“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”
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I thought we should start the year off with a little intellectual stimulation, in other words twenty test questions to get you all thinking.
It has been a while since we had one so I hope you are ready, willing and able.
As usual some of the questions are difficult, some are easy, some are a bit tricky and some are a combination of these.
Enjoy!
(The answers are waaaaaay down below, but please, no cheating!)
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Q 1. What is the collective term for a group of ravens?
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Q 2. How long did the Hundred Years War last?
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Q 3. What does the “WD” in WD-40 stand for?
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Q 4. An encyclopedia consists of ten volumes (sitting next to each other, in order, on a shelf). Each volume contains one thousand pages. Excluding the covers of each volume, how many pages are between the first page of the encyclopedia and the last?
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Q 5. Who was the first US President to visit China?
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Q 6. In a group of siblings, there are seven sisters, and each sister has one brother. How many siblings are there in total?
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Q 7. The first subway system in America was built in which city?
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Q 8. Forward I’m heavy, backwards I’m not. What am I?
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Q 9. Who received the Keys to the City of Detroit in 1980?
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Q 10. How many 3-cent stamps in a dozen?
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Q 11. Billie was born on December 28th, yet her birthday always falls in the summer. How is this possible?
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Q 12. Which is correct to say, “The yolk of the egg is white” or “The yolk of the egg are white?”
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Q 13. A farmer has five haystacks in one field and four haystacks in another. How many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in one field?
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Q 14. A man gave one son 10 cents and another son was given 15 cents. What time is it?
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Q 15. If you had only one match and entered a room in which there was a kerosene lamp, an oil heater, and a woodburning stove, which would you light first?
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Q 16. What is it that goes up and goes down but does not move?
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Q 17. I am the owner of a pet store. If I put in one canary per cage, I have one bird too many. If I put in two canaries per cage, I have one cage too many. How many cages and canaries do I have?
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Q 18. Rearrange the letters in the words “new door” to make one word.
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Q 19. A mile-long train is moving at sixty miles an hour when it reaches a mile-long tunnel. How long does it take the entire train to pass through the tunnel?
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Q 20. What number comes next?
2, 2, 4, 12, 48, ___
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ANSWERS
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Q 1. What is the collective term for a group of ravens?
A 1. A group of ravens is called a murder.
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Q 2. How long did the Hundred Years War last?
A 2. The Hundred Years War lasted for 116 years
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Q 3. What does the “WD” in WD-40 stand for
A 3. The WD in WD-40 stands for Water Displacer
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Q 4. An encyclopedia consists of ten volumes (sitting next to each other, in order, on a shelf). Each volume contains one thousand pages. Excluding the covers of each volume, how many pages are between the first page of the encyclopedia and the last?
A 4. Eight thousand. When books sit on shelves, the first page of the book is the rightmost page, and the last page is the leftmost page. So you can’t count the pages in the first and last volumes.
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Q 5. Who was the first US President to visit China?
A 5. The first United States president to visit China was Richard Nixon
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Q 6. In a group of siblings, there are seven sisters, and each sister has one brother. How many siblings are there in total?
A 6. Eight, if each sister has just the one brother.
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Q 7. The first subway system in America was built in which city?
A 7. Most people guess New York, but the first subway system in America was built in Boston, Massachusetts in 1897.
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Q 8. Forward I’m heavy, backwards I’m not. What am I?
A 8. ton
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Q 9. Who received the Keys to the City of Detroit in 1980?
A 9. Saddam Hussein received the keys to the city of Detroit in recognition of large donations to a church. Oh, yes he did!!!
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Q 10. How many 3-cent stamps in a dozen?
A 10. Er… A Dozen, 12. I hope you didn’t say 4.
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Q 11. Billie was born on December 28th, yet her birthday always falls in the summer. How is this possible?
A 11. Billie lives in the southern hemisphere.
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Q 12. Which is correct to say, “The yolk of the egg is white” or “The yolk of the egg are white?”
A 12. Neither. Egg yolks are yellow.
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Q 13. A farmer has five haystacks in one field and four haystacks in another. How many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in one field?
A 13. One. If he combines all his haystacks, they all become one big stack.
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Q 14. A man gave one son 10 cents and another son was given 15 cents. What time is it?
A 14. The time is 1:45. The man gave away a total of 25 cents. He divided it between two people. Therefore, he gave a quarter to two.
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Q 15. If you had only one match and entered a room in which there was a kerosene lamp, an oil heater, and a woodburning stove, which would you light first?
A 15. The match.
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Q 16. What is it that goes up and goes down but does not move?
A 16. Temperature.
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Q 17. I am the owner of a pet store. If I put in one canary per cage, I have one bird too many. If I put in two canaries per cage, I have one cage too many. How many cages and canaries do I have?
A 17. Four canaries and three cages.
If you put one canary in each cage, you have an extra bird without a cage. However, if you put two canaries in each cage then you have two canaries in the first cage, two canaries in the second cage and an extra cage.
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Q 18. Rearrange the letters in the words “new door” to make one word.
A 18. “new door” can be rearranged into “one word”
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Q 19. A mile-long train is moving at sixty miles an hour when it reaches a mile-long tunnel. How long does it take the entire train to pass through the tunnel?
A 19. 2 minutes (The back of the train would be at the beginning of the tunnel after 1 minute, and would leave the end of the tunnel at the 2 minute mark.
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Q 20. What number comes next?
2, 2, 4, 12, 48, ___
A 20. 240.
To get the number, multiply the previous number in the series by its position.
48 is in the 5th position, so 48 × 5 = 240
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fasab 
Oh, my! Sign me up as being that kid in class who struggled with those crazy math questions! FAIL!!!
Awesome list. 🙂 # 1 – I learned something. # 9 – the most interesting!
It’s the taking part that counts, and thanks for that.
I think I need more coffee! Challenging and fun.
Good luck!
This was fun! I got 12 of the 20 correct. I won’t say which 12, but I assure you it was the most obvious ones. #9 was NOT one of them!
Thanks for trying them out. And you’ll be happy to hear 12 is a PASS! Hardly anyone knows about #9. How quickly friends become foes???
Though I didn’t know #9, I hardly find it surprising. Also, I will admit that #7 was a complete guess. For some reason Boston popped in mind and I went with it. BUT…I’m still counting it as a correct answer! 😉
According to (insert your favorite philosopher/psychologist etc here) a guess is something you really sub-consciously know only can’t consciously recall at the tine you need it.
I’ve been using that explanation for years. 😉
I missed the Detroit keys, and the subway – I said Philadelphia, for some strange reason. And I KNEW the “quarter to two” was a pun, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.
Oh, and besides the temperature, can’t you say the stock market goes up and down? (That’s what I said.) 😉
Everyone is missing the Detroit one, but well done for the time one. Probably the stock market would be a valid answer too, so you can have a point for that.
I got 12 of them right, but I went with.umbrella for what moves up and down but does not move….
Granted, I haven’t had my coffee yet.
Pretty good. You’ve passed your first exam for the day! Thanks for having a go.
A measly 5. Sadly I can’t even use too early in the morning as my excuse… Although I was sure #9 was going to be a baseball hero I’d never heard of …
Thanks for the kickstart 🙂
My pleasure and thanks for having a go at the test.
Great list! A few of them I had seen before which made them easy. Most admit a few surprised me, like #9, wow.
15 out of 20, not to bad.
Thanks for taking part. 15 is an excellent score, well done. And you aren’t alone, #9 is a surprise to most.
Ah!am I glad to be back on your blog!
Glad to have you back. But I would have thought another test would be the last thing you’d want to see 😉
Oh this is nothing like the tests I give!way more fun,and makes way more sense:D
Got a few right – thankfully the siblings, the ravens, the egg yolk, the stamps, the December birthday, the haystacks. I guess about half right. Love these quizzes, the advertisements & puns!
Well done and thank you, both for taking part and for your comments.