The Nerd Test


        See how much of a nerd you are by taking this test. I may define nerd differently than you do, so don't get annoyed if the test didn't cover what you expected it to. Drop me an e-mail if you think there are other questions that should be added, or just sign my guestbook. I also think it's cool to be a nerd, so don't feel weird if you score high!
There are 10 sections, 135 questions total. Some questions are worth 1 point, some are worth 2. (Generally when there are multiple questions on one issue, these are worth fewer points.)
Please note: some of the questions will be irrelevant to you because you will be either too young or too old to answer (the test is generally targeted at college-age.) If this is the case, answer with what you used to do or what you plan on doing, as the case may be.

When you're done and you got your results, you have to click "back" to get back to my webpage.

Please note: a small number of the questions were stolen from nerd purity tests on sites like armory.com.

Check all boxes for which your answer is "yes".
The "submit" button is at the bottom.

    Section 1: General School Behavior

  1. Do you love school?
  2. Did you even love it when you were a kid?
  3. Do people make fun of you because of this?
  4. Do you go to a school that is particularly well known and accomplished for its academics?
  5. Is that the biggest reason you went there? (not because of a good sports team or because the location was nice or because the dorms looked good)
  6. Are you in the top 10% of your class at your school?
  7. Have you taken a notoriously difficult course?
  8. Did you receive an A- or higher?
  9. Did you just take this course for fun? (not as a requirement or so it would "look good" on your transcript)
  10. Do you do that all of the time?
  11. Have you ever signed up for a course that met at a very unpopular time (8am or 9am several days a week; late Friday afternoon, etc)?
  12. Was this a course you just felt like taking and was in no way required?
  13. Do you go to optional recitations/class meetings/discussion sections? (review sessions don't count)
  14. Have you ever e-mailed (or wrote, called, etc) a professor, to continue discussing something interesting about lecture?
  15. Was this not to suck up to them? (you just REALLY wanted to continue that conversation!)
  16. Have you ever tutored someone?
  17. Without expecting pay/credit/favors in return?


    18. Section 2: Study Habits

  18. Do you usually (more than 50% of the time) do all your homework by the time it's due?
  19. Do you usually do homework that your professor specifically tells you in advance he/she will not collect it?
  20. Did you ever finish all of your homework a week or more in advance? (not including homework over the summer or vacation)
  21. Do you regularly spend more than 3 hours on your homework each night?
  22. Even on the weekends?
  23. Have you ever done homework on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night of the same weekend?
  24. Just because you felt like it? (not because you were way behind)
  25. Have you ever declined going out with friends so that you could do homework or reading?
  26. Have you ever pulled an all-nighter to do homework?
  27. Have you ever done homework straight for more than 8 hours? (with bathroom breaks, but any food consumed must have been during studying)
  28. Have you ever accidentally missed a meal because you worked through it? (you just got caught up in what you were learning!)
  29. Has a teacher ever told you that you studied too much?


    30. Section 3: Classroom Behavior

  30. Do you sit in the front row (or in the first few rows for big lectures) more than 40% of the time?
  31. Have you ever argued with a professor over what you were learning?
  32. Did you win?
  33. Have you ever held a conversation/debate with a professor as if there weren't other students in the class?
  34. Have you ever been "that guy" or "that girl"? (who always raises his/her hand and is always talking)
  35. Have you ever corrected a professor?
  36. Have you ever known more than your professor/teacher about the topic s/he was teaching you?
  37. Do you take notes in most of your classes?
  38. More than 2-3 pgs an hr?
  39. In more than one color?
  40. On your laptop that you bring to class?
  41. Have you ever been the teacher's pet?


    42. Section 4: Knowledge and Intelligence

  42. Did you score above a 1200 on the SAT's?
  43. Above a 1400?
  44. Above a 1550???
  45. Can you count in binary?
  46. Do you know the Latin (genus, species) name of any animal other than the human being?
  47. Can you recite more than 5 digits of pi?
  48. Have you read 5 or more shakespeare plays?
  49. More than 10?
  50. Do people often remark about your extensive vocabulary?

  51. Do people always want you on their Quizzo/Trival Pursuit team?
  52. Do people always refer to you as "that person who knows everything"?
  53. Do people always call you "smart"?
  54. Are you a computer whiz?
  55. When watching a movie, do you get all of the historical or literterary references that other people miss?
  56. When watching a sci-fi movie do you often think, "that's impossible," knowing the exact scientific law which has been violated?
  57. When reading the newspaper or a magazine, do you notice all or most of the grammar errors, and comment or think about the bad writing?


    58. Section 5: Reading and Books

  58. Do you read for fun?
  59. Every day?
  60. For more than an hour?
  61. Do you read more than one book a month?
  62. More than 5 books a month?
  63. More than 10 books a month?
  64. Do you ever read textbooks for fun?
  65. Do you ever read the dictionary or encyclopedia for fun?
  66. Do you ever go to the library when you don't have to?
  67. Do you go to the library on a daily basis?
  68. Do you know the librarians well?
  69. When you go to the library for a specific purpose (like for a research paper), do you often get "stuck" looking at other books unrelated to your purpose?
  70. Would you rather spend money on books than on clothes, CDs, or entertainment?
  71. Speaking of CDs, are your musical interests mostly in jazz and/or classical?


    72. Section 6: Love of Learning and General Inquisitiveness

  72. Do you get more "high" off of the love of learning than off any substance you've tried?
  73. Have you ever done/said something really nerdy while drunk or high? (Ex: "the reason I'm slurring my speech right now is because..." then give the scientific process)
  74. Would you rather take a good, hard class you might do badly in than take a less interesting easy class you know you'd get an A in? (Just for the challenge and so you'll learn more)
  75. When a professor assigns optional reading or homework (the kind that won't help you on the test) do you do it anyway because it sounds interesting and fun?
  76. Have you ever audited a course and actually done most of the homework and reading for it? OR Have you ever taken a course P/F and actually done very well in it? (B+ or above)
  77. Have you taken more than the standard courseload at your school?
  78. Do you always take more than the standard courseload?
  79. Have you ever had to ask for permission to take even more courses? (2 or more courses above the standard load)
  80. Do you often wonder things like, “hey, why is the sky blue?”
  81. When you wonder these things, do you look it up? (rather than just let it go)
  82. Do you actually know why the sky is blue? (can you give the entire explanation)
  83. When wondering if something is true, do you ever perform an experiment to test it?
  84. Even if the experiment itself is probably way more trouble than it's worth?
  85. Have you ever finished a math problem (just because you felt like you needed to) even after the class was over (you already had a grade) and you didn't have to do it anymore?
  86. How about the same thing for a book?
  87. Did you ever write a paper "for fun"?
  88. Have you ever written a computer program (game, script, etc) "for fun"?
  89. Do you like philosophy?


    90. Section 7: Learning through Media

  90. Do you love history museums?
  91. Do you love art museums?
  92. Do you love science museums?
  93. Any kind of museum?
  94. Do you watch the educational programs on the Discovery channel "for fun"?
  95. What about the educational programs on The Learning Channel?
  96. The History Channel?
  97. Animal Planet?
  98. C-span???
  99. Do you watch the news on a regular basis?
  100. Do you not watch the news only because you read the newspaper on a regular basis? (and it's much better)
  101. Are these (or any combination of them) the only things you ever watch on TV?
  102. Do you identify with Lisa Simpson from the Simpsons?
  103. Do you like independent films much better than mainstream ones?
  104. Do you subscribe to and read regularly a news, arts, literature, science, or history periodical? (i.e, Economist, Science, TIME, National Geographic, New Yorker, etc count; Cosmo, Maxim, etc do NOT count)
  105. Do you subscribe to more than two such periodicals?
  106. More than five??


    107. Section 8: Group Nerdiness

  107. Do you play RPGs like dungeons and dragons?
  108. Do you play strategy/knowledge games like charades, mindtrap, risk, trivial pursuit, etc when you get together with your friends? (i.e. not games based purely on luck or physical ability. Not most video games.)
  109. Do you enjoy having debates with people?
  110. Do people get annoyed that you always want to talk about "intellectual" or "deep" things?
  111. Have you ever been a member of a chess club, math team, debate team, discussion group, or book/journal club?
  112. Two or more of the above?
  113. Have you ever created a group to bring nerds together?
  114. And none of this participation was to pad your college application?
  115. Have you ever participated in an online nerdy group (like those listed above)?
  116. Do you always find yourself hanging around other smart people?
  117. Do people have a label ("nerds", "smarties") for your group of friends?
  118. Do you have nerdy parents? (Is that the reason you are the way you are?)


    119. Section 9: Post-Graduate and Jobs -- for this section, answer based on experience OR what you expect to do in the future (but you are not old enough yet)

  119. Have you done coursework beyond college?
  120. For a masters?
  121. more than one?
  122. For a PhD?
  123. more than one?
  124. For an MD?
  125. For a JD?
  126. For an MBA?
  127. For another advanced degree?
  128. more than one?
  129. For a dual degree program?? (JD/Phd, MD/Phd, etc. Getting a masters as part of a PhD program doesn't count because that is standard)
  130. Wouldn't it be nice to stay in school forever?
  131. Have you ever turned down a high-paying job in order to do one that is more intellectually satisfying? (i.e., working in academia instead of for a company)


    132. Just three final questions...

  132. Would you consider yourself a nerd?
  133. Have you ever written a test like this one?
  134. Have you suggested questions for this quiz from personal experience? (or can you think of one now that would be good?)

    135. back to my webpage