If you thought Elon Musk’sfavorite questionto ask job applicant was tough , you should see theemployment testdevised by Thomas Edison . When he was n’t interfering excogitate the light bulb or phonograph , orfeudingwith Nikola Tesla , Edison was apparently devising a trivia test of about impossible proportions .
AsSmithsonianreports , the 146 - question quiz was contrive to weed out the campaigner who would be badly - suit to knead at his plant , which was a desirable place to get a job in 1921 . College arcdegree did n’t affect him much—“Men who have gone to college I find to be astonishingly ignorant , " he once remarked — so he needed to find a more effective method acting of fix prospective employees ' knowledge .
The test may have beentooeffective , though . Of the 718 applicants who took the trial , only 57 attain apassing scoreof 70 percent , and only 32 scored Edison ’s desire issue of 90 percent or in high spirits . This was certainly frustrating to applicants who considered themselves to be pretty well - civilize . An stillborn applier named Charles Hansen , who portion out all of the questions he remembered withThe New York Timesin 1921 , call the test a “ wacky examination . ” Another applicant said it was “ not a Tom Edison but a Tom Foolery mental testing ” [ PDF ] .
After the test questions became public knowledge , reporters went out and started poll people to see how well they ’d do on Edison ’s test . Albert Einstein reportedly failed ( he did n’t bed the speed of levelheaded offhand ) , as did Edison ’s untried Word , who was a educatee at MIT at the time .
If you want to gainsay yourself , check out a few of the questions below , then scroll down to see the reply that appear inThe New York Times . ( remark : The answers give were the correct answers in 1921 , but some may have changed since then . Some questions and answer have been edit lightly for pellucidity . )
feel stumped ? Scroll down to see the answers .
For the full lean of questions and answers , get across here .
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A adaptation of this story ran in 2019 ; it has been updated for 2025 .
