Think You Can Spot Fake News? This Scientifically Verified Quiz Will Tell You

[littlemissmartypants]

Think You Can Spot Fake News? This Scientifically Verified Quiz Will Tell You University of Cambridge psychologists have developed a free quiz that can tell you how susceptible to fake news you are. Take it if you dare.

EXPERT OPINION BY JESSICA STILLMAN, CONTRIBUTOR, INC.COM @ENTRYLEVELREBEL

MAY 14, 2025

Just about everyone agrees that fake news is a problem. It’s poisoning politics and civil debate and making it hard to understand the world and make reasonable choices about how to navigate it. But ask someone if they themselves spread misinformation and they will almost certainly shake their head and point the finger at some other guilty party.

The urge to deny you’ve fallen for fake news is natural. No one likes to feel like a fool. But it means we’re in a logically impossible situation where everyone thinks other people are spreading misinformation, but no one feels they’re doing it themselves.

An important first step to getting our national fake news problem under control is figuring out who could benefit from some education about how to tell fact from fiction online. (Spoiler: The answer is probably all of us to one degree or another.)

Helpfully, a group of psychologists out of the University of Cambridge have developed a free, scientifically validated quiz to help you evaluate your susceptibility to online misinformation. Taking it requires nothing more than two minutes and a little courage, and could strengthen your defenses against fake news.
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https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/think-you-can-spot-fake-news-this-scientifically-verified-quiz-will-tell-you/91185411

❤️ pants
RESIST!! ✊️

[uponit7771]

1. This needs to be taught in a hand reinforced, Romania is now on its second Putin Bot cause of misinformation

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. I've seen people fall for fake news on this very site.

[Maru Kitteh]

5. It's not an infrequent occurrence here, unfortunately.

It could work like a “wrong forum” alert and go to the team for review. Fake news on DU is frustrating, especially when the OP’s so often have no interest in taking it down voluntarily as long as it fits a narrative they favor.

[Shellback Squid]

3. great test, only 75% tho

[dweller]

4. I could never get results

Answered questions , submitted
Nothing happens

✌🏻

[Scrivener7]

6. It's very slow. Keep hitting submit till the print grays out and you'll see the word "running" in the upper

right corner of the screen. Then it will ask you what country you're in, then wait a little longer and your result will come in.

[dweller]

8. I did that

Gave it my personal info
Submit

Nada
Will try again ltr


✌🏻

[Scrivener7]

10. I didn't give it any personal information. Maybe that's the difference.

[Scrivener7]

7. I got a 19/20. Caught all the fake stuff but didn't believe something real.

Interesting that all the ridiculous statements about what one side was doing were designed to catch a right-wing person thinking the left is the devil.

[jls4561]

14. I also got 19/20. Got all the fake ones right. Missed one real news item.

I wish they had told me which one I missed.

[Scrivener7]

16. Me too!

[hlthe2b]

9. 85%...

I'd be curious to see her breakdowns in terms of age grouping, gender, education, self-assessment, etc.

[rsdsharp]

11. I'm satisfied. 😁

📈 Your MIST-20 results: 20/20
Veracity Discernment: 100% (ability to accurately distinguish real news from fake news)

Real News Detection: 100% (ability to correctly identify real news)

Fake News Detection: 100% (ability to correctly identify fake news)

Distrust/Naïvité: 0 (ranges from -10 to +10, overly skeptical to overly gullible)

👉 Your ability to recognize real and fake news is great! You are neither too skeptical nor too gullible when it comes to the news.

[markodochartaigh]

12. I got 20/20 on the MIST-20.

However I found one of the questions misleadingly worded, and think that if it had been worded to mean what the researchers meant the researchers would themselves believe something which is demonstrably false.

Edit: It was refreshing to see a quiz like this which didn't ask about the Kennedy/King assassinations, although I wonder if it is because people under 30 now simply have no knowledge of them.

[True Dough]

13. I took the shorter test

and got 14 out of 16 correct. I can live with that.

I know one thing for sure: anything that comes out of Trump's mouth is likely a fallacy (and usually highly objectionable).

[ITAL]

15. 19/20

I wonder which one I missed.

[moonscape]

17. No clue how I got

20/20. Seriously. I usually fail these things miserably.

I’m as blown away as I was last week when I won a drawing at our local Grocery Outlet. There is a box as one enters the store where you can put your receipt along with contact info to win the amount they say you saved on that shopping trip. I usually don’t take the time for $15 savings here or there but when they circled $73-something hell yes.

They left a voicemail with the news. When I went to cash in I was ebullient, declaring to my favorite check-out guy that he was my lucky charm. A few people in line started clapped. Hilarious. One woman said she has been entering for years but nada. Told her to keep the faith, I’m proof

And now 20/20?

I’m on a roll!

[Ms. Toad]

18. 18/20

Missed one real headline and one fake one.

I missed the confidence on NGO (it is correct that 1/3 worldwide lack confidence). I would have guessed that in the US, but I thought there was more confidence worldwide to counterbalance it.

I think I also missed "The Government Is Manipulating the Public's Perception of Genetic Engineering in Order to Make People More Accepting of Such Techniques." I think that's a fake headline - I debated it a long time, because of it's confirmation bias. On the other hand, I take a broad view on what constitutes government manipulation (I would include things like permitting farmers/supply chains to avoid labeling things as genetically engineered - not technically directly manipulating the public perception, but it does minimize concerns about genetic engineering by making it impossible for the public to avoid genetically engineered products). All of the others I marked real I have confirmed.

In my defense - part of the reason I catch a fair amount of fake news on DU is because my inclination is to check outlandish headlines, and I did not check any of the headlines when taking the test. So, to some extent, it is more a test of how well you follow the day's news than it is a test of your ability to spot fake news.

[Emile]

19. Bookmarked

[canetoad]

20. I did the 16 question test first

And scored 14/16. Aced it in the second test with 20/20.

[Kaleva]

21. 19/20. Missed one real headline

[Jeebo]

22. This is the same test that was posted here a year or two ago.

I remember some of the questions from taking it before — the one about the king of Morocco, for example. When I took it before I got 20/20, but this time, 17/20. I think the discrepancy must be just because of the law of averages. Some of my answers were educated guesses, just going with my instincts, so I was bound to miss one or two. Or three, in this instance. I was a little lucky to get all of them the time before.

— Ron

[Buns_of_Fire]

23. As someone who got 19/20 ( "You might be a bit trusting

when it comes to the news" ), I am now emboldened to write back to the Nigerian Prince and ask where the hell is my million dollars and why did they suck all the money out of my account.

[Abolishinist]

24. I don't understand the "You might be a bit trusting" message.

I got 18/20 and was told " Your ability to recognize real and fake news is great! You are neither too skeptical nor too gullible when it comes to the news."

[Buns_of_Fire]

25. For us older folks, it might be because of Walter Cronkite.

Back when the news organizations were considered cost centers rather than profit centers.

[snot]

26. I started the quiz, but

one look at those headlines and I quit, because I'd never assume any of them were either true or false without reading further and quite possibly checking the sources.

[Chalco]

27. I got 18 outta 20 correct

which means I can detect fake vs real news. Good news. I thought I'd do even better,
but they said 18 outta 20 is quite good.

[Mosby]

28. Anyone listen to Wait Wait...Don't tell me?

Real news stories can be so bizzare they are as unbelievable as the fake news ones.

I got 19/20.

[Torchlight]

29. As a guy who confuses real headlines for Onion headlines once a week

I think can safely assert my gullibility without resorting to a test score.

[Celerity]

30. 20 correct answers out of the 20 questions asked.

[littlemissmartypants]

31. Well done! ❤️

[Celerity]

32. ty!

[littlemissmartypants]

33. 😘

[fujiyamasan]

34. 20/20 not difficult

I have consumed enough news over the years to discern the difference between what is obviously editorializing, hype, or sensationalizing and a relatively boring, straight up news headline. Obviously even the latter can have bias, so it’s best to keep that in mind.

The “fake” headlines in the test had obvious trigger words used to incite emotions or confirm the readers inherent biases. Over time it’s not difficult to spot, especially given the source.

I guess if I’m getting my “news” from social media or extremely ideologically skewed sites (news max/breitbart, etc or common dreams/occupy democrats) it’s easy to get duped or just not know the difference.

[Crunchy Frog]

35. I took another version of this quiz a few months ago and got 20/20.

This time I only got 19/20.

Some of the answers are very obvious. The wrong answer will be obviously scientifically impossible, or a very obvious conspiracy theory.

For the other ones I go by whether or not it sounds reasonably plausible.

Realistically, I don't think it indicates a susceptibility to fake news if you're not familiar with a particular policy of the Moroccan government or some other bit of trivia.

I'm not completely sure that this quiz really measures what it purports to measure.

Anyway, that's my thought, as a high scorer, FWIW.😉