My OKCupid military tests

Quiet Storm

Quiet Storm

Joined
May 17, 2002
Messages
5,757
Many of you are fond of linking to tests on OKCupid.

In case someone's interested in taking a basic and an advanced infantry combat test I created, here are the links:

The Basic Infantry Skills Test

The Advanced Infantry Skills Test

They are, of course, overly simplified, so take the "potential squad/platoon leader" comments with a grain of salt - we all know that these short tests cannot really determine that, but I needed a ranking system and it serves as a rule of thumb I think.

Let me know what you think about them.
 
A fun test there QS, but not very detailed but whatta are ya gonna do?

I would have liked to know what answers that were missed.
 
Yeah, I know, it's not very detailed, but that's because I wanted to mainly attract people who've never been affiliated with the military in any way for the basic test and simply couldn't come up with many other questions for the advanced test.

The correct answers were:

Basic Test
1 a
2 b
3 c
4 a
5 b
6 b
7 b

Advanced Test
1 b
2 c
3 c
4 d
5 a
6 c
7 a

Please note that the scoring system is a bit complicated, because some answers are "more wrong" than others.
 
Thanks QS, now I can ace it!

The one question that stuck out was the sniper question. Only the foilage
question was absolutely wrong, the others may have been somewhat right.

I will wear my "grunt" tag with pride.
 
Thanks for your comments, fixer.

I'm not saying that the correct choices or categories I made up are absolutely right, no matter what. They are, as I said, simplified. Hell, if you think I got anything wrong, let's discuss it!
I just saw so many military tests on this site and most were either overly technical or just plain silly. I believed that I could do better than that. That's why I decided to create my own test - and later the advanced version after I noticed that a few people seemed to enjoy it. I will freely admit that a lot of members here have far more military experience than I do.

One of the very few people who got the highest score in the advanced test is a Marine who just came back from Iraq and was WIA. Then there's a guy who was in BT when he took this test and an Airman whose scores were a bit above average. Civilians usually score much lower than those with military experience.
I think that indicates that the test is fairly accurate, despite being "short and sweet".
 
Can't you set it up so it tells what the answers should have been? I have some net friends who collect tests like that but I don't think they would enjoy it unless you can add that -- and I don't think they would be satisfied with the list of correct answers you posted here; too much hassle to compare the list of letters with the actual choices and figure out where they went wrong.
 
Nope, unfortunately their system doesn't provide such an option. I would've already incorporated it if it existed. I think it's because you can re-take tests as a registered user at OKCupid and they will appear in your profile, they probably want to keep people from manipulating their results.

An alternative would be listing the correct answers to each question on the last page.
 
QS, I was just offering an opinion not a rebuke. Like I said the test is fun.


And just to be accurate I have (0) zero military experience but the test was
not hard and common sense works just fine on it. I guess I would wash out
of OCS! I can stack MRE's though. :D
 
I did not take it as a rebuke at all. I just wanted to make clear that it's not supposed to be the be-all end-all infantry knowledge test simply because I'm far from the most experienced soldier here.
The basic test can indeed be handled by common sense. It should be much harder to get a good result in the advanced test though if you don't have any military experience at all.
 
QS I took the Adv. test again and this time the score was "mediocre" the
first time i took it it said that "you were in the military along time ago"


Oh well, strictly armchair general for me. :D
 
Can I ask why snipers are trained to wound? Surely at distance it is about main body mass.

What is "Sierra November Alpha Foxtrot Uniform" all about?
 
Andrew,
it's obvious that there are snipers tactics for all kinds of occasions today, MOUT (urban warfare) that calls for taking out an insurgent who's about to blow up a hospital (the classical LE sniper mission) and other situations (like the long distance shots); but the original concept of military snipers was to wound enemy soldiers so their squad had to get them out of the line of fire (that's one guy who can't fight anymore and up to two who drag him to safety). It also forces the enemy to provide medical care for the wounded soldier, while he wouldn't consume any resources if he was dead.
AFAIK Vietnam was the era where this tactic was employed in a big way for the first time, it was already used in WWII sometimes. Before that time snipers were really just talented marksmen with higher quality rifles, they were often hunters who used their privately owned rifles. They didn't have a dedicated set of special tactics per se. In the German army light infantry soldiers are still officially called "Jäger" ("hunters").

I know, I know, it's a pretty simplified test - that's why I added the word "usually" to the question.


SNAFU - "situation normal, all f-ed up"

fixer27 said:
Oh well, strictly armchair general for me. :D
Click to expand...

:D
 
Thanks. That all makes sense. I think the insurgent with the explosives would get a 'double tap' though.
 
Squad Leader!
You scored 30 (35 max.) in advanced military skills!
Very good! I guess you are an ambitioned grunt or maybe a junior NCO.
If you're a civilian, let me recommend seeing a recruiter!




My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 99% on infantry skills
 
Quiet Storm said:
Many of you are fond of linking to tests on OKCupid.

In case someone's interested in taking a basic and an advanced infantry combat test I created, here are the links:

The Basic Infantry Skills Test

The Advanced Infantry Skills Test

They are, of course, overly simplified, so take the "potential squad/platoon leader" comments with a grain of salt - we all know that these short tests cannot really determine that, but I needed a ranking system and it serves as a rule of thumb I think.

Let me know what you think about them.
Click to expand...

I did so well that the War Department has offered me another platoon . I regretfully declined 'cause there are no C-rats & I cannot perform without ham & limas . Keeps my gas tank full .

Uncle [very old GI ] Alan
 
THe test was fun but the answers to som eo fthe questions were wrong at least in America.

3. What do you need to keep in mind when you set up a fire near the enemy's position?

Set it up far away from your squad's tents so they can't catch fire and you don't need someone to watch the fireplace at night

Fuel it as much as possible so you don't run the risk of dying of hypothermia at night

Keep it low profile so the enemy can't spot your position

I don't know how to make a fire



In America at least in the any Infantry unit I have been in we don't build a fire EVER, at least nowhere in the same map sheet as the enemy. Good way to give away you position by either light, smell, or IR, no matter how low profile you build your fire. Although there were some cold morninigs in Hohenfels I would have killed someone for a nice warm fire.

5. What is a good idea if you want to make it through a loooong march without too many blisters on your feet?

Bathe your feet extensively before you start marching

Put on socks you wore the day before

Don't wear socks

Take a Humvee


Many of the light infantry guys I know where no socks at all when marching even over very long, 40km or more, marches





6. Which one of these is not a crew-served weapon?
M-2
M-9
M-47
M-249

Neither the M9(pistol) or the M249 SAW (light machine gun / automatic rifle) are crew served at least in the American army.


I'm not pickin on ya just pointing out a few things that may be different in other countries practices.


Fun test though. :)


Nick
 
Thanks for your comments, Nick.

OK, "near the enemy's position" is a relative term. Of course nobody would set up a fire when the enemy is within a mile or so.
I purposefully left out a "don't make a fire at all" option to express that it's safe to light one under the circumstances given - as long as one keeps in mind that it always has to be low profile.

Regarding the second question you quoted, I know that some people advocate not wearing socks at all, but from my experience they are few and far between while the "worn socks" thing is widely accepted knowledge, over here at least. As you probably know, there are guys who recommend wearing a pair of thin socks under your actual boot socks, others believe that taping your feet is a good idea...it may not be a very good question at all since it kind of relies on personal preference.
For the record, choosing "don't wear socks" does give you a point.

As for the third question: seems like I have to edit the test. Probably an issue of different tactics in different countries. I just took the American equivalents of German weapons within our tactical concept.
 
Scored full marks on the basic one, and ''Mediocre
You scored 14 (35 max.) in advanced military skills!
If you're in the military, I have to say that you could have done a lot better. If you've always been a civilian: you scored a bit better than most.'' for the advanced one


I'm just 16 and obviously haven't seen any service... I think i did okay :D
 
My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on infantry skills
 
intersting I got a "good" and an "ok". i've never even been in the boyscouts.
 
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