I posted this in my MSNBC Weblog, Test Pattern, but thought I'd share it here, too.
Here's a fun online quiz, but before you click this link, you need to know how it works. Once you click though, a 10-minute timer will start, and you'll have that time to type in all 50 state names. Spell them correctly, of course, and hit "enter" after each one. When you've typed them all, or your 10 minutes is up, the game is over.
I began by thinking of states that I'd visited or where friends lived, then trying to fill in the rest from my mental map of the country. My husband did it by trying to fill in one complete region of the country completely before moving on to another. However you do it, it's pretty interesting to see what states come first -- and last -- to your mind. Are you ready? GO!
(Via Metafilter.)
3 minutes and 20 seconds baby! I'm embarassed to admit that my fifth grade class had to memorize a song in which we chanted all fifty states in alphabetical order. I can't remember how to do long division, but I can still sing that entire song and will probably remember it even when I'm 80.
ReplyDeleteDid it in 1:59.
ReplyDeleteI am a huge nerd.
I did it with 4:16 left, yay! New Mexico was my bane...probably took me 3 minutes for that last one. Thanks!
ReplyDelete06:38 remaining, so in 3:21. Same as 1st commenter, except my sister had to do the song. But I had to help, and so it lives in my head.
ReplyDeleteAnon, do you do the da-da-da in your head after Connecticut? Because I do.
I got it in about 5 minutes...forgot about Wisconsin and Michigan for a while. Having driven cross-country helped a lot...
ReplyDeleteHee, I also did it pretty fast, because when I was a kid we had this song that went FIFTY NIFTY UNITED STATES FROM THIRTEEN ORIGINAL COLONIES, and then named them all in alphabetical order.
ReplyDeleteNot exactly Yakko's World, but still pretty awesome.
Oh, Maryland. Why do you torment me?
ReplyDeleteIf you want a *real* challenge, there's one for African countries at http://mytruepeeps.com/africa.html and one for UN recognized states (all 192 of them! athttp://andys.org.uk/countryquiz/
ReplyDeleteI'm not so swift at it anymore--but I had 2:57 to spare. Idaho took me almost two full minutes there at the end.
ReplyDeleteIowa came first for me--my birthplace.
Did 48 in five mintes, but spent the last 5 trying to remember two midwestern states and I am a East Coast gal through and through.
ReplyDeleteArkansas, bah.
ReplyDeleteI totally forgot about Utah.
ReplyDeleteI only had 4:04 to spare because I forgot Tennessee and couldn't think of it for almost two minutes. Al Gore popped into my head to remind me and I fell in love with him all over again.
ReplyDeleteUtah and Vermont took me forever to remember for some reason.
ReplyDeleteDamn you, Nebraska.
ReplyDeleteI got 40 of the 50 in the allotted time. I might have been able to get mroe if I hadn't taken me so long to remember how to spell "Connecticut." I apparently missed Delaware, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire,
ReplyDeleteOhio, Oklahoma, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
(I actually wasn't aware Vermont was a state prior to this. I've lived in California and the Southwest all my life.)
I forgot Nebraska and Wisconsin, and could not for the life of me remember how to spell Massachusetts. But I'm Canadian, so I have an excuse!
ReplyDeleteI could do all ten provinces and three territories in no time!
Ahhh, Oklahoma and Louisiana, why?! I managed in a little over five minutes, but those last two took me ages, especially since I wasn't naming them in any kind of order at all.
ReplyDeleteIndiana and Ohio. Got the others in six minutes, and was stumped with those two!
ReplyDeleteI never learned the 50 states by song -- that's pretty cool! Hope they're teaching it to the kids today.
I forgot Arizona, Vermont, and Wisconsin, and I feel stupid.
ReplyDeleteI did 48 in about 3:30 but never managed to come up with the last two:
ReplyDeleteYou forgot:Michigan, Mississippi,
Damn those M states!
Nevada and Kentucky were the ones that I couldn't do. Is that 50 state song available online somewhere? I'd love to hear it.
ReplyDelete7 states left. That clock went way too fast.
ReplyDeleteI missed Iowa and Vermont. It took me forever to figure out how to spell Massachusetts correctly, but I finally got it right. Not bad for a Canadian!
ReplyDeleteDamn it! I had five left at the end, which considering I'm in the UK and have only visited the States once, for a week, is not too shabby I don't think. Damn you, Indiana.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't come up with Rhode Island before time was up!!! It's because the state is so small. Rhode Island should probably just be absorbed by another state, so then that state would have the strength of a grown state, AND a little baby state. (I might not be able to remember my states, but I can remember almost everything that was ever said on "The Office", so that has to count for something.)
ReplyDeleteYou forgot: Rhode Island, Utah.
ReplyDeleteI KNEW that there was a New England state I couldn't picture. It was like David, challenging the Goliath of my brain.
I have no excuse for Utah. I sat there, doing a mental puzzle, remembering how neatly Colorado and Wyoming fit, and I didn't remember Utah until after I looked at this thread. But I didn't want to cheat, so I left it out.
I got them all with several minutes to spare... I did it by geography. The ones that gave me some trouble at the end were Utah (along with lots of you, maybe we wish it didn't exist?), Illinois, and West Virginia.
ReplyDelete7mins 55sec. I went through in alphabetical order (but i do not know the song you all mention) and missed 6. The four Is helped and i finished with Ohio and Utah. Spelling slowed me up a couple but give me a break - i am Australian born and bred (how many of you can name our states - and territories?).
ReplyDeleteGood quiz but.
8:24 to spare!
ReplyDeleteWe also had to memorize 50 Nifty United States in I believe 4th Grade.
forgot Missouri
ReplyDeleteI got them all in 2:18 because of that good old state song. Natalie and Jennifer...I so do the "da-da-da" and the "OH-HI-OH"! And then it's "New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico. *Dum Dum* New York." lol. I loved 3rd grade.
ReplyDeleteI forgot Utah, Wisconsin and Delaware. Bah! Stupid Utah.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else notice that this game is from an episode of Friends?
ReplyDeleteI took the whole 10 minutes, and forgot 3:Connecticut, Louisiana, Nebraska.
ReplyDeleteI'll second the Australian who mentioned our 7 states and two territories, hell of a lot easier to remember 9 than 50.
The song (and super fast typing) got me through it all in 52 seconds (or 9:08 to spare)!
ReplyDelete