# Civic Literacy Test - Mentioned in USA Today **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 12, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078 "2008-04-12T21:04:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/141 "2009-01-12T04:10:05Z")
93.94% . Not bad for a Frenchman, so I can boast. I got wrong the Gettysburg address and the federalists. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/142 "2009-01-12T04:24:25Z")
I got 90.91%, or 30 out of 33. I missed 14, 26, and 33, 14 because I’m not a religion major (I thought the Puritans were pacifists, as opposed to thinking all humans were sinful) and 26 and 33 because the test is wrong: [ul] [li]A business’s profits is assets minus liabilities, not revenue minus expenses. Revenues minus expenses ignores debts, meaning it gives an overly-rosy picture of the current financial status.[/li][li]If taxes equal government spending, then… none of their answers really fit. I chose ‘government debt is zero’ as the least retarded response, because there is no way to know if tax per person equals government spending per person (their preferred option): As a limiting case, the government could be taking in taxes from everyone and giving it all to Halliburton. Taxes would still equal spending.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/143 "2009-01-12T04:27:39Z")
96.97% - 32 out of 33 correctly. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/144 "2009-01-12T04:41:18Z")
87.88%–I got four wrong. Considering that American history is my weakest area, I don’t think I did too bad. I got the Gettysbug Address and FDR’s threats wrong. ---
**Author:** ![kenner116](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kenner116](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenner116)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/145 "2009-01-12T05:06:51Z")
I answered **31 out of 33** correctly — **93.94** % Answers to my Missed Questions: Question #7 - D. Gettysburg Address Question #33 - D. tax per person equals government spending per person #7 - I’m disappointed in myself for missing this one. #33 was an awkward one to answer. At first I chose D, the “correct answer”, but then switched to “A. government debt is zero”. They could have been more clear what they meant by “per person”. Is it “per capita” average, or for each individual person? But giving it a second thought, I see why “A” is incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/146 "2009-01-12T05:27:34Z")
78.79%- I failed most of the finance-related questions, and was surprised that the “government of the people…” from the Gettysburg address was original to that document and not a quotation from a previous one used in it, as I thought it was. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/147 "2009-01-12T05:46:48Z")
93.94% The page is saying that the average score is 74.2% and looking through the SDMBers results, that’s the low end of the scale here. It would be interesting to know whether that’s self-selection or actual knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/148 "2009-01-12T09:20:19Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > 93.94% > > The page is saying that the average score is 74.2% and looking through the SDMBers results, that’s the low end of the scale here. It would be interesting to know whether that’s self-selection or actual knowledge. Both, I would guess. I remember having once tried such a test and conveniently forgotten to post the results. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/149 "2009-01-12T10:14:55Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > 93.94% > > The page is saying that the average score is 74.2% and looking through the SDMBers results, that’s the low end of the scale here. It would be interesting to know whether that’s self-selection or actual knowledge. To drag down the average a bit, I got 78.79%, and probably would have forgotten to post that here. However, [they claim](http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/2008/additional_finding.html) that: > [@](#): > > Among the 2,508 respondents, 164 say they have been elected to a government office at least once. This sub-sample of officeholders yields a startling result: elected officials score lower than the general public. Those who have held elective office earn an average score of 44% on the civic literacy test, which is five percentage points lower than the average score of 49% for those who have never been elected. I find those stats hard to believe, both that the general mean should be 49%, and that elected officials did significantly worse than the general public, so I think there’s probably some unrecognized skewering going on. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/150 "2009-01-12T10:19:01Z")
I got 87.88%. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/151 "2009-01-12T10:53:24Z")
If you click the 2007-2008 button at the top of the page, then click the “take the 2007 quiz” button on the left, you can take the 60-question version of the quiz. I got 93.33%. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/152 "2009-01-12T12:52:18Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > If you click the 2007-2008 button at the top of the page, then click the “take the 2007 quiz” button on the left, you can take the 60-question version of the quiz. I got 93.33%. I got 80% on that quiz. I’m not up on my ancient philosophy. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/153 "2009-01-12T18:09:10Z")
I was feeling like quite the genius with my 100% score, when I realized the first part of this thread (pre-resurrection) was for a much longer, apparently harder quiz. So now I feel like less of a genius, but still, it’s positive reinforcement for the day to get 100% on anything. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/154 "2009-01-12T20:38:53Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > If you click the 2007-2008 button at the top of the page, then click the “take the 2007 quiz” button on the left, you can take the 60-question version of the quiz. I got 93.33%. That explains it. I only saw 33 questions. Then I came back here and folks were tlaking about 60 questions. I guess that means I fail automatically. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/155 "2009-01-12T20:44:51Z")
Zombie Quiz! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/156 "2009-01-12T20:52:57Z")
100%, but then again, I’d better score that high. I teach this stuff! ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/157 "2009-01-12T21:50:07Z")
My quiz only had 33 questions - but I got an 84.85%. A good, solid B, which is all I ever really ask for. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/158 "2009-01-12T22:05:26Z")
100% on the 33-question quiz. ---
**Author:** ![schnuckiputzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@schnuckiputzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schnuckiputzi)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/159 "2009-01-12T23:03:39Z")
82%. Eh, not the greatest, but I hate economics. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078/160 "2009-01-13T00:22:56Z")
> [@chaoticbear](#): > > My quiz only had 33 questions - but I got an 84.85%. A good, solid B, which is all I ever really ask for. Word for word, my response. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civic-literacy-test-mentioned-in-usa-today/445078.md?page=9)