breaking research from the geekology laboratories

I mentioned yesterday that there are tests out there to help you determine how you fit into the geek/nerd/dork paradigm. There are many, many tests out there. I may explore these more, but here are a few (with my own results, when available).

Geek, nerd or dork tests

1. The “original geek test”
I like this one. And I actually like that you get bonus points for being a female geek. (Ha!)
I scored 23.07692%, which puts me at the (unmodified) “Geek” level. (There are, of course, higher levels of geek. You also get to have, should you choose, a button with your test results. Behold mine!

2. The Geek Test: How geeky are you?
This one is a shorter test, and may be derivative of the preceding test. (Or maybe they both are derivative of some previous source. Scientists at the North American Geekology Laboratories are furiously researching this question as we speak.)
Here are my results:

Geek Test Results
You are 47.5% geeky.
OK, not that geeky at all, are you? I’ll bet you even have a girlfriend (or boyfriend).
The current average score is: 31.55%
Fact: 35.45% of people who took this test admit to wearing a costume “just for fun”.

3. A nerd test, called the “nerd purity test“:
Here are a few sample questions:

Do you have a Rubik’s Cube?
Can you solve it?
Without the book?
Without looking?
Do you have acne?
Do you have greasy hair?
Are you unaware of it?

And here are my results:

Your Nerd Purity Test Results
You answered “yes” to 26 of 100 questions, making you 74.0% nerd pure; that is, you are 74.0% pure in the nerd domain (you have 26.0% nerd in you).
Your Weirdness Factor (AKA Uniqueness Factor) is 11%, based on a comparison of your test results with 576688 other submissions for this test.
The average purity for this test is 73.8%.
The first submission for this test was received June 16, 1994.

4. Another nerd test, this one called The Nerdity Test:

THE NERDITY TEST
Version 5.x.cubed.minus.3.x.all.divided.by.2
10 December, 1993
HTML-Version: 7 May, 1996
CGI-Enabled: 13 March, 1998
JavaScript-Enabled: 25 October, 2000

This one looks pretty good, and gets extra points for the version number. However, I didn’t finish taking the test due to time constraints. (Also, when I clicked on the “credits” link for one of the questions, I accidentally cleared out my answers for the test at the point, and didn’t want to go back.)

5. Blogthings had a pretty lame one. I’m not convinced by my results, even though the “nerd” percentage is somewhat similar to the previous test score. But come on. “no one would ever call you a nerd”? Oh, how wrong can they be:

You Are 24% Nerdy

You’re a little nerdy, but no one would ever call you a nerd. You sometimes get into nerdy things, but only after they’ve become a part of mainstream culture.

6. To balance things out, we have a dork quiz:
This one is not interactive, but the questions do look fun, like:

9. Who do you most closely identify with?
a) Kermit.
b) Gonzo.
c) Scooter.

7. I’m actually most partial to the OKcupid Nerd? Geek? or Dork? test
I like it that this considers nerd, geek and dork to be dimensions, and helps you to place yourself on those axes. This one has some pretty funny questions, like:

When you encounter something you don’t know, do you often try to find out what it is? (Like an unknown word in a dictionary or event in an encyclopedia.)

Wait a second-there are people who would answer “no” to this question? I’ve often wished I had access to imdb while watching movies in a theater…

Do you enjoy quoting books/movies/tv shows, etc. in your conversations/letters/emails?

(Possibly.)

This test also claims to give a score about how you ranked on the three variable (nerdiness, geekosity and dork points) compared to others of your age and gender. Note that my score shows higher than 99% for all three. Which I thought was interesting. So I was curious about how I’d score if I were a male. Still got the same. So I actually tried retaking the test from a nearly totally different persona, a sort of suave but kinda dumb athletic type. And still, I get over 99% on the three variables. This suggests to me that a) this feature is probably broken, and these levels are probably not actually a reflection of the test-taker demographics b) I am really a nerd, geek and dork to follow up on this and c) I really should be getting back to the work I need to be doing and stop taking these damn tests.

Modern, Cool Nerd 78 % Nerd, 65% Geek, 47% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd. Nerds didn’t use to be cool, but in the 90’s that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn’t quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eked out for themselves a modicum of respect at the very least, and “geek is chic.” The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the one you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)! Congratulations! Thanks Again! — THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST