General Information About I.Q. tests

About I.Q. | What Do the Scores Mean | About I.Q. Tests

A General Intelligence Quotient Score (IQ Score) is a statistically derived number which indicates relative and comparative abilities that can be used to obtain academic skills and knowledge. You have hundreds of specific mental abilities. Some of these abilities can be measured accurately. Some of these measurements can be reliable predictors of an individual's academic achievements. Though an IQ test measures only a few of a human's mental abilities, these few abilities are targeted for measurement, because they are well known to positively correlate highly to many other human abilities. How high you score in one of these measured abilities, will strongly indicate how high you would be expected to score on the unmeasured abilities.

A higher IQ score is not a guarantee that an individual will achieve happiness, maintain sanity, or obtain spiritual growth.

A lower IQ score does not mean that an individual will be unsuccessful financially, emotionally, or morally.

There are "high IQ" individuals in all walks of life, and conversely, even traditionally exalted groups such as "physicians" can have individuals who would be measured as having only "normal" intelligence.

Almost all ordinary human tasks require an individual to have an IQ Score of only 50 or higher. (75% of all people have this or a higher IQ) Though a score of 50 would indicate that that individual would find educational success only with special teaching methods and more time spent studying, it should be noted that persons between 50 and 75 IQ ordinarily can obtain licenses to drive, can succeed at 71% of all jobs, can have normal or above normal IQ children, and generally can be quite capable of successful lives.

History is filled with stories of humans of limited intellectual ability who have nevertheless been among humankind's most important contributors.

It is also true, that all of history's worse tales are about very smart individuals who nevertheless were incapable of solving the problem of how to be a human whose actions had a positive effect on one's fellow humans.

Bottom line: if you score high on this test, get out there and do the right thing. We need you.

Statistically the following statements are true about IQ scores obtained by taking this test:

• IQ of 100 is higher than 50% of all persons taking this test.
• IQ of 110 is higher than 75% of all persons taking this test.
• IQ of 120 is higher than 93% of all persons taking this test.
• IQ of 130 is higher than 98% of all persons taking this test.

What IQ scores represent, and what is your rank compared to your result

Average: 85 - 115
Above average: 115 - 125
Gifted Borderline Genius: 125 - 135
Highly gifted and appearing to be a Genius to most others: 135 - 145
Genius: 145 - 165
High genius: 166 - 180
Highest genius: 181 - 200
Beyond being measurable genius: Over 200

Most intelligence (or IQ) tests are designed so that average people get average scores, clustered around the midpoint IQ of 100. The tests are most powerful at their middle ranges, where the difference between an IQ of 100 and 105 may be a matter of several questions on the test itself. But at their upper ends, the tests don't seem to discriminate nearly as well -- the five-point difference between IQ scores of 145 and 150, say, may translate into raw-score differences of only one or two test questions.

There have been various tests devised over the years that make fine distinctions in the intellectual stratosphere. The idea is to make a test so difficult that geniuses will get average scores, and only super geniuses will be able to achieve the highest scores.

Various high- IQ organizations have been established over the years. Mensa, the most famous group, is open to one person in 50 -- that is, people in the upper 2 percent of the population (98th percentile). The Top One Percent Society and Intertel have cutoffs at the 99th percentile, and the One-in-a-Thousand and the Triple Nine Societies have cutoffs at the 99.9th percentile. The Prometheus Society shoots for 1 in 30,000. But the most restrictive group is the Mega Society, which is theoretically limited to one person in a million (the 99.9999th percentile)

IQ tests measures several factors of intelligence, namely logical reasoning, math skills and general knowledge. They also measures your ability to classify things according to various attributes, and to see analogies and relations among concepts or things. It doesn't take into consideration verbal, social, or emotional intelligence. Generally tests are supposed to assess your intellectual potential, not your performance under stress. Therefore, there is usually no time limit. Nonetheless, tests are usually completed in less three one hours. You may use a calculator, a piece of paper and a pencil. Do not use software to solve the problems, even if you programmed it yourself. And, of course, unless you want to assess a team IQ, you will have to work alone. Before you start, make sure that you have about three hours of free time during which nobody will disturb you. Read carefully every question and select your answer in the right column.

In order to have the test scored, you need to select an answer for every question. Some questions are designed to be very difficult. If you cannot figure out the answer, simply select I don't know and move on. Please, verify whether the form is fully loaded before you proceed. In order to obtain valid results, you need to answer all the questions.