Quiz: Should you be an astrobiologist?

1.  What do you like to do after school?
a. Go home and finish your homework.
b. Go home and neglect your homework in favor of your slightly dangerous research project.
c. Sleep
d. Play videogames with aliens.

2. Who’s your best friend?
a. The most popular guy in school.
b. ET
c. The dork with glasses who’s reading his textbook in the corner.
d. Everyone in school likes me.

3. What’s your favorite subject.
a. Do I have to pick?
b. English
c. Science
d. Lunch

4. What would be your dream date?
a. Go out and watch the stars while drinking Mt. Dew.
b. All night video game marathon.
c. Go out to a fancy restaurant and sip expensive wine.
d. A day at the amusement park.

5. The best music is:
a. Techno
b. Rock
c. Bluegrass
d. Classical

6. You see an odd flying object in the sky. What do you do?
a. It’s called an airplane, idiot.
b. Contact the army
c. Go outside and attempt to make contact yourself. What could be cooler than an extraterrestrial sleepover?
d. Go outside and examine the atmosphere for trace materials left behind.

7. Do you like discovering things?
a. Heck yes!
b. Sure, I guess.
c. What kind of question is this?
d. Not really...

8. Do you know what an astrobiologist does?
a. Yes, I’ve been studying it since I was 3.
b. Well, I’m on this site to find out, duh.
c. Yeah, aren’t those the people at carnivals with stars and planets?
d. No.

9. Three words that describe you are:
a. Innovative, quirky, diligent
b. Driven, successful, confident
c. Pretty, sociably, popular
d. Apathetic, distant, unmotivated

10. Which one sounds like the coolest thing that could happen?
a. Being the Bachelor/Bachelorette
b. Discovering life on another planet!
c. Being a millionaire
d. Winning a Nobel Prize in Science.

Now, add up all your points.
1. a 3, b 4, c 1, d 2
2. a 1, b 4, c 3, d 2
3. a 3, b 2, c 4, d 1
4. a 4, b 3, c 1, d 2
5. a 4, b 2, c 1, d 3
6. a 1, b 2, c 3, d 4
7. a 4, b 3, c 1, d 2
8. a 4, b 3, c 1, d 2
9. a 4, b 3, c 2, d 1
10. a 1, b 4, c 2, d 3

Results:
10-15 You should probably consider finding another career path, astrobiology is not for you. You don’t seem to have neither the drive nor curiosity needed to do the work in astrobiology. Don’t that this the wrong way, but the long hours spent searching through other planets and trying to figure out what you’re looking at may not be of interest to you. However, if you do manage to get off your mother’s couch, with a lot of hard work you can make it in astrobiology.

16-30 You might make a good astrobiologist. With hard work and effort, you should be able to make it in this career. You are able to stay on task and get what you need done. You may be disappointed if you don’t find extraterrestrial life, but don’t let that discourage you.

31-40 This is perfect for you! You have the perfect personality, you work hard and you get done what you need to get done. Your enthusiasm for and knowledge of astrobiology will carry you far! You will thrive in the world of astrobiology meeting people who are just as curious and excited about discovering new things as you are.