Welcome to Geography 101 at NoVAGO U!
First, some disclaimers:
- DO NOT GO TO THE POSTED COORDINATES. THEY ARE NOT THE GEOCACHE LOCATION. To find out where the geocache is, you will need to pass your pretest below.
- DIFFICULTY RATING FOR THE PUZZLES, NOT THE HIDES. This cache was created as a part of the NoVAGO U curriculum, though any and all cachers a welcome to find it and sign the log. Just consider yourself as “auditing the course”. All of that being said, based on the solving skills of those enrolled at NoVAGO U for the Fall 2022 semester, the difficulty has been set a bit higher until after final exams have taken place, and thus, there will be no hints provided until after the semester ends.
Now to the syllabus:
This is a fun course that will take you on multiple field trips. The final exam is open book, but we’re not telling you which book, it could be atlas, it could be an almanac, it could be Tobin’s Spirit Guide, and if you accidentally stumbled in looking for Creative Writing 101, it could be a thesaurus, who knows. Pack accordingly.
You may be asking yourself, “Self, why am I signing up for Geography? Isn’t that just Rocks for Jocks?” No, "Rocks for Jocks" is GeOLOgy (which can and should be taken over at GC9XX2D). This is GeOGRAphy, which is all about maps, borders, symbols and flags.
In a famous study conducted in 2002, well before Djglitterbunz was even a thought in his parent’s eyes, National Geographic concluded that only 17 percent of young adults in the United States could find Afghanistan on a map, and this was a time when we had tens of thousands of troops there, less than a year after the September 11 attacks. The survey demonstrates the “geographic illiteracy of the United States.”
Well, we here at NoVAGO U will not stand idly by. We will teach, we will test, and we will wave our flags high as we show the rest of the schools in Virginia that we are ready to defeat them… at least in the Geography categories of our local trivia nights.
In order to show our superiority, we first need to acknowledge our competition. Using the map and key below (a pre-test, if you will), identify our in-state rivals, and head to the location of your Midterm exam, where you will be provided a new key, and a new map. If you pass the Midterm, you will find yourself headed to the Final Exam, where the legend will be provided, but you will need to bring your own map.
Check your answers for the Rival's Map HERE to find the midterm
Once you find the Midterm, check your answers HERE to find the Final Exam
This cache is located in a park on the Fairfax County pre-approved list, and is only available during park hours.
Congrats to Janomi and K-C-S for the FTF