The Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) was designed to measure people’s incorrect “gut” feeling
and their reflective approach. Unlike other tests, it only has three questions to see if you’re a
Gabriella Montez genius or a just-go-with-it Sharpay Evans.
The test was developed in 2005 in Princeton by psychologist Shane Frederick. It evaluates how
much people ignore their intuition versus how much they analyze the problem.
To ace the quiz, you need to reflect on the questions and rethink your gut feel; but the faster
you answer, the higher your IQ.
Don’t be deceived! The questions aren’t as simple as they seem. In fact, only 17 percent of
students from the world’s top universities (including Yale and Harvard) got all 3 questions
correctly.
So, are you smarter than a uni student?
The Quiz
1. A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the
ball cost?
2. If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to
make 100 widgets?
3. In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days
for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the
lake?
Scroll down for the answers!
The Answers
1. $0.05 — There’s a very good chance you guessed $0.10. The answer is actually a little
less — a $0.05 ball plus a bat costing $1.05 will set you back $1.10. And, of course, $1.05
is exactly $1 more expensive than $0.05. (A Princeton study found that people who
responded $0.10 were “significantly” less patient than those who got the right answer.)
2. 5 minutes – Your gut instinct might be to say 100 minutes. Fortunately, it wouldn’t take
quite so long. From the question, we can determine it takes exactly 5 minutes for 1
widget machine to make 1 widget. Therefore, it would take 5 minutes to make 100
widgets from 100 widget machines.
3. 47 days – You might have guessed 24 days. It seems intuitive to half the number of days
because you’re halving the size of the lilypad patch. But if the area of the lake covered in
lilypads doubles every day, it would only take one day for it to go from being half
covered to fully covered. Take one day away from 48 days and you’re left with 47.
Photos: www.assess.com, www.seventeen.com, disney.wikia.com
