( 1 ) Online Tests Can Be Both Fun and Accurate?

       So I have encountered some pretty cool tests online, among them are political position tests and political knowledge tests. Two particular tests were really pretty well designed. Unlike the IQ tests however (which I will discuss in what amounts to part two of this article), there is some large margin that I allow their design. With all tests it is valuable to know how they are designed and analyzed. The two tests I'm highlighting are quite different in their approach and purpose. The first is Pew Research Center's "News IQ" online political knowledge quiz. My only real criticism is their use of the term "IQ" inaccurately, but this is a very common occurrence with so many such quizzes these days. So, let's just call it a "political knowledge" quiz instead. The second test is the "Political Compass" and there are no correct or incorrect answers, it measures explicitly a person's opinions and social-economic-political views.It is suggested that you read the home page before taking the test, which you can access by clicking on the second link from the top on the left side.

       Pew's test is attempting to measure whether people know certain facts in the public arena and related to politics and government.    

Here are my results for Pew's political knowledge quiz;

Here's Your Score: You correctly answered 11 out of the 12 possible questions, which means you did better on the quiz than 93% of the general public.

 here are my results for the Political Compass;

Your political compass

Economic Left/Right: -6.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.56

I have taken this test a few times and I tend to score in the general area. I've noticed that the difference is usually about a range of + / - 1.5 in both directions. My results this time are more to the left and a little more to the "libertarian" than usual, Left -5.62 & Libertarian -3.64 a few weeks ago. But back in October my score was Left -5.25 & Libertarian -2.82, now if I average all three I get Left -5.66 and Libertarian -3.67.

       Another test that I found interesting and accurate was the "Independence Day" quiz on Toast.net. Out of thirty questions I answered 29 correctly. The one I missed was term length of for representatives. Though in my defense I only transposed the term length with that of senators. This is a test of knowledge, like the first quiz I discussed here. This one, however, is specific to American government. The first one covers more of current political and economic issues and events that have recently been discussed in the major news media.

Independence DayQuiz

Your Score is 29 Near Perfect!  This was a difficult test, you should be proud!