# TEST YOURSELF How panic-proof are you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 13, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760 "2003-02-13T04:17:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/21 "2003-02-13T06:25:52Z")
86.6 I think this measures not how panic-proof you are, but how willing you are to persist with useless tests. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/22 "2003-02-13T06:45:26Z")
Something odd, must have happened to your score, **Achernar** (see massive time wastage below). Would you mind explaining how you filled in all the dots in section V in 17 seconds, **sciguy**? It took me almost 30, and I thought that was quick. If you want to know where you stand, folks, here are the max scores I calculated: Max theoretical: 123.2 (You can’t actually score this–it would mean filling in all the dots instantly, and scoring 100% on section 1, which the code doesn’t allow.) Max legit: 116.2 (Assuming a minimum of 10 seconds to fill in the dots. Also assuming the max legit score on section I, which is 70 by the code.) The difference **sciguy** and **Sandy** are jawing about is around 3 seconds on the fill-in-the-dots. :dubious: My score was 114.2, BTW. I’ll bring the snakes, guys. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/23 "2003-02-13T06:57:09Z")
It took me 2:55 to fill in the dots, however, I see that it would have been much easier with Internet Explorer than Netscape, which is what I used. I am also willing to believe that their scoring script is out of whack. I’ll compromise by making sure to panic at least once a day. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/24 "2003-02-13T07:00:42Z")
Was there a trick to the dot part? Like TAB, SPACE, TAB, SPACE? ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/25 "2003-02-13T07:03:25Z")
It took me 2:30 with the mouse & click method which I had thought was pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/26 "2003-02-13T07:08:32Z")
82.5 ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/27 "2003-02-13T07:13:08Z")
82.7 Eh… ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/28 "2003-02-13T07:23:23Z")
93.4 here. You know who to talk to after the next earthquake. ---
**Author:** ![crinklebat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@crinklebat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crinklebat)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/29 "2003-02-13T08:08:46Z")
84.6 It took me over six minutes to fill in the radio buttons, because I have a touchpad instead of a mouse, and it just wasn’t being cooperative. Also, I wondered about some of those questions; I think I missed the one with the quarts and gallons because I don’t know how many gallons are in a quart. I don’t have an alarm clock that rings, so I played a bagpipe reel on headphones–and, somehow, still managed to count the correct number of x’s. I don’t know. I think I’m more prone to panic than the test thinks I am. I’m pretty high-strung. ---
**Author:** ![Tomcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Tomcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tomcat)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/30 "2003-02-13T09:21:34Z")
70 the first time, 81.2 after I went back and re-did the fill-in the dots part using TAB and SPACE- cut my time down by almost 2 minutes! They don’t say how you should fill them in, so all of you who used TAB & SPACE to start might want to go back and do it the mouse-click way and see what results you get (vice versa too). I didn’t have an alarm clock, so I played a really annoying, scream-laden song by Primal Scream that I utterly hate. I get tense in many situations, but that is it, I just go to tense, not jarred or blow up. Like, who wouldn’t get tense if the elevator stopped? No need to panic, but wouldn’t everyone go “Hmm? What’s happening here?” I do admit to getting tunnel vision when in high-stress situations. I get too focused on one thing and sorta forget what’s going on around me. There was a time back in college when we were heading to the mountains for a trip after class. We stopped at night to get food at a supermarket, and we heard a woman screaming across the street. I looked over there and this woman was being lifted in the air by a guy and shaken. [superman mode ON] We ran across the street to help her, but I was so focused that if not for my friend grabbing me, I would have run right in front of a car. I didn’t even see it. It missed me by inches.[superman mode OFF] -Tcat ---
**Author:** ![auliya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/90db22/32.png) [@auliya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auliya)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/31 "2003-02-13T10:48:25Z")
88.4 and 2mins 20secs for the dots. (using the mouse). And I am generally a real panic merchant, so I am not too sure how accurate this is. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/32 "2003-02-13T11:15:28Z")
89 and my finger hurts after those damn dots. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/33 "2003-02-13T11:16:08Z")
Indeterminant. I did the whole thing and the bloody thing didn’t do anything after I pushed “submit.” What crap. ---
**Author:** ![lamafish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@lamafish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lamafish)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/34 "2003-02-13T11:21:30Z")
82.6 -how many of you considered quitting the test instantly when you saw all of those radio dots?? and I was completely unaware of the TAB & SPACE method ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/35 "2003-02-13T11:25:06Z")
“How long does it take you to place a dot in the center of each of the zeros below?” What a waste of time! I’m clearly so laid back that I can’t be bothered to complete the test; ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/36 "2003-02-13T11:32:06Z")
108 Would have scored better if it weren’t for answering truthfully that I’m afraid of spiders and getting stuck in elevators. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/37 "2003-02-13T11:34:55Z")
Oh, and the relationship of panic to some of those questions…? In some cases you’re being asked to complete a tedious task under an unknown time limit, which can be stressful to some people. In other cases, you’re being asked to do something requiring concentration while distracted, which is also stressful. It’s as much a stress test as a panic test. But I question just how much a paper-and-pencil test is going to effectively screen out the panic-prone from the none-panic-prone. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/38 "2003-02-13T12:47:19Z")
I couldn’t get a result (Mozilla on Linux isn’t one of the browsers they designed the broken site fore) but I’m either very calm or I have a personality disorder: When I think I’m _really_ screwed, I laugh. If I can’t think up a way out, I relax and let things happen to me. It’s the only logical course, really. I have always gotten out all right, but I don’t panic. Search through my posts for the “Brush with Death” thread. I link to an old thread I started about being face-to-face with a rattlesnake. That’s pretty much typical: I saw my death in that snake’s eyes, and that was the worst I saw, so I laughed. After the inital shock, I could think my way out of the situation. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2003, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/39 "2003-02-13T13:35:17Z")
My score: “java script error”. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760/40 "2003-02-13T13:37:35Z")
92.6 All your base is belong to me! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-yourself-how-panic-proof-are-you/154760.md?page=3)