Twenty questions, twenty visible answers, five fields. The right format to test yourself without spending all evening on it: fuller than ten, faster than a long set.
Four questions per field — geography, history, art and culture, science, nature — with the level marked on each. Count one point per correct answer; the scale is at the bottom of the page. Want shorter or longer? See our 10 questions or the big set of 50 questions.
Geography
1. What is the smallest sovereign state in the world by area? (easy) Vatican City. At about 0.44 km², this state enclosed within Rome is by far the smallest country in the world.
2. What is the capital of New Zealand? (medium) Wellington. Often confused with Auckland, the largest city, it has been the capital since 1865.
3. What is the largest ocean on the planet? (easy) The Pacific Ocean. On its own it covers about a third of the globe’s surface, more than all the land masses combined.
4. Which mountain range traditionally separates Europe from Asia? (hard) The Urals. This north-south Russian range marks the conventional boundary between the two continents.
Want to go further in geography? Our capitals quiz by continent.
History
5. In what year did the United States declare independence? (easy) 1776. The Declaration of Independence was adopted on 4 July 1776, since become the American national holiday.
6. Who was the first man to walk on the Moon, in 1969? (easy) Neil Armstrong. On the Apollo 11 mission, he set foot on the Moon on 21 July 1969.
7. Which war pitted ancient Greece against the Persian Empire in the 5th century BC? (medium) The Greco-Persian Wars. They include famous battles such as Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis.
8. Which wall, thousands of kilometres long, was built to protect an empire from incursions from the north? (medium) The Great Wall of China. Built and extended across several dynasties, it shielded the empire from the peoples of the steppes.
To put faces to the eras: our figures who shaped history.
Art and culture
9. Which Italian poet wrote The Divine Comedy? (medium) Dante Alighieri. This early-14th-century masterpiece describes a journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.
10. Which country was the composer Johann Sebastian Bach from? (medium) Germany. A major figure of Baroque music, Bach was born in Eisenach in 1685.
11. How many notes are in a classical musical scale (do, re, mi…)? (easy) Seven. Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la and ti, before the scale starts again at the octave.
12. Which English writer created the detective Sherlock Holmes? (hard) Arthur Conan Doyle. He published the famous detective’s adventures from 1887 onwards.
To recognise the great paintings: our essential artworks to know.
Science
13. How many chromosomes does a normal human cell have? (medium) 46. Arranged in 23 pairs, including one pair of sex chromosomes.
14. Which is the largest planet in the Solar System? (easy) Jupiter. This gas giant is so massive it could hold all the other planets combined.
15. Which scientist developed the theory of evolution by natural selection? (medium) Charles Darwin. He set it out in 1859 in On the Origin of Species.
16. At what temperature, in degrees Celsius, does water boil at sea level? (easy) 100 °C. This value matches standard atmospheric pressure; it drops at altitude.
To connect science to the rest: the general knowledge guide.
Nature
17. What is the fastest land animal? (easy) The cheetah. It reaches about 110 km/h over short distances during its bursts of speed.
18. What is the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly called? (medium) Metamorphosis. It passes through the chrysalis stage before the adult butterfly emerges.
19. Which gas do plants absorb to carry out photosynthesis? (medium) Carbon dioxide (CO₂). Using light, they turn it into sugars and release oxygen.
20. Which is the only group of mammals that lays eggs? (hard) The monotremes, such as the platypus and the echidna. They are the only egg-laying mammals in the world.
More surprising still: our strange and little-known animals.
Your score
Count one point per correct answer, out of 20.
0 to 8: foundations to broaden, no shame in it. The general knowledge guide maps the fields to cover.
9 to 14: solid general level. You hold your own in any conversation, with a few gaps on the sharper questions.
15 to 20: excellent. Move up to the expert tiers in our quiz by level.
Going further
Twenty questions is a good test. But general knowledge is built in small, regular doses, not all at once.
That’s the idea behind SAPIRO: hundreds of quizzes on geography (197 countries), history, art and nature, with an explanation behind every answer. Free, no ads. For a structured plan, follow our method to revise general knowledge in 30 days.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to answer 20 general knowledge questions?
Count ten to fifteen minutes solo, more in a group if you debate each answer. It’s the ideal format for a break or a commute.
Are these questions suitable for a family quiz?
Yes: the easy questions work from secondary-school age, the hard ones bring the adults back in. Read them out loud and adjust the scoring. Our quiz night with friends offers a ready-made format.
How do you remember quiz answers?
By testing yourself rather than re-reading: the effort of pulling an answer from memory anchors it far better. Redoing the quiz a few days later locks in the essentials.
Where can I find more free quizzes?
The SAPIRO app offers hundreds of questions by theme and level, free, with an explanation behind every answer.
