Do you know your IQ?

No.

Not officially. I’ve taken a couple of online IQ quizzes, but never an official test.

I know what mine was in fifth grade. The principal called my mother in for a conference and told her.

Yes, I do, learned it through testing.
No, IQ scores typically do not come up in a casual conversation.

This says it best: “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein

No. I don’t remember it. I know the percentile I fall into though. It was tested in school a couple of times when I was young, and then a few years ago I did another test out of curiousity, because I feel so much stupider and forgetful as I get older. It was basically the same as when I was kid, just off by one percentage point.

I was tested as a child and have never known what mine was, although my mom did not neglect to tell me that mine was lower than hers >_>

I do know the percentile I’m in. Is there any data that shows what IQ correlates to which percentile? Maybe I can back into the info that way.

They measured it in high school, and I’ve had the number more or less confirmed by online tests since. I’m not sure I’d want a real test now because I’m kind of at a threshold point and I’d be loathe to find out I’m below it.

The last time it came up in conversation was maybe twelve years ago. I was dating a woman who wanted to compare test results. I took an online test and gave her my number. She told me her result was higher. I think she expected me to be doubtful. But she was a very bright woman—better read than I, just not collegified. When I told her I wasn’t surprised, she started backpedaling, so I never really knew the truth about her tests. I will say, if you had to pick between the two of us to get something done, any reasonable person would have picked her!

I is smaart :)

@Grant6: Collegified, meaning what?

I was tested at work on my first job by a pyschiatrist and most other tests have been pretty consistent.. I don’t think it means anything really. I’ve known a lot of people smarter than me. Mine was 126 for what it’s worth.

@gailcalled “I went to college.”

Another Einstein quote seems to fit: __Imagination is more important than knowledge.__

Mine was tested at school as a kid and then by a psychologist when it was suggested I be put into another school. I totally agree with @Adirondackwannabe. I have met several people that bragged about their IQ and then when I got to know them better I really thought they weren’t that smart. My mother had a genius level IQ and didn’t do anything with her life and died in penury. It’s all relative.

I worked in my high school counseling office and found it in my folder. It’s a decent number, but not stratospheric.

Oh, sure! It’s 226.

Okay, okay, seriously. Yes, I know what it was the last time I took an actual test, and I know what it’s been when I take the fun, online tests.

Tests vary, as do my scores. I’ve had scores between 125 and 155, but I have no idea where in that range I actually fall, assuming that either of those extremes are accurate in the first place.

I know mine. It’s barely above ’‘eat sleep kill’’.

@Symbeline At least it’s positive, not negative. :)

no

Just the score they told me it was in 7th grade but who knows what it is now

I was tested in fourth grade, in 8th grade, again in college, and then when I was in my 30s. The numbers stayed with a couple points of each other, and I did an online test when I was 50 “just for fun”, and the number was also consistent.

The fourth grade and eighth grade test scores were give to my parents, and I found out while cleaning out old files when they moved.

I have taken a few official tests. My score has been steadily decreasing.

I was tested in elementary school and my parents were told. That is why I was considered an underachiever in school, but by 8th grade I didn’t care what grades I got as long as I passed. It doesn’t usually come up in conversation.

Yes, I know mine. I was tested when I was seven years old. My teacher’s often allowed me to progress on my own because of my score, and my academic ability.

I had several tests as a child and I scored within a few points each time. I had another one as a teen and I scored higher. It has never come up in conversation before. I scored really well, but I don’t like harping on it because I don’t really think IQ tests are all that meaningful, and I can’t stand when people jerk each other off over their scores (which is exactly why I left the high IQ club I was in as a kid).

Yes, I was asked, while in college, to join Mensa. Didn’t join.

I use to know what it was over 30 years ago. No clue now. As tired as I am right now, it should be slightly above drooling idiot but below, 5th grade level.

Not a clue. I’m sure its much lower than some people think and higher than other people think. I can’t imagine that it matters for anything other than pissing contests. But I’m not the type who wants to risk getting his feet wet.

I did, a long time ago, but I don’t have any recollection of the number now. It doesn’t matter to me.

If it came up in conversation anywhere in my vicinity, I’d change vicinities. I’m sure there are more boring things to talk about (physical ailments is probably one), but that would score pretty high with me.

@Jeruba: So, let me tell you about my knees.

Yes, I know my IQ. I asked a guidance counselor. If you went to public school in America, you were most likely given at the very least one IQ test. It is a very controversial subject within the educational system.

@bkcunningham I was never given one and I was in public school :/ Maybe they felt no hope for me lol. Joking, I am actually smart and was in enrichment classes and such, but never given or taken an IQ test.

What are enrichment classes, @Ponderer983?

I have a general idea within a few points based on my stepdad and my psychologist.

I was given a test in school, but the guidance counselor refused to tell me what it was. I think because I went in with a friend.

My mom knew but “couldn’t remember.” My stepdad couldn’t remember the exact number either, but he knew it within a few numbers. Interestingly enough, @bookish1, he did remember it was a bit higher than my mom’s and she was none to pleased to have it mentioned. (Ahhh… mothers)

My psychologist “guessed” at my IQ after I’d been seeing her for a while and she was on target.

@bkcunningham Enrichment classes were for the students who excelled in math, mostly, and were pulled out of class once every 2 weeks and we got together and did higher level learning than the rest of our peers, worked on puzzles, etc.

I don’t know mine, but I wish I did just out of curiosity. I’ve scored well on online tests, but I know those are sorely unreliable.

@augustlan I found these photos: of the bell curves for IQ.

I do remember, now that I cast my mind back, that a group of us were yanked out of class several years in a row to take IQ tests. I always thought that they were fun. One of the boys subsequently skipped a grade.

At a reunion in 2001, he said that he hated it and wished he had been able to stay with his class.

I don’t know; never taken a real IQ test. It seems like whenever I see an IQ poll online, everyone is above 130 even though apparently only 2% of the population is above 130…so I’d really like to see how I match up some day :P

I would be surprised if you were in an Enrichment or Gifted Program and you were not given an IQ test (GATE or OLSAT) @Ponderer983 unless you are Black and a resident of California. By law in California, that isn’t allowed.

No. I’m pretty bright, I’d say I am a perfect 50/50 split of brilliant and completely scattered. lololol
Hey, it’s the way of the ENTP personality. We’re known as the inventor/enthusiast personality or the wacky professor type, but with an edge.
Works for me! haha

@bkcunningham, are you saying that in California it’s illegal to give an IQ test to an African-American? Really??

@gailcalled same thing happened to me, I was sent to a different school and put up a grade; I went on to make balls of my life, I think IQ tests are pretty meaningless

@JLeslie Interesting. Seems the online tests I’ve taken have been pretty accurate, then. Thanks for finding the info!

@bkcunningham I was a gifted kid, and never had an official IQ test. Two of my kids attended a magnet school for G&T kids, and they’ve never been tested, either. This was all in Maryland.

I took an on line test once and the results were: You are borderline retarded.

I do. Nobody who mattered has ever wanted to know the number.

Yes, but it was measured 40 years ago.

@augustlan I was tested in school, but it might have been in NY before I moved to MD. I really thought it was in MD though. Part of the test was IQ, and the other part acheivement. When we were kids they gave, or reported the numbers as percentiles not the actual IQ number, because supposedly they didn’t want kids and parents focusing on the number. 10 points here are there didn’t necessarily determine anything; how well a student does is dependent on more than IQ scores, so they thought just telling parents if your kid was average or above average, percentiles, it would be better. The way it was explained to me was in years past educators and psychologist questioned the practice of reporting IQ scores because within families and among children the kids were compared against each other, like if I had an IQ of 125 and my sister 133, it might cause negativitiy in the family and also turn one sibling into the smarter one or stupider one, when the lower number still is a high IQ. The schools still used the IQ numbers to track kids I assume. They pulled me out to improve my reading in jr. high based on testing. That was in MD, but maybe they had just tested acheivement? I am not sure.

I do.

It varies with the biases of the texts (language/logic Vs. spatial orientation particularly).

It came up in aptitude tests in school and I’ve taken online tests. It never comes up in conversation, thankfully.

0.

@Jeruba, the 1979 Larry P. vs. Riles determined the standardized tests were racially and culturally biased. There are other methods and tracking of IQ for African American children. Very, very basically, the issue was the number of children being labeled as Educable Mentally Retarded and placed in Special Education classes. It is complicated and not nearly as simple as I make it sound here. It is interesting though and leads us to where we are today with some of the policies we have like NCLB.

I don’t know yet.

@bkcunningham I know some of the arguments for racially biased testing, but had not known they continued to use the tests for white kids, but not for black kids? So the two groups are evaluated differently? What do you think about that? Personally, I think a lot of the testing is valid. If the test shows a correlation between being able to do well in school say, then if peope don’t do well on the test they are probably more likely to struggle, no matter what race/color they are. I understand it might be a poor judgement of actual intelligence if language and experience affect how well a student does on the test, but if education and later worklife exist in the language and expected life experience tested, it is a valid indicator.

Well, I am smart enough to know that when I hear the unmistakeable rattle of a monster rattlesnake under my deck stairs that I should probably not put my face between the steps for a better look. lol

Duh, wots an Eye queue? Standing in line at the optician?
I guess mine must be way up there then ;¬}

Yes, mine is above 100. If 100 is average, then there must be people with below 100 IQ too. I see them on the highway all the time.

@JLeslie I do remember the testing, but since it was always reported as a percentile, I just assumed it wasn’t specifically an IQ test. I was in the 99th percentile, but clearly I am no genius. ~

@augustlan I’m pretty sure that qualifies you for mensa. You could take their test if you are interested.

I have taken an IQ test twice. Once when I was young, and again just recently. Results were a couple points different.

I never tell people my IQ, I feel it’s as inappropriate as boasting about ones income.

I’m only saying this because you asked, but I usually don’t mention it. I am a genius – but it has never helped me one bit.

I have a very, very low S Q (social quotient) – I am absolutely clueless. As a child, I was bullied mercilessly by the other children at school.

Are there SQ tests that people can take?

@Symbeline Probably, but mostly it’s by observation.

@YARNLADY are you somewhat Asperger’s too? What is your super talent?

@RocketGuy I learn very quickly with one or two examples, and I am very, very good at arithmetic. I am somewhat OCD

What definition of “genius” are we using here? Is it this? “A genius is someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight.” (Wikipedia source )

Some people seem to think that everybody who qualifies for Mensa (by having an IQ in the top 2% of the population) is a genius. The 98th percentile is a comparative value and no guarantee of some specific definable mental capacity. Personally, I don’t think one out of every fifty people is a genius by the above definition. If they were, we would be awash in brilliance.

Not that it would do us any good in terms of world peace, sound economy, or improved spelling, but I don’t think we’d see the glorification of ignorance as a cultural value in the U.S.

@YARNLADY I am really good at grasping how things work mechanically. My SQ is probably pretty low.

@Jeruba see my PM

@Jeruba I agree. As a wise man once said, “there is no such thing as potential genius. Genius is only in the doing.”

I’m almost certain I would not qualify for Mensa.

@augustlan The test results / scores are the definition of IQ.

@augustlan I think Mensa is the top 1%. Might be top 2%.

It’s the top 2%. 98th percentile. One out of 50 people qualifies.

@Jeruba Depends on where those 50 are from ~ :D

I was tested several times when I was young, and according to my mom, I was tested more than once because the evaluators didn’t believe that deaf kids could get scores as high as mine. Ptooey on them. Yes, I know what my score was at that time—143—but rarely ever share it when asked because it usually just creates an awkward moment.

The benefit I believe I got from being smart is the ability to figure out what I don’t hear, but the drawback is, I get royally angry because I also know when people are intentionally using my hearing loss to hold information from me.

There’s a quote somewhere that says: I pray my son is fated to be average so he can be a secretary of state (magistrate, etc).

I had a teacher in Junior High who actually noted our “scores” in his grade notebook. Do you think these numbers influenced his opinions and interactions with his students? Probably.

An older sister taught in the junior high school I attended. She once told me my IQ score. No one has ever asked for it, nor do I recall anyone talking about theirs. Are they ever used?

@Pied_Pfeffer They are used in special ed to delineate whether a child might be cognitively delayed or not. There are verbal tests and non-verbal/language-free tests that can be given to speakers of other languages. It’s one of several tests given to special ed kids and only tests specific types or areas of intelligences. 100 is average, 70 is cognitively delayed.

To be honest, I don’t put much stock into IQ results—it helps to be “smart,” yes, but the IQ score says next to nothing for your ability to function in real life, pay bills on time, be responsible, be responsive, have relationships, navigate workplace politics, etc etc.

@Pied_Pfeffer I’m assuming that they used the info to place me in advanced classes (if, in fact the tests I took measured my IQ). Two of my kids took a test (again, I never thought of it as an IQ test, though) and were placed in a magnet (elementary) school for gifted and talented kids because of their scores. So they must use the numbers to place both kids who need extra help and those who need extra challenges.

IQ doesn’t prepare an individual for the real world or real life. I do know mine and I’m happy with it.