Are You Smart Enough to Be German?

I just took a test over on spiegel.de which was entitled, "Are You Smart Enough to Be German?".

While the overall "format" of the test on spiegel.de is pretty annoying - 33 questions, equal to roughly 66 pages and 66 clicks (if you never make a mistake) - something else struck me more.

Overall I question the usefulness of this test. Point taken, this is not the real deal but it's a sample of the kind of questions you have to answer on a test if you apply for citizenship in Germany. For example, there is a question which presents you with four choices (names of landmarks/districts) and you have to select the one located in Bavaria.  I only guessed that one "correct" and had never heard of it before.

Another question of relevance - what are the colours in the flag/seal of the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg? I guessed that one correct as well. Point is, why is that important in being German? Or my favorite question - the state capital of Hessen? Guessed that one correct as well, but why would anyone care?

Another thing I noticed was, that on 33 questions roughly a third or maybe half of all questions were about the West-Germany. Only a single question on East-Germany. Let's hope that the questions rotate, but how do they raise awareness for the former East-Germany? I don't want to be a nay-sayer nor am I one of those people who claims that the East was better than the West (not by far), but I still think people should be aware of the history - just like Hitler and the 3rd Reich. It's an integral part of German history and also part of our identity and who we are.

The score:

You scored 33 out of a possible 33 points.
Well done! You would have no problem getting a German passport.

Gee thanks, spiegel.de. I am really glad, especially because I was born in Germany and have a German passport already! For full disclosure I will have to admit that I actually made two mistakes (31/33) - I misread a question and then clicked the wrong answer on another. But I sure hope I would still have no issues getting a German passport.

Regardless of my own score, I seriously doubt the effectiveness of such a test. Be it online, or in reality. After all, this is more in the trivia-category than anything else.