All-Russian Geographical Dictation 2015

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About the Dictation

The first time a large-scale educational campaign All-Russian Geographical Dictation was held in Russia on November 1, 2015. It was aimed at assessing the level of geographical literacy of the population. The initiator of the event was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Society Vladimir Putin, and the organizer of the event was the Russian Geographical Society.

The Dictation took place at 210 specially prepared venues in all regions of our country. The leaders in the number of organized venues were the Central, Uralsky and Privolzhsky Federal Districts, and leaders among the regions were the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (32), Tver Region (18) and Moscow (15). The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (7026 people), Moscow (3343 people), Tver (1432 people) and Voronezh (1427 people) regions were the leaders in the number of dictation participants. Also, attendance exceeded one thousand people in a number of regions.

How many people wrote the Dictation?

Everyone could take part in the Dictation, regardless of age, education and field of activity. 44,365 people came to regional venues to write the Dictation in person. Of these, 43 567 submitted their work for verification. Another 27,564 people took the test online on the website of the Russian Geographical Society. Thus, the total number of Dictation participants is about 72 thousand people.

Among participants are people with a wide variety of education - from general primary to postgraduate with a degree. According to preliminary data, the largest group of participants was the holders of higher education, the smallest - people with primary general education. Thus, the average level of education of Dictation participants turned out to be higher than the average for Russia.

Tasks

The Dictation included 25 test items that were divided into three blocks. The first consisted of assignments for knowledge of geographical concepts and terms; the second was aimed at testing knowledge about the location of geographical objects on the map; the third part was about the knowledge of geographical descriptions.

One of the main principles of the action was anonymity. People could not write their names on the forms of tasks and answers. Participants were asked to write only age, occupation, attitude to geography (for example, a student or teacher of a specialized university) and some other information. This information was necessary in order to evaluate and analyze the level of geographical knowledge of the inhabitants of Russia.

Excellent, good, bad

According to statistics, among the participants in the Dictation, three main categories are distinguished: schoolchildren, students, and working citizens — about 30% each. The remaining categories of the population were less than 10%. It is very pleasant that the majority of Dictation participants are young people who seek to test their knowledge, and in the future, to increase their level.

Interestingly, students in 5-9 grades did not answer the questions in the same way as students in 10-11 grades, while the answers of high school students did not differ much from the answers of adults. As for the gender indicators of statistics, on average, men’s answers are two points higher than women’s.

The highest mark that could be obtained for Dictation was 100 points, the lowest was 0. Unfortunately, 100-point results were not recorded in all regions, and the total number of works that deserved the highest mark does not exceed 1%.

According to data, the average mark for the Dictation in Russia is only 55 points; in school terminology, this is the “3” (according to the rating scale, where “5” is the best result). Even more sadly, 48% of the participants wrote the Dictation below the average level, that is, they got “3” with a minus or even “2”.

The results of the Dictation will be taken into account by the Russian Geographical Society in the preparation of a new concept of geographical education, the development of which is conducted by the Russian Geographical Society together with the Russian Ministry of Education and Science.