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AIBU?

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Original poster

"cultural awareness" IQ test for 7 year old

28 replies

bigsmall · 27/02/2014 21:48

So we were advised that our 7yr old should have his IQ tested as he isn't doing well in school - we do not live in the UK, where I'm sure IQ tests for children went out with the ark. Did test today, and part of test involved "cultural awareness" questions. How on earth is that connected with IQ, but even if it is, am I unreasonable to think that it is perfectly normal that my 7 yr old couldn't answer the following questions: Where is the Louvre? What did the Pharoahs build? Who were the ancient Greeks? There is another ludicrous one that I forget now.

OP posts:

Whatevertheweather · 27/02/2014 21:51

My nearly 7 yr old wouldn't have a clue about the Louvre. She would know about the Pharoahs because they've done it at school. Ancient Greeks? She would probably answer 'old people from Greece'

WorraLiberty · 27/02/2014 21:55

Yes it's perfectly normal

But I imagine a small number of kids actually could answer those questions correctly.

If they're testing IQ's, they'd have to ask a very broad range of questions surely?

meditrina · 27/02/2014 21:58

IQ tests shouldn't involve general knowledge.

But that aside, I would imagine nealy all 7 yos would get the pharaoh question and probably the ancient Greeks (HH). I'd be surprised if many got the Louvre (but if it was in a UK context and you asked about the Tate, I think a fair number would).

heather1 · 27/02/2014 21:59

School raised some concerns about Ds8 so he has an developmental assessment at the doctors. Amongst other things it included an iq test. The test was for Swiss children. He is English, goes to an English speaking school but is pretty fluent in German.
Even so some of the questions, , were pretty Swiss biased. E.g. You drink this in the morning, Ds said water or tea. The correct answer was coffee ( we don't drink coffee in our family)
So I just took the results as a guide.
These test are just a snap shot of a particular day.
But an Iq test can be useful I think, bec if your child is struggling at school but their iq is good then there is an issue which needs to be investigate.
Not boasting really! But my sons iq was shown to be in the top 80% but his academic results do not show this at all so now we are having further assessments to find out how he learns:visual, auditory etc so he can reach his potential.

LynetteScavo · 27/02/2014 22:01

My "bottom set" DD could have answered those questions at 7yo (if she could read, them, which she couldn't as she's dyslexic). She would know the answers because of the school curriculum, and our family trips, not because of how intelligent she was born.

Chutneypickle · 27/02/2014 22:03

This was one of the criticisms of the 11+ back when there was the tripartite system in the UK. The test was aimed more at middle class kids, with cultural questions, which gave working class kids an immediate disadvantage and less chance of getting into grammar school.

Very surprised that tests like that still exist today! When I was at school (private) 20 years ago we had to to IQ tests quite a lot, but I don't remember any cultural questions.

Original poster

bigsmall · 27/02/2014 22:18

Oh wish I hadn't asked now. He's never studied Ancient Greece or Egypt at school, but I guess I should have talked about them at home. If they'd asked where was the Titanic going, or what is the fastest train in Europe or what bus goes where in our city, or who is the captain of Leinster RC he'd have done fine. There were other tests, non-verbal things, which he could do at an average level apparently. Thanks for the answers.

OP posts:

steppemum · 27/02/2014 22:21

most would know pharoahs, wouldn't expect them the know the others (unless they lived in France, then may well know louvre)

You are right though, cultural awareness is not general knowledge questions, and general knowledge isn't IQ.

I can imagine that some type of social skills awareness may be related to IQ though.

OddFodd · 27/02/2014 22:23

Oh no honestly, don't feel bad! If your child hasn't studied them as part of the curriculum or has a nerdy interest in that kind of thing, then they wouldn't know.

Seriously - it has nothing to do with intelligence. There was a health visitor who was freaked out because my two year old nephew said he'd never seen a hairbrush. You don't (generally) use brushes on dreadlocks and afro hair - just combs so he had no experience of them!

They're no indication of innate intelligence whatsoever. You might be better off posting on the SN boards if you/the schools have concerns.

CalamitouslyWrong · 27/02/2014 22:29

I'm pretty sure that most 7 year olds outside London wouldn't have a clue what the Tate is. My 4 year old can tell you what the Baltic is, but only because it's local and free. Even then, I bet many of his classmates haven't been because their parents won't have taken them.

Cultural awareness questions are always going to be incredibly biased, particularly in class and geographical terms. The OP's 7 year old has plenty of cultural awareness just not of the sort of culture imagined by people who pose questions about the louvre. I bet there weren't any 'name this pokemon' type questions. My boys would excel at that.

CalamitouslyWrong · 27/02/2014 22:32

Odd fodd: I have never brushed DS2's hair. He's 4.5 and has blonde hair that goes curly with humidity, rather than Afro hair or dreadlocks. DH has never brushed or combed his hair in all the time I've known him. In fact, he's never owned a brush or comb.

Reactions like your HV's tell you more about them than about you/your kids.

LynetteScavo · 27/02/2014 22:37

Just realised my post sounds really ponsey!

DD would have known where the Titanic was headed (it was a major topic for her class in Y2) but she would have absolutely no idea what is the fastest train in Europe (I would guess it's the French TGV?) or what bus goes where in our city (I know where the No 5 goes, but my DC don't ) or who is the captain of Leinster RC (eh, what?)

DD was given an "intelligence" test. I was bit cross she was only on the 75th percentile (it was part of her dyslexia test and she scored incredibly low on certain aspects of her test) I have no idea how they tested her intelligence, but I'm pretty sure it didn't involve general knowledge questions.

Princessdeb · 27/02/2014 22:41

Dear OP,
There is a lot of evidence that despite claims of being objective the IQ test actually gas quite a significant cultural bias and is is when it is used on adults when they have had the opportunity for more experience. If it is being used as PART of a broader assessment that may be fair enough. I would be very unhappy with them being used in isolation. And as it happens my very bright 7 year old wouldn't be able to answer those questions but would be able to answer all sorts of questions on the Romans because they have covered them at school.

YouTheCat · 27/02/2014 22:45

Chutney, when I took the 11+, in 1980, there were no questions on culture at all. There was a maths test and an English test.

Dd would have known the answers to the questions in the OP. But I don't think IQ is any indicator of learning or ability. Maybe they'd be better off testing for dyslexia and things like that if there are concerns?

Caitlin17 · 27/02/2014 23:02

I thought IQ tests for children had indeed gone out with the ark.

foreverondiet · 27/02/2014 23:45

My 7 year old would know both Louvre and Pharoahs as both covered in project work at school. Haven't done anything about ancient Greeks so he wouldn't know that.

parakeet · 27/02/2014 23:48

Dear OP - did you know that there is zero good research evidence that children have different styles of learning like visual, auditory? There is a lot of neurobollocks within education.

nancy75 · 27/02/2014 23:54

My dd would have know about the pharoas and Greeks because she spends half her life watching horrible histories, it doesn't make her mega clever, it just makes me a mum that allows too much tv. Op dont stress about stuff like this, did you know about ancient Greeks when you were 7? I certainly didn't!

Caitlin17 · 28/02/2014 00:45

"Who were the Ancient Greeks?" is a bloody stupid question.

IneedAwittierNickname · 28/02/2014 01:17

I'm going to ask my 7 year old those questions tomorrow, will be interesting to see of he knows. (he's year 2, but advanced for his age).
Surely the correct answer to "what did the pharaohs build?" Is "nothing, the slaves did the manual labour"

I recently looked online at iq tests for children, jutt because I was curious. The one ds did assessed him as being in the top 1%, he got every question right. and the test took 1/3 of.the.time they said it would.
The test showed a pattern with a patch missing,.and then had a selection of patches. You had to day which patch fitted the gap
I'm 100% certain it was not an accurate test

IneedAwittierNickname · 28/02/2014 01:18

Sorry op forgot to say that I wouldn't worry if I were you, the test sounds crap!

Jinsei · 28/02/2014 01:19

"Who were the Ancient Greeks?" is a bloody stupid question.

Yes, I thought that too.

FWIW, my dd (8) could have answered those questions, but they don't test cultural awareness anyway - just general knowledge. And that absolutely isn't an indicator of IQ, so yanbu.

chrome100 · 28/02/2014 06:24

I've got a first class honours degree from Cambridge and a masters from Durham. And yet when I did an IQ test my score was abysmal. I am not stupid and consider myself reasonably intelligent, but my brain is not numerical or particularly analytical so my score wasn't great. There are different kinds of intelligence.

thenamestheyareachanging · 28/02/2014 12:16

My son couldn't answer those and he's a bright boy. Knowedge doesn't equate to intelligence.

mummytime · 28/02/2014 12:43

Sorry but that isn't a good/reputable IQ test. IQ tests are supposed to attempt to be culturally neutral (and there is a lot of research which shows that even when you try that is very hard to do).
IQ tests should be things like Verbal reasoning, Numerical reasonsing, pattern matching, sequence matching and box counting.

On the other hand all true IQ tests tell you is how "intelligent" someone is a IQ tests, which can correlate a bit with School exam results.

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