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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What percentage of successful entrepreneurs does Gladwell say are dyslexic?
(a) A third.
(b) A half.
(c) A tenth.
(d) A quarter.

2. What modern weapon does Gladwell compare David’s slung stone to?
(a) A Taser.
(b) A bullet from an AR-15.
(c) A bullet from a .45 pistol.
(d) A stun gun.

3. What does Gladwell say the inverted-U curve expresses?
(a) Stagnation level.
(b) Diminishing marginal returns.
(c) The plateau effect.
(d) The sweet-spot theory.

4. What metric does Gladwell say Hoxby used in evaluating class size?
(a) He does not define a metric.
(b) Retention rates.
(c) Grade point average.
(d) Graduation rates.

5. What danger does Gladwell say T. E. Lawrence’s men encountered along the way to Aqaba?
(a) Enemy spies.
(b) Land mines.
(c) Poisonous snakes.
(d) Enemy aircraft.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many people had the courage to like a painting without Salon approval, according to Renoir?

2. What does Gladwell say is the range of an experienced slinger?

3. How does Gladwell say Goliath expected to fight?

4. Who did T. E. Lawrence lead against the Turks?

5. What does Gladwell say was T. E. Lawrence’s primary target, which he made multiple strikes against?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Gladwell say dyslexia prepared Brian Grazer to be a movie producer?

2. What were the advantages Lawrence of Arabia’s force had, compared to the Turks?

3. Gladwell seems to want it both ways, valuing poverty and celebrating wealth. Does Gladwell acknowledge or try to resolve this contradiction?

4. What does Gladwell say about Gary Cohn’s relationship with failure?

5. What are the factors that this conventional wisdom overlooks, in Gladwell’s account?

6. How does Gladwell characterize Goliath’s size and equipment?

7. What is Harvard’s theory of the “happy bottom quarter” (90)?

8. What does Gladwell say is the conventional wisdom about class size in schools?

9. How does Gladwell say dyslexia helped prepare David Boies to be a trial lawyer?

10. What is the lesson Gladwell wants us to take from his parable of David and Goliath?

(see the answer keys)

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