Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? S3.E8 (October 24, 2008)

John Tyler Hammons (elected mayor of Muskogee, Oklahoma at the tender age of 19):

• Question 1 (1st Grade Social Studies): “True or false? The United States is the only country to have stars on its national flag.” He goes with false and is correct.
• Question 2 (2nd Grade Grammar): “True or false? The following sentence is grammatically correct. “Olivia and me had to go to detention.”" False, correct.
• Question 3 (1st Grade Measurements): “If Mr. Foxworthy goes to bed at 7 PM on a Monday night, and wakes up at 8 AM the next morning, how many hours of sleep will he get?” 13, correct.
• Question 4 (3rd Grade Spelling): “Which of the following words is spelled incorrectly? A. Privilege, B. Villege, C. Appendage” John thinks it is B but has to peek at Jenna’s paper. She also wrote B so he goes with that answer and is correct.
• Question 5 (2nd Grade U.S. History): “The thirteen original American colonies gained their independence from what country?” Great Britain, correct.
• Question 6 (4th Grade Math): “What is the simplest form of the fraction 18/81?” 2/9, correct.
• Question 7 (5th Grade Astronomy): “What’s the name of the first American woman to travel into outer space?” He decides to copy Jonathan’s paper. He wrote May Jane, which is not the correct answer. Sally Ride was the correct response. John drops down to $25,000.

Riley Hicks and Eric Lutz (prom king and queen from Derby, Kansas):

• Question 1 (1st Grade Grammar): “What is the singular noun in the following sentence? “The boys and girls walked to the classroom with their books.”" Classroom, correct.
• Question 2 (1st Grade Science): “A thermometer is an instrument used to measure which of the following? A. Temperature, B. Height, C. Weight” A, correct.
• Question 3 (2nd Grade Music): “Which of these is not a percussion instrument? A. Gong, B. Bugle, C. Maracas” B, correct.
• Question 4 (2nd Grade English): “The word “duck” can be used as a noun and also as what other part of speech?” Verb, correct.
• Question 5 (3rd Grade Cultural Studies): “The following image is of the official flag of what country?” Obviously you can’t really guess the answer to this question but the answer is Mexico. The two get the correct answer.
• Question 6 (3rd Grade Earth Science): “True or false? The earth’s atmosphere is made up solely of oxygen.” False, correct.
• Question 7 (4th Grade U.S. Geography): “If Bryce walked due south from Billings, Montana, what would be the first U.S. state he’d pass into?” Wyoming, correct.
• Question 8 (4th Grade Ancient History): “The city of Cuzco in Peru was the capital of what ancient South American empire?” The two drop out with $100,000. The correct answer was the Inca empire.