Depending on the generation you’re from, the face you know from the most famed family-friendly quiz show Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? may well either be the TV legend and host Jeff Foxworthy or the renowned wrestling icon John Cena. Either way, the love for this game show encompasses all generations, from old to young.
No matter your age, the game has always been the ultimate test of one’s academic prowess and intelligence on bits and pieces of random yet interesting know-hows. With this, we have compiled a list of the best questions from the show, along with their answers, below. Whether you want to host your own show for an event or would just like to bond with your family in a fun way, we’ve got you covered.
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? questions: math category
Math – you either hate it or you love it. Ten-year olds tend to make quicker calculations as they deal with these arithmetic problems more on a daily basis at school.
Adults, on the other hand, can get challenged even by the most basic questions for fifth graders as we do not really encounter these in the real world. Well, unless you work as a math teacher or something similar. Here are some math questions in the show, along with their answers:
1. You collect 48 pieces of Halloween candy. Your parents say you can eat two pieces per day, plus an extra piece on Saturdays and Sundays. How many weeks will it take to finish all of your candy?
Answer: Three weeks
2. How many inches are there in two yards?
Answer: 72
3. How many sides does a quadrangle have?
Answer: Four sides
4. What whole number is closest to the square root of 65?
Answer: 8
5. Which fraction is more significant, 6/15 or 6/17?
Answer: 6/15
6. If a car is traveling at 40 mph, how long will it take to go 190 miles?
Answer: 4 hours, 45 minutes
7. How many seconds make 1.5 hours?
Answer: 5400
8. If you need 1/2 cup of flour and you only have a 1/4 measuring cup, how many times do you need to use it to get the right amount of flour?
Answer: Two times
9. If a shopping cart contains one apple, two bananas, three oranges, and four hot dogs, what percentage of the cart’s total contents is fruit?
Answer: 60%
10. A farmer notices that every day for the past 10 days, the number of pigeons in his field has doubled. There are 1,024 pigeons in the field today, and there were two pigeons there the first day. How many pigeons were there yesterday?
Answer: 512
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? questions: English and literature category
Questions on English and literature on the show can be a lot of fun, but not when you come across questions in which you can no longer rely on simple context clues or your stock knowledge. There are just some questions in this category that are extra difficult to answer, making you regret dozing off or daydreaming through English class when you were in school.
Here’s some questions on English and literature as seen on the show, together with their answers:
1. Which is the second book in the Harry Potter series?
Answer: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2. In English, “lice” is the plural of what word?
Answer: Louse
3. How many compound words are in the following sentence? “Someone from the classroom was playing baseball in the cafeteria.”
Answer: Three
4. What is a hyperbole?
Answer: An exaggeration to show emphasis
5. In the sentence, “Sally is a very good person,” what part of speech is the word “very”?
Answer: Adverb
6. Who is the author of the 1960 novel about social and racial inequality, To Kill a Mockingbird?
Harper Lee
7. Who wrote The Little Mermaid originally?
Answer: Hans Christian Anderson
8. Name the first Chinese author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Answer: Mo Yan
9. What would you call the central character of a story or plot?
Answer: Protagonist
10. What is the name of the book about a friendship between a spider and a pig named Wilbur?
Answer: Charlotte’s Web
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?: social studies and history category
You either listened to your history teacher and actually retained the information well or you didn’t. Naturally a vast subject, the questions on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? in the social studies and history category certainly get everyone racking their brains for facts and figures. Here are some of those questions with the answers:
1. Known as “The Conqueror,” what was the first name of the king who won the throne of England in 1066?
Answer: William
2. From which country did Mexico gain its independence in the 19th century?
Answer: Spain
3. What are the three branches of the United States government?
Answer: Legislative, judicial, and executive
4. Name the American president on the half-dollar coin who was assassinated in 1963.
Answer: John F. Kennedy
5. When did Thomas Alva Edison invent the light bulb?
Answer: 1879
6. What was the original name of the city that was renamed Constantinople in the fourth century AD by Constantine the Great?
Answer: Byzantium
7. The Hundred Years War of the 14th and 15th centuries was primarily a conflict between England and what other country?
Answer: France
8. The Great Sphinx in Egypt has the head of a man and the body of which species of animal?
Answer: Lion
9. Who was the 16th president of the United States?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln
10. How many amendments are in the Bill of Rights?
Answer: 10
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? questions: geography category
The geography questions on the show are for those who are experts in unearthing figures and bits and pieces of interesting facts about different places all over the globe. Definitely among the most difficult categories, the questions and answers listed below will help you prepare for the next game night:
1. Which state is Mount Rushmore located in?
Answer: South Dakota
2. What is the longest river in the world?
Answer: The Amazon
3. Imaginary lines traversing the globe from pole to pole are called ____.
Answer: Meridians
4. The United States and Mexico are separated by which river?
Answer: The Rio Grande
5. What country has the longest border with the United States?
Answer: Canada
6. Name the famous mountain range that has Mount Everest?
Answer: Himalayas
7. Which month does the autumnal equinox fall in the Northern Hemisphere?
Answer: September
8. Which continent is the least populated?
Answer: Antarctica
9. How many countries are in Africa?
Answer: 54
10. Which country is both an island and a continent?
Answer: Australia
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? questions: science and computer category
If there’s something Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? does best, it’s banding adults and kids together with their love of the pursuit of knowledge. Science questions on the show are well-loved by most as these get everyone racking their noggins for the correct answers. Here are some questions for the science and computer whizzes, with the answers, of course:
1. What color in the visible light spectrum does chlorophyll absorb the least?
Answer: Seedlings growing in dirt
Answer: Green
2. What stores short-term memory programs and data in the computer system?
Answer: Random Access Memory
3. What is the largest internal organ in the human body?
Answer: The liver
4. What is the most abundant element in the universe?
Answer: Hydrogen
5. The Earth is at least how many billion years old?
Answer: 4 billion
6. What does USB stand for?
Answer: Universal Serial Bus
7. True or False: The platypus is a mammal.
Answer: True
8. What was the name of the first satellite pulled into orbit by the United States?
Answer: Explorer
9. What is the freezing point of water?
Answer: 32°F or 0°C
10. In which year was the first computer invented?
Answer: 1943
The well-loved game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? continues to age well. The quiz show where adults are pitted against fifth-graders to test their academic prowess has been a household name for decades.
Isn’t it just so satisfying to still recall your academic knowledge and prove your memory to be among the best even years after school? Go ahead and put yourself to the test with family and friends with these questions, and you may just be surprised at how well the human brain works.