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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. Which group in the book was undone by the Superman radio show?
(a) The Sumo Wrestling League.
(b) The Black Gangster Disciple Nation.
(c) The Ku Klux Klan.
(d) The Chicago Public School system.

2. In the authors' hypothetical comparison of two boys' lives, where does the poor black boy grow up?
(a) Daytona Beach.
(b) Phoenix.
(c) Bronx.
(d) Chicago.

3. To what traditionally Jewish name did a New York Sikh change his name upon immigrating to the U.S.?
(a) Weiner.
(b) Katz.
(c) Goldberg.
(d) Rubin.

4. How many names from the top ten most popular black boy's names from 1990 do not appear on the 2000 list?
(a) 4.
(b) 7.
(c) 1.
(d) 0.

5. The correlative educational effect seen in children whose mothers were over 30 at the birth is contingent upon what?
(a) The child must be the mother's first.
(b) The mother must be college-educated.
(c) The mother must not work until kindergarten.
(d) The child cannot be born prematurely.

Short Answer Questions

1. What basketball player's recollections does Roland G. Fryer, Jr., cite in his paper "The Economics of 'Acting White'"?

2. Which group in the book has an organizational structure similar to McDonald's?

3. What is the number one white girl name that indicates low education in a parent?

4. Which group generally tests highest?

5. According to Peter Sandman, what is the defining attribute of irrational fears that we have?

Short Essay Questions

1. What point to Dubner and Levitt make regarding guns and swimming pools?

2. How do the authors explain the correlation between number of books and achievement?

3. Why do the authors reason that a woman who has her first child later in life will produce a higher-achieving child?

4. How do the authors explain the above contradiction in fears?

5. How does Robert Lane's child-naming scheme work out?

6. What national trends regarding crime in the nineties belie the relevance of the Giuliani-Bratton strategy?

7. What connection exists between celebrity and popular names?

8. What situation in Chicago in 1980 offers the authors a chance to review the effect of education on children's development?

9. What caveat of hope do Dubner and Levitt give regarding parenting at the end of the book?

10. According to Dubner and Levitt, what is the essential function of the gun?

(see the answer keys)

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