1. The first standardized test was administered to aspiring civil servants in imperial China, circa 600 A.D. Which topics were covered during the multi-day exam?

(a) “Four Principles” and “Three Skills.”
(b) “Five Techniques” and “Four Disciplines.”
(c) “Six Arts” and “Five Studies.”
(d) “Vase-making” and “Wall-building.”

[Answer: (c). The Arts included music, arithmetic, writing, archery, horsemanship, and ritual knowledge, while the Studies focussed on military strategy, civil law, revenue and taxation, agriculture and geography, and the Confucian classics.]


2. True or false: According to authorities and experts, there are slightly more “true” than “false” answers on the average true/false test.

(a) True.
(b) False.
(c) True.
(d) True.
(f) False.

[Answer: (a), (c), or (d). Note: As this fact becomes more widely known, some test-givers may reverse the imbalance.]


3. Research suggests that roughly fifty per cent of answer changes on multiple-choice tests go from incorrect to correct, while only twenty-five per cent go from correct to incorrect. Most people, though, believe the opposite to be the case. In their seminal paper, Justin Kruger and Derrick Wirtz ascribe this misconception to which of the following?

(a) Counterfactual thinking, in which past switches from correct to incorrect answers are recalled more readily than their reverse, leading to the belief that first instincts are more accurate than they really are.
(b) In other words, switch if you think this is the correct answer.
(c) Or this one.
(d) Hey, over here! What about me?

[Answer: (a). The phenomenon is known as the “first-instinct fallacy.”]


4. Which letter appears most frequently in the standard Snellen Chart, developed in 1862 by the Dutch ophthalmologist Herman Snellen to test visual acuity?

(a) E
(b) E
(c) E
(d) E

[Answer: (a), (b), (c), or (d). The fifth letter of the alphabet appears ten times, with “P” a close second with nine appearances.]


5. What did President Dwight Eisenhower refer to as “a terrible thing to do to the American people”?

(a) A.C.T.s.
(b) Nuclear testing.
(d) Grade inflation.

[Answer: (c); the nineteen-fifties national outrage involved several conspiracies to provide contestants with correct answers to questions ahead of time. It led to congressional hearings, an amendment to the Communications Act of 1964, and a 1994 Robert Redford-directed feature film.]


6. The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, progenitor of modern I.Q. testing, has undergone many changes since its début in 1916, most notably an evolution in the language used to describe those falling on its lower end. Match the original classification with its modern equivalent:

(a) Idiot.
(b) Moron.
(c) Imbecile.

1. Mild retardation.

2. Moderate-severe retardation.

3. Profound retardation.

[Answer: (a)-3, (b)-1, (c)-2. Note that the original Binet-Simon intelligence test, upon which the Stanford-Binet test improved, originated in France, where “moron” is pronounced “cretin.”]


7. In 1903, Prussia became the first government to require testing for all automobile drivers. What was the first U.S. locality to do so?

(a) New Hampshire.
(b) New Jersey.
(c) The District of Columbia.
(d) Daytona.

[Answer: (b), in 1913. In 1910, New York was the first state to require any testing—but only for professional chauffeurs.]


8. No. 2 pencils were required for most standardized-exam takers after the 1938 introduction of the IBM 805 test-scoring machine, which detected the electrical current flowing through graphite markings. The continued use of pencils today, however, is a historical holdover, unnecessary for what reason?

(a) Optical Mark Recognition (O.M.R.) technology, which, since the nineteen-sixites, has been able to recognize marks made by pens and pencils alike.
(b) Wait… what?
(c) We haven’t needed No. 2 pencils for more than four decades?
(d) WTF, Mrs. Pearlstone?!?!

[Answer: (a); but we hear you.]


9. Introduced in 1926, the SAT is one of two primary college-entrance exams given to potential freshmen. What does SAT stand for?

(a) Scholastic Aptitude Test.
(b) Scholastic Assessment Test.
(c) Cultural bias.
(d) Not a thing.

[Answer: (d). First known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, and then as the Scholastic Assessment Test, SAT has, since 1993, been an “empty acronym,” a victim of orphan initialism like AARP, 3M, and KFC.]


10. Please review the following passage before answering the subsequent reading-comprehension question:

Located in Teachers College Hall at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Oscar K. Buros Library is a specialized reference library containing publications of the Buros Institute, and what is generally regarded as the world’s largest collection of tests and testing materials. Besides copies of nearly every commercially available test published since 1930, the library also contains a large collection of journals, abstracts, reviews and published information dedicated to the field of measurement.

The Oskar K. Buros Library of Mental Measurements

The primary purpose of the passage is to:

(a) Convince doubters that there is a field known as mental measurements.
(b) Convince scholars to visit Teachers College Hall.
(c) Convince anyone to visit Lincoln, Neb.
(d) Brag a little.

[Answer: (a), (b), (c), or (d); because, really, who are any of us to say what the author really had in mind?]



11. In 1857, a German doctor named Justinus Kerner published a book of poems, each prompted by an accidental inkblot. This slim volume is thought by many to have inspired which of the following?

(a) The invention of the pocket protector.
(b) The Impressionist movement.
(c) The Rorschach Inkblot Test.
(d) Your mom to have sex on horseback with a circus clown.

[Answer: (c). It is not know for certain whether Hermann Rorschach, the Swiss psychologist who invented the test, read Kerner’s book, but his nickname in high school was Klecks (“Inkblot”), a nod to his enthusiasm for a then-common hobby known as Klecksography, which involved the creation of art from inkblots.]


Scoring Key: Zero correct answers: Bummer. One to three correct answers: Slightly less of a bummer. Four to six correct answers: Cool. Seven to nine correct answers: Nice! Ten to eleven correct answers: You really ought to spend more time outside.

Photograph: U.S. National Archives