by Jim
on Jul 7th, 2007

Are You Geographically Impaired?

gc1776globe.jpgEvery few months I read another story about how people in the US are geographically ignorant. 20% think the Sun orbits the Earth, half can’t find the Pacific ocean, none can name all of the States capitals after they graduate 5th grade, etc… But watching the UK version of “Millionaire” after work has shown me that the Brits aren’t much better and can’t name half the capitals in Europe (those countries ending in ‘ia’ are particularly pesky). I’ve always thought I was pretty good at geography, but some recent memory lapses have scared me, driving me back to an excellent quiz site:

http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/

This is an oldie but goody, and one that ignorance-fearing folk should visit every so often for a tune up. I gained some false confidence on the USA test, scoring 147/150. Off to Europe! Hmmm…96/117…not fantastic (thanks mainly to those ‘ia’ ones). But we now live in Oceania, so surely I must ace that test, right? Nope. That’s where things fell over so badly I dare not post my score. Africa, the Carribean, China, India… all testing disasters!

So, this little site has knocked me down about 23 pegs where I rightfully belong: with the rest of the geographically impaired. Study hard, Grasshopper.

4 Responses to “Are You Geographically Impaired?”

  1. Erinon 07 Jul 2007 at 12:44 pm

    I’m going to take some quizes right now. Last night mom and I watched ‘Are you Smarter than a 5th grader?’ I am not. The following questions I got wrong: Who was the first secretary of Treasury, How many legs does a butterfly have, What is president Taylor’s first name, What element makes up most of earths atmosphere. I hope I do better on this test…

  2. Erinon 07 Jul 2007 at 12:59 pm

    136/150 on U.S. (darn New England states)
    77/117 on Europe
    I stopped taking the Oceanic test when I selected New Zealand as the Cook Islands. What was I thinking???

  3. Christianon 07 Jul 2007 at 4:17 pm

    Well, I couldn’t resist and did some tests myself:
    US: 133
    Europe:102
    Asia:73

    Angela will be happy to know that I was able to identify Malaysia. 😉

  4. Angelaon 07 Jul 2007 at 10:45 pm

    Christian
    Real proud of you!!! Jim and I visited this site a few years ago. The last couple of days I had nothing much to do and was looking at the world atlas. Then I thought a quiz is probably a cool idea. Well, after Africa and Europe my big head was deflated. Then I thought.. ahh surely the states in USA would be just fine. Wrong again. So to make myself feel better, I reminded Jim of the site ;-).

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