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How undertaught are you?

10 questions school never asked you. You see the right answer after each one. About 2 minutes.

Question 1 of 10 · Safety

0 right so far

An adult collapses and isn't breathing normally. You've called 911. How fast should you push on the centre of their chest?

Tip: press 1 to 4 to answer, then Enter for the next question.

What this test measures

Traditional school spends twelve years on reading, writing, math and science, and very little on the skills that decide how an ordinary life goes: what to do in an emergency, how to handle money, how to keep food safe, how to look after your mind and how to spot a scam. This test samples those skills. Each question comes from one of the 9 areas of the Undertaught Manual.

The questions test knowledge, not opinion. Each has one correct answer, taken from official guidance or published research, and each answer links to its source. You see the right answer as soon as you choose, so you learn something whether you get it right or not.

What the test covers

One question on each of these skills. Each links to the free lesson that teaches it, which also gives away the answer, so take the test first.

  1. CPR (Safety)
  2. Pan fire (Safety)
  3. Crisis line (Mind)
  4. Doubling money (Money)
  5. Scam text (Information)
  6. Chicken (Kitchen)
  7. Cleaners (Home)
  8. Sleep (Body)
  9. Apologies (People)
  10. Flat tire (Hands)

How it is scored

You get one point for each correct answer, out of 10. Your result also shows how undertaught you are as a percentage: the share of questions you missed. A score of 7 out of 10 means you are 30% undertaught. Every question you miss links to a free lesson that teaches the skill step by step.

The 9 areas

  • Body: How to sleep, eat, move and use the health system well enough to stay healthy for a long time.
  • Mind: The skills that decide how your days actually go: focus, handling stress and big feelings, building habits, and getting help early.
  • People: How to make and keep friends, talk to strangers, disagree well, apologise properly and hold your own at work.
  • Money: The money decisions everyone makes and few are taught: budgeting, credit, interest, contracts, taxes and saving for later, for the US and Canada.
  • Safety: The emergency skills that save lives in the minutes before help arrives. Read them here, then practise them in a certified class.
  • Information: How to protect your accounts, spot scams, check a claim, use AI carefully and read the numbers in the news.
  • Kitchen: From cracking an egg to feeding six: knife skills, food safety, planning a week of meals and cooking without a recipe.
  • Home: Running a home: cleaning safely, laundry, small repairs, renting your first place and being ready for an emergency.
  • Hands: Practical skills with your hands: tying knots, using basic tools, sewing, assembling furniture and changing a tire.

Why these skills

The evidence says most adults were never taught them. In a 2014 American Red Cross survey, 54% of Americans said they either could not swim or lacked at least one of the five basic water-safety skills. In 2025, only 39% of US adults told the American Heart Association they felt confident they could perform CPR. In 2024, 30.5% of US adults said they slept under the seven hours a night adults need. These are the gaps the Manual exists to close.

Your privacy

You do not need an account. At the end you can choose to add your answers, anonymously, to our yearly report on which skills each age group knows. We never store your name, email or IP address. Read the privacy page.