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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many times a year are elite sumo tournaments held?

2. What unethical practice are Atlanta police discovered to have undertaken throughout the 1990s?

3. In this chapter, Levitt mentions that the average American prostitute makes more than the average American what?

4. From what Southern Klan stronghold did Stetson Kennedy hail?

5. How long did JT run the Black Gangster Disciple Nation before being promoted to the Board of Directors?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Sudhir Venkatesh become acquainted with the Black Gangster Disciple Nation?

2. What is information asymmetry?

3. How does terminology help real estate agents set a price for a house?

4. Why had Chicago public schools already been standardized testing for years before No Child Left Behind?

5. How have attitudes toward public bigotry changed in recent years?

6. How is a sumo wrestler's life affected by his ranking?

7. How does the inclusion of a small monetary compensation affect blood donation in the 1970s?

8. What argument do the authors make about experts?

9. What does Paul Feldman learn about honesty from his bagel business?

10. What is important to women on dating sites?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Even though FREAKONOMICS is a work of nonfiction, it has two heroic characters: Sudhir Venkatesh and Roland G. Fryer, Jr. These two men both took unusual roads to a life of intellectual excellence. Write an essay about these men, focusing on their power as subjects as well as sources. What do their stories have in common? How are their exceptional stories juxtapositions to research that effectively argues that humanity is the slave of trends?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout FREAKONOMICS, Levitt and Dubner regularly offer apologias to the reader, explaining that they understand that the conclusions they reach may be upsetting or offensive to some. Write an essay examining these apologias. With what findings are they associated? Why do you think the authors deem it necessary to offer an aesthetic caveat to these decisions? To what extent is the final moment of the book a final apologia to the reader?

Essay Topic 3

The authors of FREAKONOMICS begin the book with five precepts that guided their writing, as opposed to a single subject. Write an essay about any one of these precepts. Why do Levitt and Dubner consider this rule central to their process? Choose three chapters from the book. How does the research done in these chapters reflect your chosen precept?

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