--- description: A low percentage of eighth-graders are proficient in U.S. history, civics and geography, a federal study shows. title: 8th-Graders Stumped by U.S. History and Geography Tests image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Education](/tag/education/) ## Education Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 8th-Graders Stumped by U.S. History and Geography Tests, Study Finds  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 29, 2015 2:54 PM CUT  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 29, 2015 2:54 PM CUT America’s eighth-graders are failing tests in U.S. history, a national study says. Only 18% of eighth-graders rated proficient or above in U.S. history, just 27% rated proficient or above in geography and 23% in civics, according to the [Nation’s Report Card 2014](U.S.%20history, civics and geography "undefined"), a federal survey of more than 29,000 eighth-graders published Wednesday. “The lack of knowledge on the part of America’s students is unacceptable, and the lack of growth must be addressed. As a country, we must do better,” said Terry Mazany, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the survey. Here’s a breakdown of how eighth-graders performed across the three subjects:  Here are a couple of sample questions from the U.S. history section, the area of the test where eighth-graders are least proficient. Eighth-graders who scored in the _basic_ category were likely to answer the following sample question correctly: --- > “” --- Here’s one that’s a little harder. Eighth-graders who scored in the _advanced_ category were likely to answer the following sample question correctly: --- > “” --- See the full report—including other sample questions—[here](http://www.nationsreportcard.gov/hgc%5F2014/ "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3839840/8th-graders-history-geography-civics-tests/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3839840/8th-graders-history-geography-civics-tests/"},"headline":"8th-Graders Stumped by U.S. History and Geography Tests, Study Finds","datePublished":"2015-04-29T14:54:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:18.810Z","description":"A study shows only about a quarter of eighth-graders are proficient in U.S. history, geography and civics","url":"https://time.com/3839840/8th-graders-history-geography-civics-tests/","keywords":["Education"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3839840/8th-graders-history-geography-civics-tests/","name":"8th-Graders Stumped by U.S. History and Geography Tests, Study Finds"}}]}] ```