AQA 63336 reveals that students, mums and the retired are some of the smartest people in the UK

9 November 2007

The secret talent behind the UK's most popular mobile question and answer service – AQA 63336 (Any Question Answered) – has been revealed: over 70% of its 1,000 strong workforce are students, mums and the retired. They've all passed the toughest of selection tests, which less than 10% of applicants manage to pass successfully, and are currently helping to answer 16,000 questions a day from the British public.

On Sunday 4 November, AQA 63336 answered its 9 millionth question, with questions ranging from "What is special about the way spaghetti snaps?" to "How long would it take a snail to slide around the world?" proving that researchers need to be prepared to field a real mix of questions.

Britain's demand for answers peaks at 9pm when AQA 63336 answers 40 questions per minute.

Significantly higher volumes are received during big sporting weekends with the Rugby World Cup Final between England and South Africa, attracting over 1,200 questions before the game kicked–off.

With Christmas fast approaching, AQA 63336 is expecting the volume of questions to continue growing strongly and is on the look out for talented researchers to join the team and help AQA reach the 10 million questions goal by the end of the year.

CEO, Colly Myers, explains: "Researchers need to possess a good balance of wit and wisdom. We look for people who can research quickly, are excellent at problem solving and can write and spell well. It's a great job, helping people 24 hours a day, but you have to be prepared to literally answer any question."

To get on board researchers have to first pass a stringent test by answering questions against the clock demonstrating accuracy and speed with a touch of humour. Questions could include: "Is sodium lactate a colloid or crystalloid solution?", "How many fish are in the sea?" or "What makes a good chat up line?". It's a tough test but demonstrates how the company ensures the quality of AQA's answers.

Over 90% of the researchers are recruited from UK and Ireland, supported by researchers from New Zealand and Australia to help answer questions over the night shift. Researchers work on a self employed basis, with no restrictions over where or when they work, and earn 30p per answer, averaging £6 – £12 per hour. Budding researchers can apply where they can also ask a free question.

AQA 63336 has established itself in the UK as the primary source for fast information, advice and entertainment whilst out and about. The service has grown from 500 questions a day in August 2004 to 16,000 questions a day by November 2007. Texts to 63336 cost £1.

Currently, the top ten topics of interest are:

Going out, drink, food, pub and club information

Travel, train and tube times, and holiday suggestions

Sports related questions

Relationship and personal advice

Origins, etymology and sayings

Film, TV, music, literature questions

Science and maths problems

Business related information

Other general trivia

Style, shopping and fashion advice

Notes to Editors:

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