Do you think IQ test are a fraud???

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I don't think online IQ 'tests' claim to be a serious measurement of anything, so I don't see how they can be a fraud.

Furthermore if you have an IQ of 150 on ANY scale, why are you even thinking about the 'value' of online IQ tests



My understanding is that the traditional IQ tests are designed to be predictors of academic POTENTIAL (people underachieve and overachieve the expectations of OTHERS and often THEMSELVES)

Furthermore the only 'evidence' that you seem to advance for your opinion is the farce of online IQ tests



I AGREE ENTIRELY WITH THIS PART OF YOUR CAREFULLY CONSIDERED POSTING (apart from your comment about lies)

Academic potential, maybe. I mean, people who score high on IQ tests do often have the same skill set that's good for academics. That's if some other issue isn't blocking those skills (concentration/attention/memory/organization is a big one) and not letting you use them, anyway. The correlation's rough, but it's there.

But then they extrapolate this academic potential thing to all of life, and stick a bunch of "will never" labels on you, if you score low; or blame you for under-achieving if you score high; but the IQ test doesn't even measure a lot of the other skills you could have. It's like they're taking some small sub-set of your skills, and then assuming all the other skills are the same. Maybe that's a good guess for an NT, but the more atypical you get, the worse that guess gets. Once you're so atypical they can label you autistic, IQ might as well be a complete shot in the dark.

Hello Callista

I enjoy reading your posts. I think you have a lovely sounding nickname and I love your Avatars.

You sound a bit upset in your post.

My experience with a relatively high IQ was that it was extrapolated by no one except ME, when I was younger.

I believed that if I kept on taking exams, beyond my Science Bachelors, this would lead to my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Not very intelligent eh In fact reading over this now before posting, it sounds positively stupid of me.

My IQ did correctly predict my capacity to pass exams in analytical subjects and those requiring a lot of fact learning and I have enjoyed MUCH academic and professional success with exams.

I was in my 40s before I realised that success is USUALLY the result of more than just being very intelligent.

In fact the skills that I have learned since age 40 that HAVE resulted in personal financial success were absolutely NOT measured in my IQ tests (and nor should they)

I think intelligence can get someone to the starting blocks of the race that is LIFE, but it is then necessary to run a good race, a race which in many places has little to do with academic potential.

I also know that many financially successful people are often under 'educated' with an academic intelligence which is often (at best) 'average'.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with such openness and honesty Callista

Intelligence Quotients aren't relevant. My IQ was 212 in jr. high school. I got all kinds of promises about finally being recognized, I would be placed in a special program, be given a job with an government agency, etc...never happened. An alcoholic stepfather was not helpful in these things.

Even the "score" was a guess. I simply answered every fact question correctly, and did all the timed exercises faster than anyone before. There were some interpretive parts, what is the story behind this picture, what does this blot look like to you, etc. There is no "top" or "best" score, just some guesses about where you are on the bell curve. I was 99.99th percentile in everything, then I dropped out of high school and became an professional artist. So there.

Your credit score is more relevant. I am afraid to know mine.

I wouldn't say they are a fraud, but they are HEAVILY skewed to mathematics and if you are crap at that then your score will dip dramatically.

I have always had a problem with maths and numbers, there is nothing for me to see visually and the whole concept has been alien for me...my dad tried teaching me when I was 3 and while my brothers picked it up fast (my younger brother has just done his masters and been offered a phd placement at Manchester university) I never did.

Once I ogt on to reading though I was fine.

I am sure I have lost 30-40 points simply because I have no facility with numbers, especially those that grow in value with no seeming connection like 1, 23, 4325, 8346236, 823793854891648

I agree with Shrox, people do not care for your individual abilities or talents, they only care for your potential to make them profit. While he says he had a father that drank, I had a mother who did not care, and I too dropped out of school since there seemed to be little point anymore.

Internet IQ test only scale one or two parameters. Most of them only ask about logic and some go into word understanding, but none go into concentration description and other stuff that plays into a proper IQ test.

Yes, I think IQ tests are a load of rubbish. I've tested anywhere from 100 to 128 or so. And some of the stupidest people I know are MENSA members (MENSA is an organisation for people with an IQ at or above a particular score - I believe it's 150 or so). Intelligence cannot be accurately determined by a simple test.

WOW, I don't remember such questions on IQ tests. What would they "test". And there are RICH people that have the SAME sort of problems you mention, and dirt poor ones that DON'T!

Frankly, I am not a fan of tests ANYWAY. they may be poorly written, poorly graded, poorly administered, etc...

In the case of IQ tests the mix may be off to favor one type of score rather than another so that missing one question may have more of an impact in a score in one than the other. If a single bar is missing in an object to test visual IQ, the person may "get it wrong", even though they were RIGHT! If a sequence is too short, the person may "get it wrong", even though their answer is right. If people pick a word with multiple meanings, and define it using a misunderstood, or incomplete meaning, then a person that knows the word WELL may miss it!

In short, a test tests the tester, test maker, and publisher, as much as it tests the testee. And yeah, I got a good score on several IQ tests, including official ones. Still, I should have scored better. And I HAVE seen tests with poorly defined words, poor images, and short sequences. The length of the sequence is NOT static. it depends on the actual circumstances! QUICK!

3,5,7,.....

WHAT is the next number in the sequence? Is it 11? Is it 9? BOTH are correct!! !! !! If they added one number to either side, the answer would have been clearer.

IQ tests were originally to determine if a person had mental retardation. After all, IQ CAN be developed, and some people find ways to work around various limitations.

So I wouldn't call them scams, but they CAN be misleading!

I just checked mine yesterday! They have some inquiries that are not valid, or illegal! That could be a bad mark, though supposedly it isn't THIS time. They ALSO marked m down for using a lot of my credit on a couple cards, never mind that it often drops lower, isn't going up, and they are a FRACTION of my credit line. They ALSO marked me down, GET THIS!, because I have no balance on my mortgage account! My credit report SEEMS to indicate I over $200K MORE, and THAT is a bad thing? I went from a HIGH B(into the 900s on the new vantage score), to a c(low 700s on the new vantage score)! And ALL THREE credit agencies have different reports and interpret them different ways! Yeah, the credit score is a bad indicator ALSO!

As for mensa, they NOW include like the highest like 2% on intelligence related tests. EVEN the SAT counts! It would be interesting inf you could have a ret*d person to take a test of intelligence that only THEY take, and see if it is accepted in mensa! After all, I imagine relatively few people that were borderline MR would take the test. On such a test, you could conceivably get a very high score and still be pretty dumb.

I think IQ tests are valid, as long as you don't use them for more than they're meant for.

An IQ score does not definitively say what you will and won't be able to do, only gives probabilities. Chances are high that a person with an IQ of 75 won't be able to handle university - but if they have a VIQ of 115 and a PIQ of 55 and they're doing an English major, then I'd say they have a good chance. There are always exceptions.

IQ scores can also change over time, as people develop. IQ scores predict a rate of development, but if your brain is designed such that your development is uneven (eg fast then lose some skills, then slow and then fast again) then your IQ score will keep changing. Just like a kid who enters puberty at a different time will change what percentile they are in height and weight.

Also, IQ scores measure other skills besides intelligence. If you have a certain minimum ability in those other skills then intelligence is the big determinant of your score, but if you struggle to communicate, or have difficulty seeing, or other issues then the IQ test won't be valid.

And IQ tests never determine your worth as a person. No test does.

Everytime I read a post like this, I know I'm missing at least a point. I was wondering if in the US all students take IQ tests. Am I right?

I remember a mandatory middle school one. I believe it's not legal here to do this now. And when you applied for a job, as in a job service- placement program, the state agency 'gave you one.' This was years ago, and I know this is not legal now, to do. I'm not sure about the military, now, though.

I remember eating out with my wife's friends, and her friend's spouse asked me: "I''m guessing your IQ is around 130 - mine is 115?" He was in late 30's @ the time, and this one example shows this pervasive IQ mindset.

There's a huge mindset difference between Italy and US regarding IQ. I didn't ask before because I didn't want to be tactless. I wouldn't accept to be defined by a number, even if it's 150. It creates an expectation on one's performance and creates anxiety. The truth is what people accomplish in life, so they were right to eliminate it.

Uggh... IQ is a test score. It's not like your height or your weight; It's not a real thing that can be measured. It's just a score on a test.

Why, why, why do they have to assign it such universal significance?

Based on some unofficial online tests my IQ is in the 115-120 range.

Based on everyday life experiences, I believe it's higher than that. But who am I to argue with statistics?

All I can say is that I'm tired of the way IQ scores are often compared as though they're penis sizes.
Reading the average online community when the subject of IQ comes up, you'd thnk every single member was a genius.