How much do you know about the Middle East?
October 3, 2001 8:41 AM   Subscribe

How much do you know about the Middle East? A quiz about Middle East geography and history. I wonder if people are scoring better on this now than they would have a month ago?
posted by jennyjenny (41 comments total)
 
I thought I knew better, but only got 80%. Should have known the Lebanese flag, and that Troy was in Turkey. Oh well, next time.


*hangs head in shame*
posted by Rastafari at 8:51 AM on October 3, 2001


not bad. 8/10 myself. i didn't know what country does not border with iraq (israel) and what country is comprised of 33 islands in the persian gulf (bahrain).
posted by moz at 8:52 AM on October 3, 2001


9/10 - Missed that pesky island question...
posted by scottfree at 8:55 AM on October 3, 2001


Oops, missed the flag and Bahrain.
posted by SuperBreakout at 8:57 AM on October 3, 2001


Hoo-hoo! 10/10.
posted by Dick Paris at 9:01 AM on October 3, 2001


10/10. But only because I read the comment about Troy first! Thanks, Ras
posted by cell divide at 9:07 AM on October 3, 2001


... not to be too arrogant about things, but this isn't exactly a difficult quiz; I hope it doesn't reflect the level of knowledge about the Middle East and Arab worlds.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 9:11 AM on October 3, 2001


EVERYONE! tell us what you scored! I need to something to compare my Middle Eastern knowledge too!
posted by howa2396 at 9:11 AM on October 3, 2001


10/10... This was easy and basic. Not to sound arrogant though- since I live near the region, I am exposed to facts like these a lot.
posted by talos at 9:16 AM on October 3, 2001


10/10 myself! (pats back)
posted by black8 at 9:22 AM on October 3, 2001


Ask American kids today to identify thing in their own history or where on a map some states are located and you will be worried well beyond test results on this test. After all, what a test like this tells us is that most metafilter folks are fairly smart and educated. But we all knew that.
posted by Postroad at 9:30 AM on October 3, 2001


pesky 33 islands is this test's Sputnik, but more embarrassing. That patronizing "Excellent!" when you only get 9/10 is so typical of Encarta. Anyone know how many islands Denmark has? More than 400. Plus a quite decent peninsula.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:37 AM on October 3, 2001


7/10.

I suck.
posted by mrbula at 9:43 AM on October 3, 2001


Postroad hits on something -- as has been said repeatedly, MeFites are not representative of the public at large by any stretch of the imagination. (For the record, 10/10, but I boned up when my husband was serving in the Gulf War.)
posted by Dreama at 9:43 AM on October 3, 2001


The islands got me. 9/10
posted by bjgeiger at 9:45 AM on October 3, 2001


No invisible hand this time, bjgeiger- and just when we most needed it, dammit.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:47 AM on October 3, 2001


9/10 (guessed the Troy question)
posted by andrew cooke at 9:52 AM on October 3, 2001


Well I only got 6/10. I just can't do geography. But at least I knew where Troy was - thickos.
posted by Summer at 9:55 AM on October 3, 2001


Reading test results like those above is reassuring when I remember sitting in a U. of Texas dorm cafeteria across the table from a junior in the College of Journalism who thought El Paso was a state.
posted by alumshubby at 9:56 AM on October 3, 2001


9/10 -- I got the river wrong.
posted by briank at 9:58 AM on October 3, 2001


8/10. I guess I've forgotten too much of what I learned in high school.... Besides, like they said, there aren't many cedars left in Lebanon. Dartmouth isn't at the head of the Dart (river), you know. And I never knew where Bahrain was. (I mean, have we ever bombed them?)
posted by mattpfeff at 10:04 AM on October 3, 2001


We're pretty tight with Bahrain and even have a naval service unit (minor repairs and maintenance for forward deployment) based there. I hate to think what their "pucker factor" must be like lately.

Oh, btw....9/10, and wouldn't you know it, Bahrain is the one I missed. I haven't seen a sufficiently detailed map to realize it's only islands.
posted by alumshubby at 10:17 AM on October 3, 2001


9/10. I also got the river wrong.

Is it wrong for us MeFi'ers to be so smug?
posted by Loudmax at 10:27 AM on October 3, 2001


10/10, but I'm a world history teacher.
posted by Cecilia at 10:49 AM on October 3, 2001


FWIW, I probably would have gotten the same score a month ago -- very little of this info is relevant to the "Current Situation"
posted by briank at 10:55 AM on October 3, 2001


9/10. Take me to the river.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:03 AM on October 3, 2001


LOL... I got a miserable 2/10... yay for me!
posted by dasinginfool at 11:12 AM on October 3, 2001


"Is it wrong for us MeFi'ers to be so smug?"

I tend to think so. Just because 25-30 (out of 10000+) of Metafilter visitors earned a near perfect score on this test doesn't mean metafilter visitors are smarter than the rest of the world. While knowing geographic and politcal facts of the Middle East might mean you are a more informed person, a test like this does not dictate a person's general aptitude (although I would agree that a person living in Texas/USA and thinking El Paso was a state is quite sad). If you're like me and didn't score well on this test, don't worry about it. You're no less of a person.

I apologize for interupting the circle jerk.
posted by howa2396 at 11:23 AM on October 3, 2001


9/10 for me. My internal map failed me at the river. D'oh!
posted by Fley Mingmasc at 11:43 AM on October 3, 2001


Don't feel bad if you got a less than perfect score. I would guess that if you took this quiz to regular people on the street, they would average maybe around 3/10. People that are taking this quiz are taking it because they're relatively sure that they can do well. If you know nothing about the Middle East, you're obviously not going to subject yourself to the confirmation that you know nothing about the Middle East.
And those that did take it and did poorly can always lie.
By the way, I got an HONEST 8 out of 10, which surprised me. I didn't expect to do so well.
posted by thebenny at 12:02 PM on October 3, 2001


7/10, with plenty of semi-educated guesses. I can't believe I thought the "Tigris" river went through Pakistan! I was just guessing one of the two "Social Studies" rivers- the same way when asked about an ancient invention or development, you flip a coin and pick either "Ancient Greece" or "China". Fuck, I am SUCH an idiot! I don't feel so smug now after acing that American history test... :(
posted by hincandenza at 12:06 PM on October 3, 2001


Does anyone know if there's actually such a thing as the Pakis river? It was pretty funny, the thought, and I can't find mention on Google.
posted by mattpfeff at 12:23 PM on October 3, 2001


10 out of 10. I guessed right on 33 islands question.
posted by tamim at 1:07 PM on October 3, 2001


Missed the flag question, got the rest.

They should have a constant average shown on the site, so that you know how you fared in comparison to everyone else that took it.
posted by mkn at 1:52 PM on October 3, 2001


8/10. I missed the Bahrain question and the location of Babylon, mon.

A couple of educated guesses -- the flag, the river.

Yes, this was very basic Middle East stuff, but I found it more difficult than this. I'm guessing that someone with equal exposure to the Middle East and America would have found the ME quiz a breeze by comparison. It's not so bad that we Americans know our own country better than we know the rest of the world, but still, we should know world geography better than we do.
posted by diddlegnome at 2:08 PM on October 3, 2001


8/10. I missed the Bahrain question and the location of Babylon, mon.

A couple of educated guesses -- the flag, the river.

Yes, this was very basic Middle East stuff, but I found it more difficult than this. I'm guessing that someone with equal exposure to the Middle East and America would have found the ME quiz a breeze by comparison. It's not so bad that we Americans know our own country better than we know the rest of the world, but still, we should know world geography better than we do.
posted by diddlegnome at 2:09 PM on October 3, 2001


9/10...missed the islands of Bahrain.

I agree, it was a little too easy...

There should have been questions like these:

1) Is Afghanistan an Arab nation? Is Iran?

2) What is an "Arab?"

3) What is a Moslem?
posted by mapalm at 2:24 PM on October 3, 2001


8/10...and I *knew* it was Bahrain but changed my answer at the last minute...
posted by airgirl at 4:23 PM on October 3, 2001


10/10 .. wheres my cookie
posted by stbalbach at 6:26 PM on October 3, 2001


6/10. And I got the flag and islands Qs. But you know what they say: ignorance is bliss.
posted by garyh at 5:27 AM on October 4, 2001


8/10 - The rivers of Babylon were really on an island? HUH? whatever...
posted by Birichini at 10:09 AM on October 6, 2001


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