Military Quotes Validation Data

Test Score	Who done it?	Validation Comments
5	Test author	Score obtained by blind random response number without reading the test item or possible responses.
7	Bright seventh grader	Who read all questions and responded with some thoughtfulness.
11	Son-in-law with BA Degree	English major with a sense of history, whose favorite character is Winston Churchill.
12	Ten-year-old brother of the above seventh grader	Selected responses without reading the questions on his birthday. His score was a random birthday gift.
14	A mother in New Jersey	M.Ed. degree from a large southern university
15	Mother/Grandmother of the above crew	Four degrees from the above southern university, an excellent student who may have heard the author comment on a quote or two. Lived much of history.
16 - 25	Experts only!!	It would appear that doing well on the quotes is related to age, education, reading the questions and answers carefully, living through some of this history, and watching the nightly news.

Discussion
All objective tests with a multiple choice format combine luck, informed guesses, and actual knowledge of the subject matter. Quality tests should have a sufficient ceiling that those with expertise obtain the higher scores. From the above it is clear that random scores as high as 12 are certainly possible, though probably rare. Most scores above 10 probably include some knowledge of the subject matter. Scores of 16 and above undoubtedly measure some knowledge of military history, and should be earned by veterans who have lived and studied through the more recent military conflicts. None of the folks above (except the author) have personal military experience. Grandma was a navy wife from 1953 to 1957.
Thanks to http://military-quotes.com/ for most of the authenticated quotes.

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