BrainPuzzles

School Assembly Quiz Questions

A school assembly quiz is a short run of general knowledge questions read out to the whole school in the morning, usually by one student, usually in under three minutes. That format sets the rules for what belongs in it. The question has to work spoken aloud with no picture and no textbook, the answer has to land as an "oh, of course" rather than a shrug, and the fact behind it has to still be true next term. The fifteen questions here are written for ages nine to fourteen and each one carries a single line of explanation, so whoever reads them out has something to add after the answer instead of just moving on. Some are counting questions with a number for an answer, like the twenty four spokes on the Ashoka Chakra or the two hundred and six bones in a grown-up skeleton. Some are the why questions that make a hall go quiet, like why lightning reaches you before the thunder does. You get fifteen seconds per question and a score at the end, so it also works as practice before you stand up and read them.

All 15 questions

  1. Which bird is the national bird of India?

    • Peacock
    • Parrot
    • Sparrow
    • Kingfisher

  2. How many spokes does the wheel on the Indian flag have?

    • 12
    • 16
    • 24
    • 32

  3. How many bones are there in an adult human body?

    • 186
    • 206
    • 256
    • 306

  4. Which is the only mammal that can truly fly?

    • Flying squirrel
    • Bat
    • Sugar glider
    • Barn owl

  5. Which is the largest animal alive on Earth today?

    • African elephant
    • Whale shark
    • Blue whale
    • Giraffe

  6. What causes day and night on Earth?

    • The Earth turning on its axis
    • The Earth travelling round the Sun
    • The Sun moving across the sky
    • The Moon blocking the sunlight

  7. Which planet orbits closest to the Sun?

    • Venus
    • Earth
    • Mars
    • Mercury

  8. Why do you see lightning before you hear the thunder?

    • Light travels faster than sound
    • The thunder starts a moment later
    • Sound bends around the clouds
    • Your eyes react quicker than ears

  9. At sea level, water boils at which temperature?

    • 80°C
    • 90°C
    • 100°C
    • 120°C

  10. Which mountain is the highest above sea level?

    • K2
    • Mount Everest
    • Kangchenjunga
    • Mount Kilimanjaro

  11. Which is the largest ocean on Earth?

    • Indian Ocean
    • Atlantic Ocean
    • Pacific Ocean
    • Arctic Ocean

  12. What do you call a word that reads the same backwards?

    • Homophone
    • Palindrome
    • Anagram
    • Acronym

  13. The word 'alphabet' is built from the first two letters of which alphabet?

    • Latin
    • Greek
    • Arabic
    • Hebrew

  14. When you eat a carrot, which part of the plant are you eating?

    • Stem
    • Leaf
    • Flower
    • Root

  15. How many days are there in a leap year?

    • 364
    • 365
    • 366
    • 367