I took this fun science literacy quiz, and got 47 out of 50 questions correct.
The ones I missed were all in biology and life sciences, my weakest subject. Since so many of the angroids label climate skeptics as “scientifically illiterate”, and because climate change is specifically mentioned, I thought it would be fun to share and to have readers post their scores. Many of the questions are simple, like the first one:
Then there’s some tougher ones, like about Planck’s constant and some that require some simple physics math, F=ma and stuff like that. There’s a bit of irony in whose website the poll is on.
The Christian Science Monitor.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1209/Are-you-scientifically-literate-Take-our-quiz/
Surprisingly, there wasn’t a single question about climate change, even though they mention it. If you feel like taking it, don’t succumb to the temptation to look up everything on the Internet…there’s no sport in perfect scores.
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I took this a little while back and got 44 out of 50 – One question I could argue about, one was just dumbness on my part but four I really didn’t know, mostly units in physics. I’m a scientist (biology) by profession. I thought I would do better.
John Game.
I got zygote! Do I get bonus points then? Kidding.
39 out of 50.
But I got zygote right!
I got 44/50 right, which I think is pretty good for someone who doesn’t work in any of disciplines in the quiz. About three of the questions were about watts as units of measurement, so I hope those weren’t the ones Anthony missed!
Professor Mann adjusted my scores 120.
But he also adjusted my score the last time I took this test 2 years ago down to 84.
Go figure.
44 right, but I gotta tell ya, I lucky-guessed correctly on about 5 of them; I really had no clue, lol. Thirty-nine sounds about right, since I flunked fluid mechanics and was average in chemistry and biology. I excelled in physics, geology, music and mathematics.
If your browser doesn’t accept cookies, and mine does not gratuitously accept them, you will get a perfect score. My inner Sheriff Arpaio though knows I missed 6. I struggled with chemistry.
40 🙁 but I had a couple of Doh! answers, it is 7:00am Sunday morning. . . . .
43/50 – OK-ish for a high school science teacher.
46 out of 50, but I have to admit that one was a lucky guess.
Ugh…ad-o-rama. My browser was screaming at me to get out of there before the tracking cookies wrecked by hard drive.
I made it question 40 without missing any, and then the site locked up.
Quiz results
46
Correct 4
Wrong You answered 46 of 50 questions correctly for a total score of 92%. Comment on this quiz.
Share your results
I got wrong on zygote, titan, scalene (due to my English) and precipitating.
It’s indeed for science lovers — even for a scientist you still need to read a lot of science articles.
Disappointed to some degree (68%) but I thought it pretty quirky. I would have done so much better either straight out of school and if I’d studied Latin and Greek. It’s also been a long time since I looked over — much less used — any of my physics, cellular biology and certain other materials. Additionally, neither Paleontology nor Astronomy never ever my strong suites…
Thought it dwelled a lot on terminology.
And I am functioning (?) with 16 hours under my belt, and knowing I need to meet my wife’s train in another two hours… 🙂
I got 48 out of 50. I don’t work in the sciences, but I read a lot and have a good memory.
jones says: April 7, 2012 at 9:47 pm
[Presumably a projection.?]
No real projection, however my model does indicates that all of our scores were.
Worse then we thought.
PS Mr Watts, what score means you’re scientifically illiterate 🙂
REPLY: Don’t know, there is nothing at the end of the quiz given to indicate…but I would assume (based on the number being used in schools) that anything over 70% (35 of 50) is a passing grade. – Anthony
41 out of 50, I should have done better!
I got 46 and missed -nimbus which is either shameful (or excusable) since I’m from Seattle.
49 out of 50. Missed the cell division question. Nearly missed beyond Pluto question which would have really annoyed me.
And this was after a glass of Grand Marnier and starting at around 0100. Time for bed….
I didn’t take the test. (afraid I might have to give back my Ph.D. in physics.) But, I just found this website, after suffering through Wiki’s laudatory bio on Hansen. SO: a big thank you for existing!
Of course the test is flawed as it’s based upon the silly notion that merely knowing “facts” makes one scientifically literate. If anything about the climate debacle shows is that “knowing facts” isn’t what it’s about.
Science Literacy is more than mere facts, it is about how well do you know the scientific method itself, and do you follow the scientific method when confronted by assertions of “fact” or “truths” or “science claims” or do you merely “believe in science”. Science Literacy is about how good you are at critical reasoning skills and about being able to apply those skills to slice through bogus claims or recognize that you need to do more research to find independently verifiable evidence to confirm or refute the particular claims at hand. Science Literacy is about being skeptical of everything and recognizing that there are no authorities in science, that voting by consensus isn’t scientific but political. Science Literacy is knowing the distinction between science and politics.
Knowing a few facts on a quiz doesn’t make one scientifically literate.
I scored 45/50. Probably because camels are not too bright and this one is quite old.
I had one stupid mistake and two lucky guesses.
Leif Svalgaard, April 7, 2012 at 9:06 pm,
Let me guess. Was it bishop Usher who came up with 6015 based on all those begats?
There’s also a climate change quiz at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2011/0422/Earth-Day-How-much-do-you-know-about-climate-change-Take-our-quiz/greenhouse-gas
I got 49 out of 50 missing the nimbus question. I did guess about 4 others, but I’ve always been a good guesser.
Dave Dardinger (who’s stuck with the daved46 because of the stupid WordPress “improvement”.)