Half of New Zealand adults have flunked this general knowledge test. Can you pass?

While fewer than half can name the seven continents or work out how far a car travels at a constant speed in a given time.

The results, which are from a poll of 1,000 New Zealanders aged 18 and over, has exposed "serious gaps in public knowledge".

Try the quiz and see how many you get right ...

The poll, conducted by landline and cellphone by Curia Market Research, asked 13 questions covering maths, science, history, geography and spelling.

Study author Briar Lipson said four questions were chosen to match similar surveys overseas.

Young adults aged 18-30 did better than older generations on the science questions about the Earth and the sun and about humans and dinosaurs.

But young adults were less likely than older people to know about the treaty, the Native Land Court, women getting the vote, Winston Churchill, antibiotics and even the capital of Australia.