Average IQ of the boards

[veekie]

^^
I could do some of the grammar stuff but ONLY because I've been working on text analysis applications recently and apparently you do need to know factually all that stuff you normally do unconsciously so that you can tell the computer to do them.

[littha]

It would help if I knew how large/heavy a bushel is supposed to be... or that I was American and actually knew a great deal about American history/geography.

[caelic]

the best way to humble intelligent people is to dig up a grade school test from the 1800's. the vast majority of college students and adults will get a failing grade on it. this event was used as a case example for a number of situations at a school i was going to a while back.

The problem is that that's not a test of intelligence, it's a test of specific content knowledge--and in many cases, of specific content knowledge that's no longer relevant.  The intelligent adult from the 1800's would similarly fail a test tailored to knowledge relevant to 2012.

Snopes covers this one pretty well.

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Dude in my freshman intro to psych, had been in the special ed classes all high school.
They told him: don't take the SATs.  He took them anyway and got about 1100.
Oops ... that's 10+ years of education system failure.
He got his degree and a good job ; and plays the organization idiot role "too" convincingly.

I mean hell ... this whole thread is about the new tiny Scion, right ?

Want to throw a few intro to SATs? No clue what is good and what sucks when it comes to those.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAT

Off the cuff, it's a semi equivalent to a College entrance exam.
It wasn't so important 20+ years ago.
50th Percentile is about 1020 or so, on the 1600 scale.
The Math part is mostly scaling up to Geometry and Pre-Calculus.
The English part recently got split into reading and writing.
You can (easily !) guess which part I did badly.
Run-on sentences can be ...

[SorO_Lost]

I clicked on that 1895 exam and filled it out. How did I do?

(click to show/hide)

Grammar
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
Correction, there are only two; starting something new and names.

2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
Inhale air, exhale air, vibrate the vocal cords, shape mouth, move tongue. Do not pierce oral cavity.

3. Define Verse, Stanza, and Paragraph.
Verses are found in Bibles, Stanza is mowing my lawn, and this is not a Paragraph.

4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of do, lie, lay, and run.
I saw the ghost of Verbmis Past, Present, and Future, and they said if I wasn't so rich I'd be doomed to die.
(points if you actually understand the above)

Do it, doing it, did it, that's what she said.
She lied about her virginity, was laying about her STDs, and you will lie about trying to lie with her.
We laid on the floor to f*ck like rabbits, the condom broke and I'm f*cked. Syphilis shall lay upon my dick and I will be delusional.
"Shall r+a/u+n&|ing" makes sense now to me.

5. Define Case. Illustrate each Case.
A box. [] <- there can only be one.

6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
A method of getting a flat tire. Never swing the hammer at full force until your fingers are out of the way.

7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
I've got an idea for a new Spellchecker addon for Firefox...

Arithmetic
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
The goal is to get more pluses, unless it's a home pregnancy test.

2. A wagon box is 2 feet deep, 10 feet long, and 3 feet wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
What is a bushel?

3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 pounds, what is it worth at 50 cts. per bu., deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
What is a tare?

4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000.
What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
When will my questions end!

5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
Here.
20.16, calculators kick ass.

6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
I'm not getting anywhere close to 7% with my saving account. Sign me up.

7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at 20 cents per sq. foot?
It's too late to call for a price quote.

8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
I'm sure there is a Three Days Grace joke in here somewhere...

9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
This one has multiple parts to it which makes it pretty long and drawn out. First an acre has 6,272,640 square inches, my rod is eight inches, so 640 rods making a square means only 160 to each side and inches squared is 1,638,400. The formula for % of values is (Lowest/Highest)*100 and thus I have 26.119783695541271298847056422814% (told you calculator rocks) of an acre of land. Which costs $3.91 dollars.

10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
Why the hell didn't you mention this before? Here is a thirty dollar "donation" and thanks for helping me with my passing grade.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

 

#3 ... I wrecked my Stanza.

#6 ... My grump-paw got me a Bank savings account
right at the peak of the Carter/Reagan super high %.
It paid for my entire college drinking budget.

#9 ... everybody lies about their rod 

[PlzBreakMyCampaign]

here is a link for the adventurous to try, good luck on the test - closed book test, by the way.

I'd did decently, skipping the outdated/regional parts. If I got EC for explaining the why the outdated parts were outdated, I'd do very well.

[nijineko]

to be fair, i should try to track down the actual test i took. i recall that it was asking about how to calculate the changes in elevation using triangles, planar geometry stuff, among other things. iirc, the contents of the test was stuff that was taught in elementary/junior high equivalent back then, but not taught until college now-a-days.

not finding the exact test, i just scrounged up a random on online. ^^

[Necrosnoop110]

Since this is anonymous I'll answer, otherwise modesty would compel me to not say. I also don't think IQ tests are the end all be all. After all, if Feynman can laugh them off, why can't the rest of us mere mortals. (I scored 138 on an IQ test I was forced to take in High School by the school's psychologist.) 

[Soundwave]

lorum ipsum