trade route map. The image doesn’t have any of the lines labeled so I din’t know which line they were talking about but I guessed the answer I thought sounded the best and got it right. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/32 "2011-07-28T17:43:23Z")
10/10 I’m not American and I don’t recall studying American history in school. Honestly I thought the quiz seemed a bit more like general history with a small bent towards America. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/33 "2011-07-28T18:00:47Z")
I got 11 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/34 "2011-07-28T18:43:32Z")
10/10 ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/35 "2011-07-28T19:02:39Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > 8/10. I’m always wary about tests that throw in trick questions, so I second-guessed question 1 and decided the obvious answer couldn’t have been right. Also missed the Frederick Jackson Turner one. Ha! Me too, on both. I was pretty annoyed at missing the first one. ---
**Author:** ![Daerlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Daerlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daerlyn)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/36 "2011-07-28T19:12:49Z")
7/10. I’m also Canadian, though. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/37 "2011-07-28T19:26:24Z")
10/10. I got a 5 on my AP American History test in high school so I probably would’ve felt at least a bit ashamed if I got even one wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/38 "2011-07-28T19:31:17Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > 8/10. I’m always wary about tests that throw in trick questions, so I second-guessed question 1 and decided the obvious answer couldn’t have been right. Also missed the Frederick Jackson Turner one. Exactly my response to the first question, I thought it might be a ‘gotcha’ test. And I also missed the Fred Jackson Turner question. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/39 "2011-07-28T19:32:17Z")
8/10, probably because my high school teacher usually made me stay awake in class. I must have been out sick on the day they discussed trade routes. In college I mostly studied European history, so give me a quiz on the Reformation and I’d get a 10. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625/40 "2011-07-28T19:52:59Z")
9/10. I didn’t get the one about the closing of the frontier. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-proficient-in-american-history-test/590625.md?page=3)