# US Civics test - how well can YOU do? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 1, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-civics-test-how-well-can-you-do/584023 "2011-06-01T23:56:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-civics-test-how-well-can-you-do/584023/121 "2011-06-03T06:24:04Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I have no idea what it’s from but someone on this board quoted some story about an orthodox being asked why he felt persecuted and his response was something along the lines of … > [@](#): > > “You don’t like the Goths?” > “No! Not with the persecution we have to put up with!” > “Persecution?” Padway raised his eyebrows. > “Religious persecution. We won’t stand for it forever.” > “I thought the Goths let everybody worship as they pleased.” > “That’s just it! We Orthodox are forced to stand around and watch Arians and Monophysites and Nestorians and Jews going about their business unmolested as if they owned the country. If that isn’t persecution, I’d like to know what is!” > > L. Sprague de Camp [_Lest Darkness Fall_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lest_Darkness_Fall) CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-civics-test-how-well-can-you-do/584023/122 "2011-06-03T07:00:20Z")
31 out 33 Puritans and flood control levees. Or course I do think that all Puritans should be drowned. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-civics-test-how-well-can-you-do/584023/123 "2011-06-04T02:40:53Z")
31/33 (and I thought it wuz to be about Hondas!) Incorrect Answers Question: Name one right or freedom guaranteed by the first amendment. Your Answer: Right to bear arms Correct Answer: Religion (slinks away in shame) . Question: Business profit is: Your Answer: assets minus liabilities Correct Answer: revenue minus expenses… (no shame at all) ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-civics-test-how-well-can-you-do/584023/124 "2011-06-04T03:28:19Z")
> [@Ignatz](#): > > . > Question: Business profit is: > Your Answer: assets minus liabilities > Correct Answer: revenue minus expenses.. (no shame at all) Could someone explain to this non economist the difference in these two answers? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-civics-test-how-well-can-you-do/584023/125 "2011-06-04T03:30:50Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Could someone explain to this non economist the difference in these two answers? Assets would include things like the value of your buildings and equipment, I believe, whereas revenue is the money you take in for that year (or quarter, or whatever.) ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-civics-test-how-well-can-you-do/584023/126 "2011-06-04T03:32:06Z")
30 correct. I would really like to see what the scores the US Senators and Representatives would get. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-civics-test-how-well-can-you-do/584023/127 "2011-06-04T03:33:21Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Could someone explain to this non economist the difference in these two answers? Not an economist, but I did get that question right and believe it can be summed up as: “Assets minus liabilities” means what you own minus what you owe, which I guess would be your net worth, nothing to do with profit. “Revenue minus expenses” would be what you have left over from the money that comes in after you have paid all your monthly bills; ie, profit. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-civics-test-how-well-can-you-do/584023/128 "2011-06-04T03:36:50Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Not an economist, but I did get that question right and believe it can be summed up as: “Assets minus liabilities” means what you own minus what you owe, which I guess would be your net worth, nothing to do with profit. “Revenue minus expenses” would be what you have left over from the money that comes in after you have paid all your monthly bills; ie, profit. Thanks **Sam**! ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-civics-test-how-well-can-you-do/584023/129 "2011-06-04T03:38:29Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Could someone explain to this non economist the difference in these two answers? Assets have to equal Liabilities (and Owners Equity) in the [balance statement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_sheet). It is generally a snapshot of the overall companies financial condition. The [income statement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_statement) (or Profit/Loss Statement) is a statement on a how a company did over a specific period of time. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-civics-test-how-well-can-you-do/584023/130 "2011-06-04T03:40:31Z")
100%. ME for President! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-civics-test-how-well-can-you-do/584023/131 "2011-06-04T11:31:30Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > 97%. Not sure about the one I missed . . . a levee is a “public good” because people can benefit from it without paying for it? Well, so is the hubcap that I stole . . . YEah, that was worded poorly enough that, _after_ I answered, I immediately went and looked it up to make sure I understood what the term meant. The only way I can excuse it is if people means a significant number of people in the area. 31/33, which is still an A (94%). Yeah, I got the above right out of process of elimination. The two I missed were the ones about the Lincoln-Douglas debates (I thought the slave states thing was merely a part of the overall message) and “Government of the people, by the people, for the people” (which is a stupid mistake on my part because I was only considering early documents. And that speech had little to do with Civics, in my opinion, so I guess my brain just skipped over it as a possible answer.) I am surprised as heck that I got all the economic questions right. I don’t know what those have to do with civics in the slightest. They definitely aren’t things that my Civics teacher would have discussed. I was prepared to have to defend my low score because of them. Oddly, that same Civics teacher is the one teacher I had that just made us copy stuff from the projector, and apparently that worked for me, as I remember it 11-12 years later. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-civics-test-how-well-can-you-do/584023/132 "2011-06-04T12:12:49Z")
I got all but: What part of the government has the power to declare war? Your Answer: the president What was the main issue in the debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858? Your Answer: Is slavery morally wrong? If taxes equal government spending, then: Your Answer: government debt is zero Question: The Puritans: Your Answer: opposed all wars on moral grounds [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-civics-test-how-well-can-you-do/584023.md?page=6)