Here are 25 sample questions curtesy of the Great Auk. Answers are at the bottom of the page ^_^
1.) What composer wrote some of his greatest music after becoming deaf?
2.) For what musical instrument did Chopin write most of his work?
3.) The pyramids were built by the ancient Egyptians for what purpose?
A. elevated gardens
B. navigational beacons
C. tombs for their rulers
D. astronomical observatories
E. monuments to military leaders
4.) Ancient Egyptians had no paper. Instead of paper, they used the dried leaves of what water plant?
5.) Name the queen who was the wife of her brother, Ptolemy XII, as well as the mistress of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.
6.) Chester Arthur became U.S. president after the assassination of whom?
7.) Arthur Miller's play, "The Crucible," was based upon what historical event? <<AP students read this book over the summer>>
A. Boston massacre
B. Salem witch trials
C. sinking of the Maine
D. attack on Pearl Harbor
E. crossing of the Delaware
8.) What is the profession of Arthur Dimmesdale in Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter"? <<IB students will have to read this book>>
9.) According to the Bible, these things all affected what land?
Frogs infested the land.
First-born children all died.
Boils appeared on men and beasts.
Locusts darkened the skies.
The river water turned to blood.
10.) Who was the child who talked to the animals in Kipling's "The Jungle Book"?
A. Kaa
B. Baloo
C. Mowgli
D. Bagheera
E. Shere Khan
11.) In what ancient city-state did these things occur?
Weak children were put to death. Boys left
their families at age 7 for military training and
served in the army from age 20 through 60.
<<Hint: Greek and featured in a recent action movie starring Gerard Butler>>
12.) Which country has imposed a limit of one child per family?
A. China
B. Israel
C. Mexico
D. Sweden
E. South Africa
13.) To what is Benjamin Franklin referring below?
We have an old mother that peevish has grown.
She snubs us like children that can scarce walk alone.
She forgets we are grown up and have sense of our own.
<<Hint: Think about the early units in Leary's class>>
14.) What opera written in 1854 by Engelbert Humperdinck tells of a brother and sister who go to pick berries but get lost in a forest inhabited by a child-eating witch?
15.) Cuchulain is a legendary hero of ...
A. Mexico
B. Hawaii
C. Russia
D. Ireland
E. Pakistan
< Do you know this one Mrs. Leary? ^_^ >
16.) After she escaped from slavery in 1849, she returned to the South 19 times to lead more than 300 other slaves to freedom, including her aged parents. Name this "conductor" on the Underground Railroad.
17.) Which Greek hero was invulnerable except for a small area near one of his heels?
A. Jason
B. Perseus
C. Hercules
D. Odysseus
E. Achilles
18.) Who was a hero of the South American independence movement?
A. Simon Bolivar
B. Cesar Chavez
C. Andres Segovia
D. Francisco Franco
E. Ferdinand Magellan
19.) This is a variation of what cliche?
as easy as 3.14159265
20.) Complete the idiom at the end of this verse.
I'm careful of the words I say,
To keep them soft and sweet,
I never know from day to day
Which ones I'll have to ...
21.) What idiom, reminiscent of Marie Antoinette's nutrition guidelines for peasants, means to enjoy the advantages of two alternative courses of action when it is actually impossible to do both at once?
22.) What idiom is paraphrased below?
Thus disintegrates a thin,
crisp, circular pastry.
23.) People who are thick as thieves are ...
A. lonely
B. obese
C. close friends
D. dumb criminals
E. packed together
24.) What is the acronym for the technology developed during World War II called radio detection and ranging?
25.) Couch potatoes are looking for a dream come true with a new technology abbreviated HDTV. For what do the first two initials stand?
Answers:
1.) Beethoven
2.) Piano
3.) C. tombs for their rulers
4.) Papyrus
5.) Cleopatra
6.) James A. Garfield
7.) B. Salem Witch Trials
8.) Minister (reverend)
9.) Egypt
10.) C. Mowgli
11.) Sparta
12.) China
13.) England
14.) Hansel and Gretel
15.) Ireland
16.) Harriet Tubman
17.) E. Achilles
18.) A. Simon Bolivar
19.) As easy as pie
20.) eat
21.) have your cake and eat it too
22.) that's the way the cookie crumbles
23.) C. close friends
24.) radar
25.) High Definition
1.) What composer wrote some of his greatest music after becoming deaf?
2.) For what musical instrument did Chopin write most of his work?
3.) The pyramids were built by the ancient Egyptians for what purpose?
A. elevated gardens
B. navigational beacons
C. tombs for their rulers
D. astronomical observatories
E. monuments to military leaders
4.) Ancient Egyptians had no paper. Instead of paper, they used the dried leaves of what water plant?
5.) Name the queen who was the wife of her brother, Ptolemy XII, as well as the mistress of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.
6.) Chester Arthur became U.S. president after the assassination of whom?
7.) Arthur Miller's play, "The Crucible," was based upon what historical event? <<AP students read this book over the summer>>
A. Boston massacre
B. Salem witch trials
C. sinking of the Maine
D. attack on Pearl Harbor
E. crossing of the Delaware
8.) What is the profession of Arthur Dimmesdale in Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter"? <<IB students will have to read this book>>
9.) According to the Bible, these things all affected what land?
Frogs infested the land.
First-born children all died.
Boils appeared on men and beasts.
Locusts darkened the skies.
The river water turned to blood.
10.) Who was the child who talked to the animals in Kipling's "The Jungle Book"?
A. Kaa
B. Baloo
C. Mowgli
D. Bagheera
E. Shere Khan
11.) In what ancient city-state did these things occur?
Weak children were put to death. Boys left
their families at age 7 for military training and
served in the army from age 20 through 60.
<<Hint: Greek and featured in a recent action movie starring Gerard Butler>>
12.) Which country has imposed a limit of one child per family?
A. China
B. Israel
C. Mexico
D. Sweden
E. South Africa
13.) To what is Benjamin Franklin referring below?
We have an old mother that peevish has grown.
She snubs us like children that can scarce walk alone.
She forgets we are grown up and have sense of our own.
<<Hint: Think about the early units in Leary's class>>
14.) What opera written in 1854 by Engelbert Humperdinck tells of a brother and sister who go to pick berries but get lost in a forest inhabited by a child-eating witch?
15.) Cuchulain is a legendary hero of ...
A. Mexico
B. Hawaii
C. Russia
D. Ireland
E. Pakistan
< Do you know this one Mrs. Leary? ^_^ >
16.) After she escaped from slavery in 1849, she returned to the South 19 times to lead more than 300 other slaves to freedom, including her aged parents. Name this "conductor" on the Underground Railroad.
17.) Which Greek hero was invulnerable except for a small area near one of his heels?
A. Jason
B. Perseus
C. Hercules
D. Odysseus
E. Achilles
18.) Who was a hero of the South American independence movement?
A. Simon Bolivar
B. Cesar Chavez
C. Andres Segovia
D. Francisco Franco
E. Ferdinand Magellan
19.) This is a variation of what cliche?
as easy as 3.14159265
20.) Complete the idiom at the end of this verse.
I'm careful of the words I say,
To keep them soft and sweet,
I never know from day to day
Which ones I'll have to ...
21.) What idiom, reminiscent of Marie Antoinette's nutrition guidelines for peasants, means to enjoy the advantages of two alternative courses of action when it is actually impossible to do both at once?
22.) What idiom is paraphrased below?
Thus disintegrates a thin,
crisp, circular pastry.
23.) People who are thick as thieves are ...
A. lonely
B. obese
C. close friends
D. dumb criminals
E. packed together
24.) What is the acronym for the technology developed during World War II called radio detection and ranging?
25.) Couch potatoes are looking for a dream come true with a new technology abbreviated HDTV. For what do the first two initials stand?
Answers:
1.) Beethoven
2.) Piano
3.) C. tombs for their rulers
4.) Papyrus
5.) Cleopatra
6.) James A. Garfield
7.) B. Salem Witch Trials
8.) Minister (reverend)
9.) Egypt
10.) C. Mowgli
11.) Sparta
12.) China
13.) England
14.) Hansel and Gretel
15.) Ireland
16.) Harriet Tubman
17.) E. Achilles
18.) A. Simon Bolivar
19.) As easy as pie
20.) eat
21.) have your cake and eat it too
22.) that's the way the cookie crumbles
23.) C. close friends
24.) radar
25.) High Definition