Most Adults Can’t Pass This Basic Controversial Second-Grade Test. Can You?

More importantly, do you think a second grader could pass it?

In 2016, many parents in the U.K. became upset about a standardized test that their young children had to take, claiming that it was too rigorous. The test was given to students in Year 2 (what we would call second grade in the U.S.), mainly seven- and eight-year-olds. The questions covered a variety of subjects in math, English, and science. Some of them were very simple about subjects such as punctuation marks and shapes. But others assessed skills like parts of speech, division, and even fractions. To top it all off, most of the questions on the test didn’t have multiple choice answers.

The 14 questions in this “test” are modeled after the ones in the real exam, and we’ve given multiple choice answers for all of them. Give it a try, and see if you agree with the protesting parents that it’s too tough for a second grader.

Place the comma in this sentence:

“Lucy took some red green and yellow marbles out of the box.”

A. Lucy took some red, green and yellow marbles out of the box.

B. Lucy took some red green and, yellow marbles out of the box.

C. Lucy took, some red green and yellow marbles out of the box.

Answer:

A. Lucy took some red, green and yellow marbles out of the box.

The comma separates the first two adjectives. (Wondering why the correct sentence doesn’t have a comma after “green” as well?)

Find the missing number:

45 + ? = 63

A. 15

B. 22

C. 18

Answer:

C. 18

While this may look like an addition problem, it’s actually a subtraction problem. To find the missing number, you need to subtract the other addend, 45, from the sum, 63.

63 − 45 = 18

Choose the correct punctuation mark to end this sentence:

“Can you buy the candy that I like__”

A. Period .

B. Colon :

C. Question mark?

Answer:

C. Question mark?
The sentence is a question, so there should be a question mark at the end. Make sure you’re not making these silly punctuation mistakes.

Basic fractions:

2/3 of 30 =?

A. 20

B. 10

C. 23

Answer:

A. 20

20 is two-thirds of 30. 30 divided by 3 is 10, and 10 times 2 is 20.

Which of the following sentences is a statement?

A. Can you please clean up your room?

B. Ralph took out the trash barrels.

C. What a great movie!

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