Oxford Quiz
Oxford College Quiz


Can you hold your own with these college kids? Match Your Knowledge With Oxford. In these days of specialization it helps to have knowledge in many things, not just your field of study. Here are 50 questions adapted from a piece first researched and edited by the Gallop organization and printed in numerous publications—styled a sort of cultural Olympics. They were put to 1100 students in four American and eight British universities. It was reported the students of Oxford University scored highest, answering an average of 35 questions correctly. Durham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Liverpool, Aberdeen and Birkbeck tied for second with a 26 average, as did American universities Yale and Princeton. The universities of Indiana and Georgia came in with an average of 21 correct. We know you are smart in your chosen profession, but are you also broadly informed? Now you can match wits with these college brains and discover how wide, rather than deep, is you knowledge. Be liberal in judging yourself, that was the policy in grading the university students. If you would rather take this quiz with verbal prompts and some clues (that could especially be handy when you are able to hear the language portion) grab a pencil and go to the archives at this site to hear it on radio program #80.
Name(truth optional)
Please tell honestly your occupation
Firm, Institution, or Affiliation?

1: Literature, Who wrote The Devine Comedy?
Oliver
Sigmond
Drewhurst
Dante
Shakespeare
Townsand
2: Literature, What literary hero jousted with windmills?
Zorro
Sir Lancelot
Dumsnoggin the Bad
Ivan the Terrible
Zane Gray
Don Quixote
3: Literature, Who wrote Leaves of Grass?
Walt Whitman
Eva Marie Sainte
Wanda Fairchild
Walter Whiteman
Anne Murrow Lindbergh
Willow Simpson
4: Literature, Name one novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Enemy at My Gate
The Gulag Archipelago
The Volga Rebellion
Death on the Potemkin
The Empire Bathed in Red
The Brothers Karamazov
5: Literature, Name one novel by Gustave Flaubert
The Happy Hooker
Twisted Obsessions
Madam Bovary
Never Dive Here Alone
Behind the Red Door
Trust Not Thy Wayward Ways
6: Literature, Name one German poet
Nietzsche
Hitler
Goering
Goethe
Goebels
Messerschmidt
7: Religion, Name the first of the Ten Commandments
Thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not commit adultry
Thou shalt honor the Sabbath and keep it holy
Thou shalt honor they mother and thy father
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt have no other gods before me
8: Religion, What is the dominant religion of Pakistan?
Hindu
Christianity
Moslem
Alawhite
Talaban
Druses
9: Religion, What is the dominant religion of Greece?
Eastern Orthodox
Roman Catholic
Greek Mythology
Protestant
Islamic
Hebrew
10: Religion, Who is alleged to have betrayed the Jesus
Mary Magdalene
Pontius Pilot
Herod
Judas Iscariot
Brutus
Jehoshaphat
11: Religion, Name three religions besides Christianity
Judaism, Buddhism, Shinto
Hindu, Islam, Abba
Confucianism, Moslem, Sluki
Sikhism, Baha'i, Abdulo
Jainism, Scientology, Shehit
Zoroastrianism, Buddist, Tenkyo
12: Philosophy, Name one philosopher before Plato’s time
Aristotle
Democitus
Herclitus
Socrates
Cicero
Herodontus
13: Philosophy, Who said, “I think, therefore I am”?
Frued
Pavlov
Carnegie
Peale
Graham
Descartes
14: Philosophy, Who wrote Thus Spake Zarathustra and The Will to Power?
Bailey
Nietzsche
Bertham
Nylonsky
Whittier
Nydertorn
15: Philosophy, What 20th century modern philosopher is associated with existentialism?
John Paul Stevens
Pope John Paul
Jean Paul LaBlanc
Jean Paul LaFitte
John Paul St. Luce
Jean Paul Sartre
16: Philosophy, Name a book by Karl Marx
Das Kapital
Communism Forever
Workers of the World Unite
The Communist Handbook
The October Rebellion
We Will Burry You
17: Architecture, What is a flying buttress?
Arched exterior support made of masonry, set against a building
A ram
A corner brace set at high level
Stone winged creature looking down from outside
Arch between rooms
Removable door frames
18: Architecture, In what architectural style are most Russian churches built?
Onion domed
Mesopotamian
Byzantine
Gotheral
Orthodox Traditional
Babylonian
19: Architecture, Name three types of Grecian columns
Doric, Corinthian, Ionic
Corinthian, Iconic, Doric,
Ionic, Druid, Corinthian
Corinthian, Ponic, Dorid
Dorinthian, Coric, Ionic
Ioric, Corinthian, CIonic
20: Architecture, What is the Parthenon?
An achient stable for the king's horses
The Temple of Zues
A chamber next to Westminster Abby
A military arms museum
Grecian temple on the Acropolis at Athens
A training camp for Spartans
21: Architecture, With what type of architecture do you associate with cathedrals?
Byzantine
Orthodox Traditional
Mesopotamian
Gothic
English Tudor
Subrottan Block
22: Music, Name one of Debussy’s compositions
La Appitite
Lueraul
Legumes da la Rose`
La bella Bride
L, Mer, Alpha Roma Pruz
La Mer, L’Apre-midi d’un Faune
23: Music, What is La Scala?
Opera house in Rome, Italy
A famous opera performed in Milan
Modern operata from Tuscany
Opera glasses with which one views the stage
Opera house in Milan, Italy
Originally known as Le Scula Redux
24: Music, Name a modern, serious composer
Berlin
Lennon
Stravinsky
Bacherach
Joplin
Rogers
25: Music, Who wrote Finlandia?
Sibelius
St. Albins
Sandusky
Santos
Stubens
Stravinsky
26: Sculpture, painting, What artist painted The Last Supper?
Leonardo da Vinci
Whistler
Goya
Michelangelo
Bonham
Rasseau
27: Sculpture, painting, What painter of the Italian Renaissance was also a famous sculptor?
Goya
Leonardo da Vinci
Rasseau
Rodin
Beruba
Michelangelo
28: Sculpture, painting, Name a 19th century English painter famous for his landscapes
Bardeen
Rumsfeld
Constable
Turner
Hawethorne, R. I.
Ely Smith
29: Sculpture, painting, What sculptor produced The Thinker?
El Greco
Turner
Constable
Valazquez
Rodin
Rasseau
30: Sculpture, painting, Name any famous Spanish painter
Worhall
Nunez
Picco
Cortez
De leon
Dali
31: Language, "Se verra` presto lo vedro" (take half point extra credit if you can name the language)
If he comes soon, I shall see him.
I have already written them.
At least, I will do it there.
Our men have been across the river.
One always sees some light.
You bumbling idiot, never do that.
32: Language, "Ich habe schon einen Brief an sie geschrieben" (take half point extra credit if you can name the language)
If he comes, I shall see him.
I have already written them a letter.
At least, I will do it there.
All our men had been set free.
Always see the same side of things.
You bumbling idiot, never do that again.
33: Language, "Por lo menos, yoy a hacerlo si hay tiempos" (take half point extra credit if you can name the language)
See the big side of the mountain from here.
I have already written them a letter
At least, I will do it if there is time.
If he comes, I shall see him running fast.
And at dawn our men had been across.
You bumbling idiot, I told you never do that again.
34: Language, "Prima luce et nostri omnes erant flumen transportati" (take half point extra credit if you can name the language)
At least, I will do it if there is time this once.
I have already written them a letter and not heard back yet.
If he comes soon, I shall see him tranported.
And at dawn all our men had been moved across the river.
One always sees the same side of the things when in doubt.
You bumbling idiot, I told you never do that kind of thing.
35: Language, "On voit toujours le meme cote de la lume" (take half point extra credit if you can name the language)
You bumbling idiot, I told you never do that.
I have already written them a truly nasty letter.
One mostly sees the same kind of strange light.
At least, I will do it if there tonight.
One always sees the same side of the moon.
If he comes soon, I shall see him again.
36: History, What general conquered ancient Persia?
Cesar
William the Conqueror
Ivan The Terrible
Alexander the Great
Atilla the Hun
Xerxes
37: History, When did China become a republic?
1912
1948
1052
1945
1896
China never became a republic
38: History, Name an early historical figure associated with South America
Sir Francis Drake
Tampico Vasquez
Barbarosa
Simon Bolivar
Bruno san Paulo
Juan Valdez
39: History, With what country is the 19th-century statesmen Metternich connected
Italy
Austria
Netherlands
Spain
Germsny
Norway
40: History, With what country is the 19th-century statesmen Cavour connected
Italy
Austria
Netherlands
Spain
Japan
Sweden
41: Economics, Social Science, Who wrote The Wealth of Nations?
Paul Jones
Milton Friedman
John Maynard Kenyes
Alan Greenspan
Robert Rubin
Adam Smith
42: Economics, Social Science, What was the Malthusian Doctrine?
Doctrine that poverty is inevitable because population increases arithmetically while means of subsistence increase geometrically
Doctrine that poverty is inevitable because population increases geometrically while means of subsistence increase arithmetically
Doctrine that poverty is not inevitable because population increases geometrically while means of subsistence increase arithmetically
Doctrine that poverty can be erased when population increases geometrically and means of subsistence increase arithmetically
Doctrine that poverty can be erased when population increases arithmetically while means of subsistence increase geometrically
All of the above
43: Economics, Social Science, What is meant by “laissez faire”?
Not to really care about a situation
Hang loose and all works out for the best
Rules can gum things up
Hail fellow well met
Economic system allowed to function without regulation of government
Fine tuning an already working model is always a mistake
44: Economics, Social Science, Who wrote The Social Contract?
Jean Jacques Rousseau
Newt Gingrich
Rush Limbaugh
Ronald Reagan
Margaret Thatcher
François Mitterrand
45: Economics, Social Science, Name a publication by Thomas Paine
Wealth of The American Dream
The Picwik Papers
Common Ground
The Pentagone Papers
Liberty or Death
Common Sense
46: Science, What is the second law of thermodynamics?
Transition from one state to another always entails loss of energy
No substance can be heated at sea level beyond 2000 degrees C
E=MC2
C60 will never be useful
Absolute zero can be measured only in thermo units of C
In reassembling nuclei, atoms aways will try to escape
47: Science, Who was Pavlov?
A famous dog used in experiments
A dog sent into space by the USSR
Russian psychologist and physiologist
A master at scientific illusion
A Russian cosmonaut
Designer of the Sayuse missile
48: Science, Who is the father of psychoanalysis?
Derringer
Dumphe
Cohane
Fritz
Einstein
Freud
49: Science, What is the largest planet is our solar system?
Mars
Jupiter
Sarturn
Mercury
Our own Earth
Neptune
50: Science, What is a gene?
Dietary deficiency
Clue to curing AIDS
Biological entity which transmits heredity characteristics
A window into the brain and how it functions
The mistaken belief that human life begins prior to conception
All of the above

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