I.Q.

[imoldernu]

I am a member of Mensa, but was smart enough to marry a woman with "street smarts".

+1
Me too...
(I kinda guessed about you)

Equivalency chart:
http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/psychology/iq-conversion.html

 

[Bir48die]

I wonder whether this includes the effects of SAT prep programs that, while now almost ubiquitous, were pretty much unknown 40+ years ago when I took the test. According to the College Board, who administers the tests, 20 hours of test prep results in an average gain of 115 points on the SAT. Since this presumably doesn't cause a similar gain in the raw intelligence of the test taker one would think this might skew this IQ estimate pretty strongly.

While I do remember my SAT score (since I had to regurgitate it for college applications over several months) my GRE scores are long forgotten.


Guess I'll just never know if I'm smart or not.

I am embarrassed to even mention my SAT scores. I will say I was at a helluva party the night before. However, luckily I was accepted on my grades which bad then we’re pretty low too.

Somehow I pulled my head out after a couple of terms in college and actually figured it out. Followed the same path while working where it took me five years to pull my head out.

Luckily I haven’t had to pull my head out in retirement

 

[Independent]

I wonder whether this includes the effects of SAT prep programs that, while now almost ubiquitous, were pretty much unknown 40+ years ago when I took the test. According to the College Board, who administers the tests, 20 hours of test prep results in an average gain of 115 points on the SAT. Since this presumably doesn't cause a similar gain in the raw intelligence of the test taker one would think this might skew this IQ estimate pretty strongly.

While I do remember my SAT score (since I had to regurgitate it for college applications over several months) my GRE scores are long forgotten.

Interesting wording on the CB website

New data show studying for the SAT® for 20 hours on free Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy is associated with an average score gain of 115 points, nearly double the average score gain compared to students who don’t use Khan Academy.

Apparently, the gain is from your last test.
So kids who don't do test prep must gain about 60 points. This is all new to me (I took these exams 55 years ago).

The site I found let me specify that I took the exam a long time ago. Presumably, the effects of modern exam prep aren't relevant.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

Wise enough to avoid a Darwin award, although there were a few youthful close encounters.

 

[GrayHare]

Now if only there were a free IQ test on the web somewhere. All the ones I've seen either charge a tidy sum or appear to be a scam to get your email address.

There are self-scored SAT practice tests online, from which you can convert to IQ.

 

[deserat]

I'm smart enough to know that I've met people who were smarter with no common sense, smarter with common sense, not as smart but with a lot of common sense, and not as smart with little common sense.

I'm smart enough to know that no matter how good you are at doing something, there's a very good chance that there are others that are better.

I'm smart enough to know there is a lot of things I'm not very smart about.

+1

 

[tmm99]

I would like to think I'm a tad over average, but if an IQ test contained spatial questions, I would probably be in the "idiot" range!

 

[Mdlerth]

I was smart enough to marry DW, who is good at all the things I'm not

I've known a few people who were SCARY smart, as in Nobel Prize (the science ones, not the political ones) smart. Every one of them had a train wreck for a personal life.

Would I trade my inferior IQ for theirs? Not if it included all the other baggage, not for one minute.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I spent my career testing IQ, academic achievement levels, aptitude’s, interests,etc. The one thing you can’t test is motivation and that can take people very far in life. There is also a second type of intelligence and that is a great spatial aptitude can take you far in some careers. That’s one thing that is very hard to learn. You have it or you don’t.

 

[robnplunder]

For those of you whose IQ are at genius level, what came easier for you compare/relative to others? What made you different, growing up? What worked against you?

 

[ziggy29]

IQ is vastly overrated. Common sense is vastly underrated. I'd prefer to see a common sense score than an IQ.

I haven't had a formal IQ test, ever. Most of the "tests" I have taken for myself have me scoring pretty high but it never really impressed me. I'm eligible for Mensa by virtue of my SAT score, but I never really felt any pull toward joining.

 

[Souschef]

For those of you whose IQ are at genius level, what came easier for you compare/relative to others? What made you different, growing up? What worked against you?

The problem was when stuff came easy there was not an incentive to develop good study habits. It also made one lazy. I did just enough to get by, and I am not proud of it.
I graduated Engineering School with a 2.3 GPA,BUT I graduated. We had an entering class of 800, and graduated 125!
After a few false starts, I had a 50 year career in Engineering, and then retired.

 

[stepford]

Who knows what Genius level IQ means? I went to a college where the average student IQ was supposedly 140. Does that mean they were all geniuses? It sure didn't seem like it during finals week.

Anyway, those that did manage to graduate whom I've followed in the years since all seem to have had pretty good careers (and almost all of them have been more successful than I have).

 

[Huston55]

+1
Me too...
(I kinda guessed about you)

Equivalency chart:
IQ conversion

Here’s another “comparison/conversion” table for a quick test that one can take online for free in <15 mins. Don’t know how accurate it is but, might be worth your time if you’re interested. Plus, you’ll know how you compare to your favorite NFL player!

ETA: notice that we get “geezer points”.

 

[Souschef]

From Calvin Coolidge:
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race

 

[imoldernu]

Interesting stuff... My school was one of the first to abandon SAT scores as an entrance requirement, and never used IQ scores.
What does/did matter? Well, the GPA (grade point average)... as a measure of dedication and determination to excel as well as a predictor of success and accomplishment. Even the average GPA of 3.8, is not a guarantee of admission, but just a door opener. The rest of the acceptance requirement comes from the record of the student's participation in and actions to be a part of a better world.

Why does it matter? I believe that many of posts above correctly recognize that success (and consequently benefit to the world about him/her) comes from using what abilities one has, and absorbing the breadth of knowledge that will eventually work to the benefit of society. IQ may be part of potential, but potential does not necessarily mean result.

Merriam-Webster defines "Wise" as:

...characterized by wisdom : marked by deep understanding, keen discernment, and a capacity for sound judgment.

Notice... no mention of IQ.

 

[robnplunder]

Having high IQ is an advantage, all things being equal. It's like an athlete with a born talent. Neither will succeed if they don't apply themselves.

 

[stepford]

This is a bit different than IQ per se, but I did know one or two folks at work over the years that folks thought of as brilliant but lazy. As others have noted, the more driven folks would ultimately be more successful, but these guys would occasionally be able to just whip a bafflingly original idea from some dark nether region inaccessible to us ordinary mortals.

Most of the time they didn't do as much work as everybody else, but the occasional brilliant insight out of left field made them worth keeping around. In terms of pure IQ numbers I probably knew several "geniuses" at school, but regardless of their measured IQ, these colleagues I've mine are what I think of when the term genius is invoked.

 

[marko]

One of my first bosses pestered me to take the Mensa test and join the society. He was really insistent.

Mom is a Mensa member. She strongly discouraged me from taking the test and I never did.

Despite my oft-proven blind spot with math, I've had bosses, friends and co-workers (even DW when she's not telling me what an idiot I am) all ask if I was genius level.

Don't know. Don't care. I know what I know and call 'em as I see 'em.

I do know that very often (and again, proven here on this forum) that I tend to see things from a slightly different angle than most people.

 

[braumeister]

I was a Mensa member long ago, but I haven't had anything to do with them for a very long time. Unfortunately, in addition to some really fascinating people, they have a rather high proportion of silly social misfits. That spoils it IMHO.

OTOH, I can't badmouth them too much because DW and I met at a Mensa gathering. As she puts it "Getting married was a good thing because it took two of them off the streets."

 

[Amethyst]

I do, too. I think that is more nurture than nature at least in my case.

I do know that very often (and again, proven here on this forum) that I tend to see things from a slightly different angle than most people.

 

[Calico]

I'm smart enough to know that I've met people who were smarter with no common sense, smarter with common sense, not as smart but with a lot of common sense, and not as smart with little common sense.

I'm smart enough to know that no matter how good you are at doing something, there's a very good chance that there are others that are better.

I'm smart enough to know there is a lot of things I'm not very smart about.

^^^^This

I have no idea what my IQ is, and have no desire to know. Lots of common sense, average book smarts, and persistence have gotten me this far in life. That's good enough for me.

 

[skipro33]

I know what I know and call 'em as I see 'em.

I do know that very often (and again, proven here on this forum) that I tend to see things from a slightly different angle than most people.

Ditto, and the mods here 'reward' me with points regularly for it...

 

[sengsational]

I took a fake IQ test that resulted in even near idiots getting a genius score. I was too young at the time to know what IQ meant, so I'm not sure it had the intended effect. Only years later did I learn the test was fake, and was reminded I had taken the test years before. Did fine on the SAT, but not exceptional. Never took a real IQ test.

 

[robnplunder]

I took a fake IQ test that resulted in even near idiots getting a genius score. I was too young at the time to know what IQ meant, so I'm not sure it had the intended effect. Only years later did I learn the test was fake, and was reminded I had taken the test years before. Did fine on the SAT, but not exceptional. Never took a real IQ test.

Yeah, there are fake tests going around which the scores are skewed to high. I knew a family of genius who were not.