# News IQ Quiz: What Do You Know? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 2, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213 "2014-10-02T21:22:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/1 "2014-10-02T21:22:03Z")
I missed two - the unemployment rate and where the US government spends the most money. I’m actually astonished that in general, people did so poorly. But maybe not - today I heard some Joe Schmoe in Dallas interviewed about the Ebola case there, and he had no clue what Ebola was. > [@](#): > > You scored better than 92% of the public, below 4% and the same as 4%. [Here’s the quiz](http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/the-news-iq-quiz/) - how did you do? ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/2 "2014-10-02T21:29:18Z")
Same score, 92%. Although the 2 I missed I went back and forth between the right answer and what I ended up saying. The North Dakota one was a total guess, but I got it right. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/3 "2014-10-02T21:45:16Z")
96%, only one wrong (the Shia/Sunni question) ---
**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:** [October 2, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/4 "2014-10-02T21:45:29Z")
12 of 12 > [@](#): > > You scored better than 99% of the public and the same as 1%. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/5 "2014-10-02T21:46:05Z")
> [@](#): > > You scored better than 96% of the public, below 1% and the same as 3%. (Punted the “where does the U.S. government currently spend the most money?” question). ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/6 "2014-10-02T21:47:16Z")
Boo! I got 3 questions wrong. Better than 86%, below 8%, same as 6%. ---
**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/7 "2014-10-02T21:47:26Z")
Hmm, 12 out of 12. I’m very surprised, as I just guessed at a couple of them. The “which country has more Shia Muslims” was a total guess. I also went back and forth between Social Security and Interest on the National Debt, and ended up guessing correctly. The “percentage below the poverty line” was also a guess. J. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/8 "2014-10-02T21:56:37Z")
11 out of 12. > [@](#): > > You scored better than 96% of the public, below 1% and the same as 3%. I always get the Shias and Sunnis mixed up. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/9 "2014-10-02T22:01:45Z")
I got 11 out of 12, because I thought there were more people at the poverty line. That actually brightens my day a bit. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/10 "2014-10-02T22:03:46Z")
I got 12, although it was just luck on a couple of them. I am a bit of a news junkie though. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/11 "2014-10-02T22:08:09Z")
12 of 12. I like the news. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/12 "2014-10-02T22:46:03Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > I got 11 out of 12, because I thought there were more people at the poverty line. That actually brightens my day a bit. I also got 11 of 12, and missed the same question. But I missed it in the other direction ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/13 "2014-10-02T23:01:44Z")
12 out of 12 ---
**Author:** ![will567](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/51bf81/32.png) [@will567](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/will567)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/14 "2014-10-02T23:08:52Z")
10 of 12, and I was going to pick social security instead of debt interest. Arghh. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/15 "2014-10-02T23:11:46Z")
Clearly Dopers are smarter than average. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/16 "2014-10-02T23:12:25Z")
12 out of 12. I have enough free time at work to scan the news several times a day so I thought the quiz was very basic and easy. I could see missing a couple of them but more than that is a really bad sign. The mode for that quiz is 4 out of 12 correct. That isn’t much better than chance alone. All you would have to do to beat that is rule out two choices and then guess between the remaining ones. ---
**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:** [October 2, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/17 "2014-10-02T23:14:27Z")
9 of 12, no guesses, and I think I skipped 3. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/18 "2014-10-02T23:33:10Z")
I also had 9 out of 12. I knew those 3 would be wrong but I guessed anyway and guessed wrong. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/19 "2014-10-03T00:01:42Z")
Only one I missed asked about which country had more Shia v. Shiite. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213/20 "2014-10-03T00:10:14Z")
86%, but the three I got wrong were about the American economy, and I haven’t lived in America for a few years now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-iq-quiz-what-do-you-know/700213.md?page=2)