# Oh My! I failed 3rd grade! (USA) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 20, 2004, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181 "2004-05-20T14:20:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/41 "2004-05-21T12:40:52Z")
1. Then again as an Aussie I don’t think I did too bad. I know most of the West Coast and guessed most of the south. North and East I couldn’t (and didn’t) guess if my life depended on it. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/42 "2004-05-21T14:08:29Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > Can you do it in alpabetical order? I can, in approximately 30 seconds. Another child who learned _Fifty Nifty_ in elementary school? ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/43 "2004-05-21T16:19:03Z")
Am I doing something wrong? I get the download bar, I click ‘start’, I get a map of the US and a list of states. I can’t drag anything anywhere, and the progress bar never even starts. My curser remains an arrow. What gives? I _know_ I could do 50/50. ---
**Author:** ![Grasshopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f19dbf/32.png) [@Grasshopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grasshopper)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/44 "2004-05-21T17:14:29Z")
US - 48/48 Canada - 94%. Doesn’t seem right, does it, that even if you get a few wrong answers on the state test, as long as you correct them you still get a perfect score. Really I missed two - I put Colorado on Wyoming and Kansas on Nebraska. ---
**Author:** ![Grasshopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f19dbf/32.png) [@Grasshopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grasshopper)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/45 "2004-05-21T17:17:59Z")
**Each individual state contributes a quality that is great. Each individual state deserves a bow, we salute them now.** _salutes_ ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/46 "2004-05-21T17:50:25Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Hey, us yoopers are just happy to get on the map. Half the time the entire UP is left off, I’m not gonna start complaining about not getting colored in. It has the UP but not Alaska and Hawaii? What’s up with that? (it took me a second to realize why 48/48 states seemed wrong) ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/47 "2004-05-21T18:03:03Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Anyone notice that it doesn’t regard the upper peninsula of Michigan as being Michigan? “X”/boing. > > 48 of 48 with room to spare. That’s because everyone knows the UP is really a part of Wisconsin 😉 48/48 with approx 2/3 time left to spare, btw. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/48 "2004-05-21T20:36:22Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > It’s multiple choice, not a clickable map, but: > [Capitals & Provinces](http://www.canadainfolink.ca/quiz2.htm) Woo-hoo! I got 100% on both tests. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/49 "2004-05-21T21:29:48Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > That’s because everyone knows the UP is really a part of Wisconsin 😉 God, we wish. There’s nothing I’d like more than to stop sending my taxes to Lansing, and start sending them to the land of Cheese and Beer. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/50 "2004-05-22T01:05:18Z")
100% on both of them. 'Course, I knew how to sing O Canada about the same time as I did the Star Spangled Banner, so that might be a clue why. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/51 "2004-05-22T01:25:17Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > 48/48 with time… > > But I also always have trouble with New Hampshire/Vermont, Alabama/Mississippi, and Colorado/Wyoming. They look alike to me. Mississippi/Alabama/Georgia, three similarly sized adjacent states, spell “MAG” left-to-right. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/52 "2004-05-22T22:10:34Z")
> [@masonite](#): > > Mississippi/Alabama/Georgia, three similarly sized adjacent states, spell “MAG” left-to-right. That’s a good pneumnmnpmnppmnmponic. I know the northeast and the west really well, but get messed up on the midwest and the south a little. After a couple tries I was able to get 48/48 going alphabetically, reverse alphabetically, and from east to west and west to east. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/53 "2004-05-23T00:03:46Z")
I sucked. I got 10/48 right with half to go and just sat there wondering about the rest. I guessed two more and got them right after two tries. I could’ve gotten a lot more by trial and error (maybe even 40/48), since I know the general area for all of them, but that seemed like it would be cheating. ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/54 "2004-05-23T05:04:50Z")
I got 48/48 with approximately half the time left. As for mnemonic devices, I’ve always loved MIMAL the baker for US geography. If you start at Minnesota , go straight down through Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, you have: M-MN I- IA M- MO A- AR L - LA These states resemble the profile of a guy in a baker’s hat. MN is the hat, IA is his face, MO is his shirt, AR is the pants, and LA is the boot. It’s cute, and kids remember it. If you like to get fancy, you can say he’s holding a **T** ray (T stands for TN) of Kentucky Fried Chicken (Kentucky being “on top” of TN). I’ve always used the “V” for Vermont trick, too. Reporting from the front lines of primary geography, FaerieBeth ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Johnny\_Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Powers)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/55 "2004-05-23T18:35:03Z")
Is this discrimination towards Alaska and Hawaii? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/56 "2004-05-23T18:54:35Z")
I scored 48/48, at the last possible second before the timer ran out. I’m totally blaming the mouse and New England for mooching all my extra time. You can find a clickable map of provinces and territories [rightchere.](http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geospy/) 7 out of 13 the first try, got them all the second time through. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/57 "2004-05-24T03:49:17Z")
Stupid clickable Canada map - I couldn’t get it to click on PEI properly, after 3 tries! And one time around, I swear clicking on Labrador gave me a wrong answer for " Where is Newfoundland and Labrador" I DO know my Canadian geography, I swear! As for the US…forgetaboutit. I didn’t even bother to try, but I’m guessing I could get half before being completely lost. Maybe half. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181/58 "2004-05-24T07:20:44Z")
I got 40 out of 48, which I thought was pretty good. It was those “unknown” ones in the middle that confused me. The Canadian one was much easier, although I agree that getting the pointer to click on PEI is the most difficult part. A similar version for Australia would be too easy since three of the eight state and territory names are geographical - Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-i-failed-3rd-grade-usa/246181.md?page=2)