Read all about the IQ test

Almost everyone has heard about IQ tests. They’re in lots of magazines, especially women’s magazines. Doing a web search will also find as many as you like. You simply fill in your answer to the tasks given in the test. Press ‘Submit’ and seconds later you will have the judgement of your mental capacity. Neat and simple.

But to start from the beginning, what is an IQ test really? And what does the score mean? IQ is the ‘Intelligence Quotient’, a number telling how ’smart’ you are compared to other people. It’s supposed to give you an idea of how well you’ll do at a certain profession or how well you’ll perform academically.

The whole idea of the IQ test is to measure the potential of your brains using problems posed to you on paper. What is measures is the ability to solve written problems. Your intelligence is gauged in respect to another person. It’s one method commonly used to measure human intelligence.

Taken over the whole population the average IQ score is 100. If your score is higher than 100 you are more intelligent than average. A score below 100 tells that you are less intelligent than average.

Advantages of the IQ Test

• Employment E.g. you like to hire someone for a position. One way to get a better understanding of the candidate’s capabilities would be to let them take an IQ test. You could select the type of test to use. This should be guided by the requirements for the type of work offered. A high score would indicate the candidate is well suited for the position. You could weed out those who don’t make the cut.
• College entrance You could get potential students to sit for an IQ test to gauge their intelligence in addition to their SAT scores. This would be useful if there are too few places on the course to accommodate everyone who wants to study. It would increase the likelyhood to find the top brass.

Disadvantages of the IQ Test

• IQ tests are not perfect A High IQ sore does not guarantee that you also perform well in other important aspects. Quite a large share of high IQ persons are simply not as successful as you would expect from their IQ score.
• Other factors may be more important Many students with high IQ are a dissapointment when they hand in their term papers. Studies have found out that a student’s self-discipline is a better gauge of how well they’ll do at college or high school. Relying only on smartness is not enough you must put whatever IQ you have to work to do really well. Many high IQ scorers have been overtaken by so-called ‘weaker’ minds with much lower IQ.

• IQ does not measure everythingFor example IQ tests can’t measure how well you’ll do as a leader. Another area not covered is your emotional intelligence, also called EQ, how good you are at handling other people and relationships. There is also the theory of multiple intelligences, that defines 8 different aspects of intelligence that you may have to varying degrees. So your IQ score may not be the only defining factor in your overall intelligence.