Are you one of the 7%

Sierra 117

Don't know

12 out of 13.

I got the electron/atom question wrong. For some reason I got confused and blanked that electrons are a part of atoms, thus are smaller.

Frank Lee Midere

No

Inquitus wrote: »

Aye but you said 16yo males, the education system has come on a great deal in modern times so 23% of all males is a far cry from 1 in 4 16yos, hence your statement is hugely misleading, as we can see from the recent stat I linked, our literacy is among the best in the OECD.

This is a late reply but as you said Wibbs is misleading. Ireland came 4th in the OECD, 2nd in Europe and in the top ten overall for 15 year olds reading ability. Older generations are probably bringing the stats down.

Frank Lee Midere

No

TeddyTedson wrote: »

I'd be the same. Well sometimes I'd have an interest in science but generally it's not something that excites me too much. I really don't enjoy science fiction either. I'm more of a realism kind of person.

Isn't science real?

Chancer3001

No

13. Only dodgy one was fracking

DeadHand

Don't know

Goddamn it I got 12. I mean damn.

Well, Christmas is ruined for me.

jonski

Don't know

12 of 13 . got the Which gas makes up most of the Earth’s atmosphere? wrong , knew it wasn't oxyegen but wasn't sure and went for hydrogen

Khannie

No

Tigger wrote: »

The poll suggests we have a skewed population in after hours

No question. The average boards contributor is pretty smart and well educated.

porsche959

No

Worrying (for Americans) that the average is only 8.4. I wonder what the statistical expectation of guessing the answers at random would be. Any statisticians out there?

Alun

No

jonski wrote: »

12 of 13 . got the Which gas makes up most of the Earth’s atmosphere? wrong , knew it wasn't oxyegen but wasn't sure and went for hydrogen

BANG!!!!!!!

Maximus Alexander

No

porsche959 wrote: »

Worrying (for Americans) that the average is only 8.4. I wonder what the statistical expectation of guessing the answers at random would be. Any statisticians out there?

Probability of guessing all 13 correctly would be 0.00012. Or in other words, it would only happen 12 times in 100,000 attempts.

Actually, that's if the answers were all true or false, but some of them have three or four options, so the probability is even lower again.

Frankie Lee

No

13 from 13, all very basic questions.

TeddyTedson

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

Isn't science real?

Are we really expected to believe there are electrons flying about like that.

porsche959

No

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Probability of guessing all 13 correctly would be 0.00012. Or in other words, it would only happen 12 times in 100,000 attempts.

Actually, that's if the answers were all true or false, but some of them have three or four options, so the probability is even lower again.

Sorry, didn't phrase question right. What I was curious about is what we statistically expect to score from randomly guessing the answers.

K.Flyer

No

Ok 13/13, but mostly basic stuff with one or two needing a moment.
It was more interesting to read the stats at the end showing that it appeared that only the US college grads did well. Does it say something about American education.

Maximus Alexander

No

porsche959 wrote: »

Sorry, didn't phrase question right. What I was curious about is what we statistically expect to score from randomly guessing the answers.

Ah, well then it's a bell curve:

0 - 0.0001220703125

1 - 0.0015869140625

2 - 0.009521484375

3 - 0.034912109375

4 - 0.0872802734375

5 - 0.1571044921875

6 - 0.20947265625

7 - 0.20947265625

8 - 0.1571044921875

9 - 0.0872802734375

10 - 0.034912109375

11 - 0.009521484375

12 - 0.0015869140625

13 - 0.0001220703125

About 40% of people would get either 6 or 7 right. Again, these probabilities are for true or false answers only.

TheBrinch

got 12 out of 13. Im happy enough with this...

UCDVet

13 out of 13 - but a few seemed kinda 'meh'. Fracking is pretty specific and I wouldn't expect the average person to know it.

Only got the red blood cell one because of Lance Armstrong. A lying cheater he might be, but at least he is educating the youth!

kirb42

12 out of 13.......once they don't make it compulsory.....

kowloon

No

UCDVet wrote: »

13 out of 13 - but a few seemed kinda 'meh'. Fracking is pretty specific and I wouldn't expect the average person to know it.

I'd say a lot of people would just assume that it's oil.

Amirani

No

UCDVet wrote: »

13 out of 13 - but a few seemed kinda 'meh'. Fracking is pretty specific and I wouldn't expect the average person to know it.

The quiz is aimed at a US audience where fracking would be far more topical.

Outkast_IRE

No

I am one of the 7%.

To be honest it was all either basic science, or things that would be regular news items appearing a few times a year.

Very surprised its 7%

moxin

Don't know

Lesson from poll...There are lot of posters googling in AH it seems

UCDVet

moxin wrote: »

Lesson from poll...There are lot of posters googling in AH it seems

I think the types of people who are willing to spend time taking a 13 question quiz about science on the nights leading up to Christmas are probably the most likely to do well

Tobyglen

No

Pretty easy test if you have a degree in Science. Average boards user would be a lot higher than average person in Ireland. Lower age, higher educated, many would have studied physics/chemistry/biology for the leaving cert.

People interested in doing quizzes would normally be people that do well at quizzes also.

ProfessorPlum

UCDVet wrote: »

Only got the red blood cell one because of Lance Armstrong

So I guess you're not really a UCD Vet then!

UCDVet

No

UCDVet wrote: »

I think the types of people who are willing to spend time taking a 13 question quiz about science on the nights leading up to Christmas are probably the most likely to do well

People like a challenge and want to be part of the 7% as well!

mike65

12/13 like most here with that score I goofed the hydrogen/nitrogen answer. Not sure why. I blame airships.

UCDVet

ProfessorPlum wrote: »

So I guess you're not really a UCD Vet then!

Nah - never been to UCD and I don't like animals. I do computer stuff

wp_rathead

12/13

Delightfully Bright

13/13 but it was all easy stuff, I was expecting harder questions for only 7% getting full marks.

Judgement Day

I love the smart arses who claim it was a doddle (of course without proof) and I wonder what normal person more than ten years out of school (36 years in my case) would know the electron/atom answer) Yes, most of the answers including fracking are things one would pick up off the news but electron and atom.

PS. Happy Christmas.

Yakult

10/13. I impressed myself with that!

Ficheall

No

Judgement Day wrote: »

I love the smart arses who claim it was a doddle (of course without proof) and I wonder what normal person more than ten years out of school (36 years in my case) would know the electron/atom answer) Yes, most of the answers including fracking are things one would pick up off the news but electron and atom.

PS. Happy Christmas.

Two atoms are hanging out. One says to the other "I'm afraid I've lost an electron...". The other atom asks "Are you sure?", and the first one replies, "I'm positive!".

QED.

aN.Droid

No

Judgement Day wrote: »

I love the smart arses who claim it was a doddle (of course without proof) and I wonder what normal person more than ten years out of school (36 years in my case) would know the electron/atom answer) Yes, most of the answers including fracking are things one would pick up off the news but electron and atom.

PS. Happy Christmas.

Well in fairness it's elementary!
Because elements are made of atoms :P

Judgement Day

No

Judgement Day wrote: »

I love the smart arses who claim it was a doddle (of course without proof) and I wonder what normal person more than ten years out of school (36 years in my case) would know the electron/atom answer) Yes, most of the answers including fracking are things one would pick up off the news but electron and atom.

PS. Happy Christmas.

I was very surprised that the quiz was so easy, the last time I saw the inside of a school (as a pupil) was about 35 years ago. Some of us just continue to acquire knowledge for the sake of it, rather than having the fear a teacher for not learning it.

darkpagandeath

13-13 7% thought this was going to be a lot tougher seems like common general knowledge on science.

Dacelonid

No

13 out of 13
Was expecting something a little more challenging. Surprised so few people know that stuff.

Alun

No

Deleted User wrote: »

I was very surprised that the quiz was so easy, the last time I saw the inside of a school (as a pupil) was about 35 years ago. Some of us just continue to acquire knowledge for the sake of it, rather than having the fear a teacher for not learning it.

Same here, 13/13 and 40 years out of school myself, but still keep my addled, ageing brain active

veetwin

Tobyglen wrote: »

Pretty easy test if you have a degree in Science. Average boards user would be a lot higher than average person in Ireland. Lower age, higher educated, many would have studied physics/chemistry/biology for the leaving cert.

And yet their and there still baffles most of them. Not to mention your and you're:rolleyes:

artanevilla

No

13/13. Not really that challenging tbh.

sid waddell

13/13

Míshásta

Don't know

12/13

I'm kicking myself because I should have known the Atmosphere / Nitrogen one which I got wrong. Memory is failing I guess.

Apart from the 2 questions about the atmosphere and the atom, all the other questions would have been known by anybody who follows the news, it's just plain general knowledge even if there's a science angle.

Ye guys who never heard of 'fracking' - well its been in the news on a fairly regular basis for the last while because of opposition to plans to introduce the technology to Ireland.

I don't think the poll can be compared to the one carried out in the States because this one is only representative of the people who volunteered to answer. People who scored low would not be inclined to admit it.

moxin

Don't know

As boards is mostly young wans in their 20's and younger, I demand a "re-poll" in 20 yrs time to make it fair for those of us who left school many yrs ago. Think of it a test of your memory and knowledge, those who still do well will of course not have to worry about old age memory problems :P

Professor Knowall

No

13 out of 13 (two of them were lucky guesses!)

RikkFlair

Don't know

8/13, I was expecting lower, Science was my "daydream out the window" class in school.

steddyeddy

Got them all but the question about chemical reactions doesn't have a wrong answer. The hydration of sugar and the state change of water is a chemical reaction just like the oxidation of iron.

Temptamperu

No

basic stuff really.

Agonist

No

I got the supposedly hard ones (the atom and the atmosphere) right because I learnt that doing my Inter cert. Likewise the rusting question. I can easily see how someone who hated science or who's forgotten due to the passage of time could get them wrong.

Other ones like UV rays burning you and CO2 being a greenhouse gas are pretty much common knowledge. For me, fracking fitted in with them because nearly every paper I read has a fracking feature in it. Not in the science section mind you.

For me, the hardest one was the question about laser. I was never taught about it and it's never cropped up in my life, apart from CD players. That was a fluke.

I'd love to have a look at the science exam for schoolchildren in the States. I'm imagining it having questions like How long does pregnancy last? What is the freezing point of water? Which is stronger, timber or steel?

The States definitely has some of the best postgraduate programmes in the world but that's an accident of geography. The elite students who uphold the colleges' reputations are recruited from all over the world.

_Whimsical_

No

steddyeddy wrote: »

Got them all but the question about chemical reactions doesn't have a wrong answer. The hydration of sugar and the state change of water is a chemical reaction just like the oxidation of iron.

No new chemical is created by disolving sugar in water, it's just a physical change of form,not a change of identity. If it was a chemical reaction a new chemical would result.

Agonist

No

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

No new chemical is created by disolving sugar in water, it's just a physical change of form,not a change of identity. If it was a chemical reaction a new chemical would result.

I was just about to reply to that. When iron rust it oxidizes. The original molecule based on iron Fe is totally changed by the reaction with oxygen O, and maybe some water, H20.
So Fe ->Fe+O+H20 A totally different substance.