by Karl Kurtz
Here's an item that crossed my desk back in July, but I never got around to posting it. It's ToastNet's Independence Day Quiz. It consists of 30 questions about American history and the Constitution taken from the citizenship test that all immigrants must take (and score 80 percent or better) "with a few curveballs in the mix" (they don't tell you which ones they are). It has a neat feature that allows you to compare your score to others from the same age group or state that have taken the test.
I was pretty proud of myself for getting 29 of them correct. I missed one because I got the wrong number of constitutional amendments proposed but not approved.
But then I took a second President's Day Quiz by the same group (also from the citizenship test?--it's not clear), which is all about U.S. presidents, and got only 15 out of 20 (75 percent--not enough to pass) correct. Talk about getting technical! For example, I said that John Kennedy was the youngest president. Turns out he was the youngest elected president but another one (I won't spoil your test by saying who) was younger when he assumed the office. And how am I supposed to know how many presidents had never served in the military?
It must be the test writer's fault that I messed up, not mine.
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