Sporcle quiz: peak House delegations

[Brittain33]

I created this quiz on sporcle to test people's knowledge of when states' congressional delegations peaked.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/brittain33/max_house_members

Note: if two states have the same clue (like 3 reps peaking in 2000, or 13 reps peaking in 2000) they are listed in alphabetical order. If you know a state that qualifies, try it in both spaces. One will click.

[Dgov]

I created this quiz on sporcle to test people's knowledge of when states' congressional delegations peaked.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/brittain33/max_house_members

I got a little more than half.

[jimrtex]

I created this quiz on sporcle to test people's knowledge of when states' congressional delegations peaked.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/brittain33/max_house_members

28 on the first try, 48 on the second.

[Brittain33]

I created this quiz on sporcle to test people's knowledge of when states' congressional delegations peaked.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/brittain33/max_house_members

28 on the first try, 48 on the second.

If you are't getting close to finishing in 8:00, no one else has a prayer. I'm going to extend the time.

[jimrtex]

I created this quiz on sporcle to test people's knowledge of when states' congressional delegations peaked.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/brittain33/max_house_members

28 on the first try, 48 on the second.

If you are't getting close to finishing in 8:00, no one else has a prayer. I'm going to extend the time.

The first time I got stuck on Louisiana.  I probably spent the last 3 minutes trying to guess it.  It is interesting that it hit its peak so late.  The second time I was drawing a map as I went along as the dates would be a pretty good clue as to what area of the country was involved.  If I had a pre-drawn outline map that I could just enter check marks in, I could have made it.  Or if I could have clicked on a map for the answers, I would have finished, especially if the correct answers were highlighted.

I also didn't catch on at first that you could use the postal codes.  I thought it kind of weird that as soon as I typed the Il in Illinois that it completed it, but not the Te in Texas.

The second time, I started having problems near the end because I tend to think of when states first hit a peak, rather than last - so states like Idaho and Hawaii are confusing.

Large states either have just hit a new peak, or probably only had the peak number for one or two decades.  So they were generally pretty easy.

The other one I took a little problem on was the ties, such as GA and NC.  I'd have to go back and make sure I wasn't mistyping.  Because I knew NC had 13, and then had to remember that GA also had 13.

[Brittain33]

I think it's just a harder subject than I thought when I first conceived of it. I've wanted to do it for a while, but it's rough to get through the whole quiz, and you don't have quite the intuitive payoff from matching your knowledge to the facts that it's all about.

There are some great historical demographics quizzes in Sporcle--cities based on the year when they first broke 100,000, top U.S. cities in 1950/1910/1850, top Confederate cities by population, etc. I'd love to create one like that if I can find the right new stuff to quiz.

[Dgov]

You might want to have the identical values (like Georgia and North Carolina) be the same entry and you just have to type both states to pass.  I got stuck on one (don't remember) because of that.

[Brittain33]

You might want to have the identical values (like Georgia and North Carolina) be the same entry and you just have to type both states to pass.  I got stuck on one (don't remember) because of that.

Yeah, I totally agree but it's a weakness of sporcle that I didn't know how to do that.

[minionofmidas]

You might want to have the identical values (like Georgia and North Carolina) be the same entry and you just have to type both states to pass.  I got stuck on one (don't remember) because of that.

Figured out after a while that they were alphabetical.

Got it solved with 27 seconds left fwiw. Of course, that's with the extension to ten minutes - I think I was somewhere in the 30s after 8 minutes.

[Brittain33]

You might want to have the identical values (like Georgia and North Carolina) be the same entry and you just have to type both states to pass.  I got stuck on one (don't remember) because of that.

Figured out after a while that they were alphabetical.

I had put that in the "small print" at the top, but I don't even read that when I take other people's quizzes.

[bgwah]

I got 30/50. Louisiana tricked me as well, I was thinking it would be one of those 1910 states.

[jimrtex]

An interesting tidbit.  The peak delegation for Iowa is greater than that for Minnesota or Wisconsin.

[Antonio the Sixth]

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That's pretty good, no ?

[Torie]

I totally sucked on this one, and quit early.

[RIP Robert H Bork]

I only got 23.

I've noticed that even if I typed in Utah in the "right" place, it wouldn't be populated unless I put in Nevada, and many other problems just like that, why?

[Beet]

I was distracted for about the first 3-4 minutes by a movie, ended up getting 24. On the second try I got 36.

It helps to skip around- for example, I found the states that peaked in 2000 easier, but they didn't show up until later. There's a great temptation to go in order and not to move on until you've got the right answer, but resist it.

Also, on identical cells, you seem to have to put the states in order or else it won't accept it.

[Dgov]

tried it again, and found it really helps to do it geographically rather than down the list.  Go West coast to Midwest to North east to South (which is the hardest) and try to get every state you can.

[Antonio the Sixth]

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That's pretty good, no ?

On my second try, I got 46 !

The four I missed were Washington (like 46% of players), Arizona (like 49%), Oklahoma (like 62%) and Arkansas (like 72%). But with 30 seconds more, I certainly would have got them. Overall, 74.7% of players have done worse than 45 and 15.2% have found every State.

Interestingly, did every State have as much representatives as they had when they peaked, the House would comprise 596 members.

[Brittain33]

I've noticed that even if I typed in Utah in the "right" place, it wouldn't be populated unless I put in Nevada, and many other problems just like that, why?

It's a flaw in the quiz design structure. I don't know to make multiple answers eligible for a single spot (Nevada and Utah are equal) without having all of the answers given away so I put them in alphabetical order, and put a note in the instructions saying that tied states are listed in alphabetical order. Georgia/North Carolina is another one in the same boat. I am sorry for the frustrating factor, I empathize.

[RIP Robert H Bork]

I've noticed that even if I typed in Utah in the "right" place, it wouldn't be populated unless I put in Nevada, and many other problems just like that, why?

It's a flaw in the quiz design structure. I don't know to make multiple answers eligible for a single spot (Nevada and Utah are equal) without having all of the answers given away so I put them in alphabetical order, and put a note in the instructions saying that tied states are listed in alphabetical order. Georgia/North Carolina is another one in the same boat. I am sorry for the frustrating factor, I empathize.

Oh, ok.

I got 38 on the second time...I think it got easier once I got hold of the alphabetical order thing.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

1st try: 21

2nd try: 36

[Meeker]

38. I got the first column really quickly but got stuck on the second half.

[Dgov]

38. I got the first column really quickly but got stuck on the second half.

Really?  I found that the second column was much easier to fill than the first one was, but in both cases the darn middle states messed me up.  Why did Iowa have so many representatives?

[minionofmidas]

Because it used to have a lot of people. Since virtually all of it is farmland.