Comments on: Geography Olympics

Geography Olympics

Lizc — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:07:13 -0800

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."

By: Red58

Red58 — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:18:15 -0800

well i suck at this. 20%

By: amberglow

amberglow — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:23:24 -0800

me too--40%

By: hackly_fracture

hackly_fracture — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:28:14 -0800

So many countries . . . no wonder America's trying to whittle the number down. Uh, 50% first time, 40% second.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:28:56 -0800

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.

By: Jikido

Jikido — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:29:01 -0800

60%...I helped the U.S. gain .01%...yipee

By: linux

linux — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:30:01 -0800

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.

By: Stynxno

Stynxno — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:43:07 -0800

90% and i missed one by one country over. /me struts his stuff.

By: plexiwatt

plexiwatt — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:44:46 -0800

ah jeez, sorry america.

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:47:36 -0800

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.

By: reklaw

reklaw — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 14:51:28 -0800

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.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 15:24:27 -0800

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.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 15:34:45 -0800

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.

By: Gyan

Gyan — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 15:56:47 -0800

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

By: Octaviuz

Octaviuz — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 16:14:31 -0800

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.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 16:43:09 -0800

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.

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 17:31:37 -0800

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?

By: Mo Nickels

Mo Nickels — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 20:53:01 -0800

Africa was nowhere close to what it is now. Africa has changed what in the last 24 years? Zaire?

By: twine42

twine42 — Thu, 02 Sep 2004 01:23:12 -0800

Is anyone ~~else~~ selecting a country they don't like and then trying to lower their score?

By: Singular

Singular — Thu, 02 Sep 2004 01:37:01 -0800

Gah - randomness sucks. I got both Lesotho and Swaziland in the same go, and got them the wrong way round.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 02 Sep 2004 02:54:08 -0800

I am deeply shamed by my score. Damn Africa! Damn it to hell!

By: bifter

bifter — Thu, 02 Sep 2004 03:36:35 -0800

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!

By: doozer_ex_machina

doozer_ex_machina — Thu, 02 Sep 2004 06:21:53 -0800

I'm afraid of trying as a poor showing will lower my country's _fabulous_ rank of 2nd.

By: briank

briank — Thu, 02 Sep 2004 06:35:59 -0800

80% the first time, 90% the second time. I love geography!

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Thu, 02 Sep 2004 07:15:54 -0800

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.

By: DrDoberman

DrDoberman — Thu, 02 Sep 2004 08:54:35 -0800

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').

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Thu, 02 Sep 2004 10:48:19 -0800

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?

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Fri, 03 Sep 2004 12:09:51 -0800

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