Geography Olympics

September 1, 2004 2:07 PM

Geography Olympics "Thanks to its global accessibility, the Internet is the perfect medium to hold an international competition such as The Geography Olympics. To join the challenge in support of your country, you simply need to select which country you will be representing and take the quiz. The quiz consists of trying to locate 10 randomly selected countries on a map of the world. It is different every time."
posted by Lizc (27 comments total)

well i suck at this. 20%
posted by Red58 at 2:18 PM on September 1, 2004

me too--40%
posted by amberglow at 2:23 PM on September 1, 2004

So many countries . . . no wonder America's trying to whittle the number down. Uh, 50% first time, 40% second.
posted by hackly_fracture at 2:28 PM on September 1, 2004

70% - I guessed Honduras for Nicaragua, and the Phillipines for Micronesia (shit! I knew that one!) and I don't know where the fuck Mauritania is.
posted by nicwolff at 2:28 PM on September 1, 2004

60%...I helped the U.S. gain .01%...yipee
posted by Jikido at 2:29 PM on September 1, 2004

My mental world map is stuck on 1980, back when there was this large swath simply called "USSR", and Africa was nowhere close to what it is now.
posted by linux at 2:30 PM on September 1, 2004

90% and i missed one by one country over.

/me struts his stuff.
posted by Stynxno at 2:43 PM on September 1, 2004

ah jeez, sorry america.
posted by plexiwatt at 2:44 PM on September 1, 2004

I'd like to suggest to the makers of the Geography Olympics some new subjects they may wish to master, like Mathematics and Grammar. I took the quiz once, then took it a second time and when I tried to look at results, received this message:

SORRY, YOU CAN ONLY CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR COUNTRIES SCORE 3 TIMES PER DAY.

Also, I'm beginning to find amusing the number of web quizzes that equate knowledge of geography with the ability to find a specific, random country on a completely unlabelled map.
posted by jacquilynne at 2:47 PM on September 1, 2004

I got all the European, African and Middle Eastern ones, but I don't really seem to know the geography of South America in any detail.
posted by reklaw at 2:51 PM on September 1, 2004

Your score: 90.00% [Darn former Yugoslav countries]
United State's Previous Score: 52.79%
United State's New Score: 52.80%
Your impact:
Congrats, you have increased your country's score by 0.01%

Gee, I feel like I've accomplished so much today. I'm going to go play as some obscure little country now, so I can actually make a contribution to the country's score.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:24 PM on September 1, 2004

Macedonia's Previous Score: 0.00%
Macedonia's New Score: 90.00%

Ah, that's more like it. And yes, I picked the one country I missed my first time around as my new country. I'm amazed I guessed right on Benin!

Oh, but I take issue with this statement on the Ensuring the accuracy of the Geography Olympics page:

Obviously if one had an atlas or a globe by their side, they would be able to get every question right with enough time on their hands. To eliminate this, we allow only 200 seconds for each quiz session. Anyone trying to cheat would not have nearly enough time to complete the challenge.

Um, maybe if one had absolutely no prior geographic knowledge. But given that I'm reasonably decent at geography to begin with (e.g., I can identify that Macedonia is one of the former Yugoslav countries even if I don't know which one), I'm confident I could easily get 100% on a regular basis in 200 seconds with the use of an atlas.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:34 PM on September 1, 2004

If you're really anal, it would be much easier to lower your rivals' scores (just sayin').
posted by Gyan at 3:56 PM on September 1, 2004

Stupid Vanuatu, how am I supposed to know all those tiny Pacific island countries. I know almost all the countries on the continents but I only got 90%.
I raised the US score by 0.01.
Who are these people getting less than 50%?
Oh right, my fellow Mefites.
posted by Octaviuz at 4:14 PM on September 1, 2004

I scored 50% and got this encouraging message: Congrats, you have increased your country's score by 0.00%

It be nicer if you could see the name of the country more easily (I kept losing it among all the type that's the same size and color) and it weren't possible to keep selecting Brazil if you missed the arrow by one pixel.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:43 PM on September 1, 2004

Woohoo! 60% first, then 80% -- great fun -- thanks for the link!

And those teeny-tiny little countries are too hard to pinpoint on that map - grrrrrrr!

And wouldja believe that I always, always, always confuse Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela on a map?
posted by davidmsc at 5:31 PM on September 1, 2004

Africa was nowhere close to what it is now.

Africa has changed what in the last 24 years? Zaire?
posted by Mo Nickels at 8:53 PM on September 1, 2004

Is anyone else selecting a country they don't like and then trying to lower their score?
posted by twine42 at 1:23 AM on September 2, 2004

Gah - randomness sucks. I got both Lesotho and Swaziland in the same go, and got them the wrong way round.
posted by Singular at 1:37 AM on September 2, 2004

I am deeply shamed by my score. Damn Africa! Damn it to hell!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:54 AM on September 2, 2004

And wouldja believe that I always, always, always confuse Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela on a map?

You could try to remember it by reverse alphabetical order, running from top to bottom? (assuming that the three you think are either Brazil, Argentina or Venezuala are correct). ie it goes Venezuala at the top, then Brazil in the middle and down the side, and Argentina right at the bottom. Z, B, A - easy!
posted by bifter at 3:36 AM on September 2, 2004

I'm afraid of trying as a poor showing will lower my country's _fabulous_ rank of 2nd.
posted by doozer_ex_machina at 6:21 AM on September 2, 2004

80% the first time, 90% the second time.

I love geography!
posted by briank at 6:35 AM on September 2, 2004

Purely random just isn't fair. It's much more important to know where China is than Brunei. Knowing which one is Tajikistan and which is Kyrgyzstan is trivial. The results should really be weighted.
posted by jpoulos at 7:15 AM on September 2, 2004

If you're really anal, it would be much easier to lower your rivals' scores (just sayin').

You would need to get one answer correct, or you would score 0% and that doesn't lower scores (just sayin').
posted by DrDoberman at 8:54 AM on September 2, 2004

Purely random just isn't fair. It's much more important to know where China is than Brunei. Knowing which one is Tajikistan and which is Kyrgyzstan is trivial. The results should really be weighted.

And knowing how to raise your children well is more important than either. So what? Why should the scores on questions be weighted for importance?
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:48 AM on September 2, 2004

You would need to get one answer correct, or you would score 0% and that doesn't lower scores (just sayin').


Huh? Why not?
posted by jpoulos at 12:09 PM on September 3, 2004