By Kira Marchenese
Washingtonpost.com Staff
Friday, October 3, 1997

How hard are the national education tests that President Clinton says will boost student performance? How do your skills match up?

Test yourself. The following six questions are taken from two respected tests the Clinton administration has proposed using as models for evaluating the nation's fourth and eighth graders -- the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

Click a letter to select an answer. You'll see the right answer, and how you and other washingtonpost.com users fare against students who took the tests. The percentages of students answering correctly reflect the scores of students who took these tests in 1994 and 1996.

We'll start with math, which would be tested at the end of eighth grade.

Eighth-graders should be learning algebra, geometry, probability and estimation and should be using basic arithmetic, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Question 1

A car has a fuel tank that holds 15 gallons of fuel. The car consumes 5 gallons of fuel for every 100 miles driven. A trip of 250 miles was started with a full tank of fuel. How much fuel remained at the end of the trip?

2.5 gallons	12.5 gallons
17.5 gallons	5.0 gallons

Click a letter to see the answer and how others scored. This question was supplied by the U.S. Department of Education.