{"id":26742,"date":"2014-09-25T14:24:13","date_gmt":"2014-09-25T06:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=26742"},"modified":"2014-09-25T11:26:14","modified_gmt":"2014-09-25T03:26:14","slug":"so-you-think-you-know-a-lot-about-nyc-tour-guide-license-test-is-no-facebook-quiz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/09\/25\/so-you-think-you-know-a-lot-about-nyc-tour-guide-license-test-is-no-facebook-quiz\/","title":{"rendered":"So you think you know a lot about NYC? Tour guide license test is no Facebook quiz"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Times<\/a>
Times Square, New York City. Photo by Daniel Schwen \/ Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK\u2014How well do you know New York City?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not just talking Grand Central and the Brooklyn Bridge. Do you know where Jackie O lived and how to reach the Bronx Zoo by subway? Do you know the difference between Peter Minuit and Peter Stuyvesant?<\/p>\n

This is no Facebook quiz. These questions are from the ultimate test of New York knowledge: the city\u2019s test to license sightseeing guides.<\/p>\n

I took the test cold, on a lark, with no advance prep. As a native New Yorker who\u2019s written about tourism for more than a decade, I figured it would be a breeze. I also volunteer with an organization called Big Apple Greeter, taking visitors on informal walks through my favouriteneighbourhoods.<\/p>\n

But the tour guide test is no walk in Central Park\u2014not to mention Prospect Park (and if you don\u2019t know where that is, you\u2019d never pass).<\/p>\n

After labouring for nearly two hours over 150 questions on everything from Greek Revival architecture to why the Staten Island ferry is orange, I was humbled (and I\u2019m sure I got the ferry question wrong). Sure, I know the best place in Manhattan to see Picassos, but I have no idea which bridges and highways allow buses. I guessed right on whether the Bronx is the size of London or Paris, but I\u2019m terrible with pop culture: Just where was the Huxtables\u2019 house on \u201cThe Cosby Show\u201d?<\/p>\n

Some things, you pick up living here\u2014questions on Harlem, Greenwich Village, the Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central seemed doable. For more obscure things, a personal connection helped. I nailed the question about a Yiddish theatre on the Lower East Side because my seventh-grade best friend lived next to the site. But I never could keep those old Dutch guys straight\u2014Minuit and Stuyvesant.<\/p>\n

Pity the test-taker who\u2019s not up on immigrants, tenements and water towers. If you don\u2019t know that stuff, hit the books before putting down $100 in test and license fees. \u201cBlue Guide New York,\u201d a cultural guide covering art, history and architecture, is recommended test prep. The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, which administers the test, also offers a study guide online.<\/p>\n

A passing score is 97 out of 150. Despite the challenges, I got 113 correct, but fell short of the 120 required to pass with distinction. Last year, 399 of 432 who took the test passed.<\/p>\n

City law says anyone who guides or directs people to a place or point of interest here must have a license. If you\u2019re hiring a guide and want to check, ask to see the official sightseeing guide photo ID, or search for the name on the Consumer Affairs website.<\/p>\n

Licensed guides complain they\u2019ve witnessed unlicensed guides leading tours. Some wonder whether the credential matters. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m any better at what I do now that I have my guide license than I was before,\u201d said Tony Muia, who offers \u201cA Slice of Brooklyn\u201d pizza tours and \u201cChristmas Lights & Cannoli\u201d tours. \u201cI\u2019ve never had anybody check it. Why must we spend the time and money to get it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Justin Ferate, who wrote the sightseeing test for Consumer Affairs and is a guide himself, offering tours of neighbourhoods around the city, says the license \u201cis one level of quality control. Is it a perfect measure? No. But it is a process which basically declares the person has a module of knowledge. You want to know the person who is in front of you is speaking with some level of authority. It is a difficult test for many people, and passing it adds a certain gravitas.\u201d<\/p>\n

For sure, even those who pass find it tough. For me, the only easy questions were about food. Any self-respecting New Yorker\u2014I daresay, any self-respecting foodie\u2014knows the difference among baba ganoush, kimchi and a bialy.<\/p>\n

Bagels versus bialys? That\u2019s harder. But it wasn\u2019t on the test.<\/p>\n

Online<\/h6>\n

How to get a NYC sightseeing guide license: http:\/\/www.nyc.gov\/html\/dca\/html\/licenses\/021.shtml<\/a><\/p>\n

How to prepare for the test: http:\/\/www.nyc.gov\/html\/dca\/downloads\/pdf\/study_reference.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Justin Ferate tours: http:\/\/www.Justinsnewyork.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Tony Muia tours: http:\/\/www.asliceofbrooklyn.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK\u2014How well do you know New York City? I\u2019m not just talking Grand Central and the Brooklyn Bridge. Do …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":26743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-travel","mauthors-beth-j-harpaz","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}