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Do I Have Common Sense?

wikihow.com 2 days ago

Take this quiz to find out!

Are you someone with lots of common sense, or not so much? This quiz can tell you! Common sense is the ability to make sound, rational judgments and act reasonably.

So, our quiz will test your practical knowledge and ability to understand things as they truly are—not as they appear. Ready to get started? Answer these tricky, mind-bending questions and discover how much common sense you really have!

A man appears to be thinking hard about something.

Share this quiz with your friends and compare results.

1. How many times can you subtract 8 from 64?
  1. Once
  2. Eight times
  3. Six times
  4. Nine times

Sorry! After subtracting 8 from 64 the first time, your total would be 56—so in this problem, you can technically only subtract 8 from 64 once.

2. How many months have 28 days?
  1. They all do.
  2. One of them.
  3. Three of them.
  4. None of them do.

Although February is the only month with 28 days total, ALL months have at least 28 days in them—tricky, right?

3. Which is heavier: 100 pounds of steel or 100 pounds of feathers?
  1. They weigh the same.
  2. The steel.
  3. The feathers.
  4. I need more information.

The question already states that the feathers and steel weigh 100 pounds, so the answer is that they’re the same!

4. What was the tallest mountain in the world before Mount Everest was discovered?
  1. Mount Everest
  2. Mount McKinley
  3. Kangchenjunga
  4. Mount Vesuvius

Mount Everest existed before it was discovered, so it was still the tallest mountain in the world, even then!

5. You throw a ball 5 feet away, and it comes right back to you. Which direction did you throw it in?
  1. Up.
  2. Left.
  3. Right.
  4. This is impossible.

So close! If you throw a ball up, gravity will bring it back down—which is why you’d have to throw a ball up for it to come back to you.

6. You’re racing against several people and pass the person in 3rd place. What place are you in?
  1. 3rd place
  2. 2nd place
  3. Last place
  4. 1st place

If you pass the person in 3rd place, that means you were in 4th place before—and overtaking them would actually put you in 3rd place.

7. How many peaches can you put in an empty basket?
  1. 1
  2. 12
  3. 0
  4. I need more information to answer this!

Once you put the first peach in the basket, it’s no longer empty—so you can only put 1 peach in an empty basket!

8. How can a person go 10 days without sleep?
  1. By sleeping at night.
  2. By getting hypnotized.
  3. By getting surgery.
  4. They can’t, it’s impossible.

The question says 10 “days,” so technically, you could still stay awake during the day for those 10 days and sleep at night.

9. You get an email from a mysterious prince who lives far away. He says that if you send him money, he’ll use it to access his wealth (and share it with you). What do you do?
  1. Ignore it. Why would a prince be asking me for money? This seems fishy.
  2. Reply to him. Can I get some more information about this transaction?
  3. Send some money! I’ll send as much as I have to. This sounds like a great opportunity.
  4. Okay, I’ll do it—just this once.

This is a common scam! (And pro tip: you should never give money away to strangers who claim to be royalty online.)

10. Which of these countries has the 4th of July?
  1. All of them.
  2. Mexico.
  3. United Kingdom.
  4. United States of America.

All countries that use the Gregorian calendar have a July 4th—the United States is just the only country to celebrate a holiday on that date.

11. If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?
  1. Nope. If I were going to, I’d need my own good reason.
  2. If they had a good reason, I guess I would.
  3. If they told me to, I’d feel like I had to.
  4. Yeah! I sure would!

While there are a couple of reasons you might jump safely off a bridge (like bungee jumping, for example), common sense tells us that it should be your decision—you shouldn’t do something just because your pals do!

12. How much dirt is in a hole that’s 12 feet deep and 5 feet wide?
  1. None.
  2. 60 square feet of dirt.
  3. 150 pounds of dirt.
  4. More information is needed.

Sorry! If there were dirt in the hole, it wouldn’t be 12 feet deep and 5 feet wide—so the answer is none.

13. If you’re outside and a thunderstorm rolls in, what should you do?
  1. Get to shelter right away.
  2. Duck under a tall tree or structure.
  3. Get as low to the ground as I can.
  4. Hug a copper pole?

When you hear thunder, the first thing to do is immediately move to a safe shelter (either a building or an enclosed vehicle).

14. You’re upset with your best friend. What do you do about it?
  1. I try to have a calm one-on-one talk with them about the problem.
  2. I post on social media about how rude they are.
  3. I egg their house.
  4. I refuse to acknowledge them until they say sorry.

Although there are many ways to handle conflict (and many people respond differently), it’s considered common sense to try and talk things out before doing anything more drastic.

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Common sense is the ability to make a sound judgment or deduction based on the facts you have available or the situation at hand. If someone is able to handle everyday matters rationally using whatever is considered the most “common” thought process among all people, they have common sense.

Common sense is independent of special knowledge, but it does measure your ability to understand and perceive whatever situation is at hand—whether you’re navigating a conflict at work or reading between the lines of some of the questions above to figure out what they’re really asking.

In everyday life, you might hear someone use the term and say something like:

  • “Thank goodness I had the common sense not to comment anything ridiculous on his Instagram post.”
  • “I thought it was just common sense to look both ways before crossing the street!”
  • “My back was hurting, so I went to the doctor. It’s just common sense.”

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