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IQ tests...

What are your thoughts of IQ tests?

Personally I've never taken one, however a person in my class was bragging about his high IQ..
Original post by Networking Nerd!
What are your thoughts of IQ tests?

Personally I've never taken one, however a person in my class was bragging about his high IQ..


Unless it was a professional test, I doubt it was accurate and that guy's probably an arrogant douche.

I've never taken a proper one myself, a waste of money IMO

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Reply 2
Original post by Networking Nerd!
What are your thoughts of IQ tests?

Personally I've never taken one, however a person in my class was bragging about his high IQ..


I've taken a professional one, honestly i think it plays a role although studies show that IQ is 50% genetic and 50% environmental.

Anecdotally, the people i know who've taken an IQ test and scored high have actually all done very well academically. All are at amazing universities/competitive courses and destined/achieved success in their careers.
If it was professionally administered it probably means he has a lot of potential and is naturally very good, but it isn't something I would ever put on my CV and if you talk about it too much, you will sounds like an ass.
I've taken a few and am part of a high IQ society. Most people who have high IQs tend to realise that it's complete and utter rubbish as an indicator of intelligence.


I once had someone tell me he had an IQ of 210, and he wasn't amused when I expressed surprise that someone with such a high IQ didn't know it stopped at 200.
Original post by Hal.E.Lujah
I've taken a few and am part of a high IQ society. Most people who have high IQs tend to realise that it's complete and utter rubbish as an indicator of intelligence.


I once had someone tell me he had an IQ of 210, and he wasn't amused when I expressed surprise that someone with such a high IQ didn't know it stopped at 200.


You should be aware that different tests use different scales and that the scale is usually shown in terms of percentiles of a normal distribution, so 200 on one test might be equivalent to 160 on another...
Original post by yo radical one
You should be aware that different tests use different scales and that the scale is usually shown in terms of percentiles of a normal distribution, so 200 on one test might be equivalent to 160 on another...


Original post by Hal.E.Lujah
I've taken a few and am part of a high IQ society. Most people who have high IQs tend to realise that it's complete and utter rubbish as an indicator of intelligence.


I once had someone tell me he had an IQ of 210, and he wasn't amused when I expressed surprise that someone with such a high IQ didn't know it stopped at 200.


I thought that IQ was generally a normal distribution with mean 100 and standard deviation of 10, so there is no theoretical upper or lower bound (I think I've heard of one guy that had IQ 220).

It may be the most reliable current method of measuring intelligence, but it still has problems and is by no means an indicator of how well you will do in life. People that brag about their IQ all the time tend to be arrogant stuck up douches anyway :pierre:


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Original post by majmuh24
I thought that IQ was generally a normal distribution with mean 100 and standard deviation of 10, so there is no theoretical upper or lower bound (I think I've heard of one guy that had IQ 220).

It may be the most reliable current method of measuring intelligence, but it still has problems and is by no means an indicator of how well you will do in life. People that brag about their IQ all the time tend to be arrogant stuck up douches anyway :pierre:


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The mean is usually 100 by design, but different ones use different sd's and yeah theoretically there should be no upper limit but in practice they would say > some maximum value. I've read about people with IQ's in the region of 220 but it said afterwards if it were translated into a different one, it would have been around 180 I think, so usually they use the one which makes them seem smartest just to create hype.

and yeah I agree, I do believe in them as valid measures of intelligence, but if you constantly talk about it, you're probably lacking social skills to the point where it would hold you back to some degree
Reply 8
Having sat the Mensa tests (they were in the neighbourhood, curiosity got the better of me), I don't think they're an indicator of much other than your ability to answer pointless logic problems quickly.

Personally I think work ethic is always going to be a bigger factor in peoples success than IQ, although obviously a combination of both would be ideal. I was admitted to Mensa, but have average academics (real world average, not "I only got 10A* grades" TSR average...), so in my experience there isn't much correlation.

That said, there may be better professional tests out there.
Original post by yo radical one
If it was professionally administered it probably means he has a lot of potential and is naturally very good, but it isn't something I would ever put on my CV and if you talk about it too much, you will sounds like an ass.


Far from a professionally administered one, it was a silly little free mensa test. Just checked out the exact test he done, it's a joke that people actually use those tests, as an attempt for measuring their intelligence. If anything it demonstrates that he has insecurities about his intelligence. :judge:

I hate people like him.. :colonhash:
(edited 10 years ago)

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