To think that if you have an IQ of 170 it wouldn't go unnoticed at school?

[MarksandSpencerfoodjunkie]

Just that really. My MIL says SIL was tested age 7 at school (we are based in the US) and was told she had this IQ. Mil kept it quiet from DS - my now DH - in case he felt inferior with his 140 plus IQ. But my MIL was later told SIL was dyslexic because she wasn't getting on at school; this was in the UK as they both went to school in the UK for a while. But SIL was and is a good reader - she sometimes misspells too and to and their and there but has a good job. She didn't do A levels in fact fought against doing them and went to a technical college instead. My cousin who is a member of Mensa (and quite an oddball it must be said) has this IQ and argued with me that either SIL was badly let down by the education system in both the US and the U.K. Or my MIL's memory isn't all it should be. or are IQ tests just pants?

IQ tests, especially of kids, aren't much cop. Even of adults, they just tell you how good someone is at that particular kind of test, they are no indication of much more.

I think it's very easy for bright kids to slip through - I'm not bad myself, and as a result, got bored and barely went to school past primary - I have a fair swathe of GCSEs, A-levels, and a degree, but nothing particularly outstanding (enough that the school let me stay for A-levels to boost their results, despite only attending about 3 days out of 100 the previous year though). If you're quiet, or bored, and you don't cause trouble, there's no reason for a school to notice in my experience.

My DS is 6, I'm sure he's dyslexic. He reads well, he's bright, his maths isn't bad, but he's the daydreamer, unco-ordinated, very poor writing kind - Exactly like his father who is diagnosed dyslexic - difficulty reading isn't the only symptom of dyslexia!

My DS is 6, I'm sure he's dyslexic. He reads well, he's bright, his maths isn't bad, but he's the daydreamer, unco-ordinated, very poor writing kind - Exactly like his father who is diagnosed dyslexic - difficulty reading isn't the only symptom of dyslexia

From your description, I'd be investigating dyspraxia first (although it does co-occur with dyslexia)

I was tested at 7, 11 and somewhere in my 20s (schools did the first 2 and I did the last to see what the fuss was about) I scored about 170 on all of them.

School number one thought it was cute and encouraged me to play with the other kids - good idea as I am socially inept!

School 2 used it to get me an interview at a posh prep school: I was offered a plce and funding, but dad couldn't afford the hats let alone the rest of the uniform - or mum decided that as DSis was unlikely to be offered it wouldn't be fair. Knowing my parents they loved the idea, indeed they still boast about it now, but couldn't be arsed to get me on the early bus!

The one I did for myself was because I was always referred to as the 'less intelligent' one. No idea why... so I took it and scored 174... went to a single local MENSA meeting and never went back!

For me that was all the encouragment I needed to start planning on going to university. We knew DH was at least as 'smart' as I am and he got lucky and went first. He too had been held back by family perceptions of him as lazy and stupid.

So what is all that about? Sorry I now know more about the IQ test and it is quite severley flawed, even with recent updates it still carries social and racial bias. I was lucky the question about servants and when they should knock on doors had been removed years before I took it, but my Nana remembered it - and thought it was daft (apparently everybody knew that a housemaid never knocks as that would simply be announcing her presence - and who needs to know a housemaid is present?).

But, when it matters (as it did when some super snooty twat was interviewing me rudely) I can smirk and think "Hey, I am an official genius - you can fuck right off"

My ds has a high IQ. His NVR and visual spacial abilities are amazingly high.
His verbal resoning, reading, spelling and processing are all below average.

His has ASD and sensory difficulties as well as fine motor skills difficulties.

Having s high IQ is just one measure of intelligence. I'm sure my DS would rather be able to understand and communicate with the world rather than be able to see patterns and logic in everything!

When my db was about that age dm found an IQ test book and we all did it. Me and dsis (older) scored okay, but db, who was about 7yo scored off the table. Dm told about this for years.
When I found the IQ book later I discovered that actually it wasn't set up for under about 10yo to do it, and the younger you were the lower you had to score for a good mark. Dbro's age was also off the table so dm had extrapolated down for him and actually as long as he scored the average monkey (all multichoice) he would score very highly and scoring a couple more meant he was off the scale.

Actually as an adult I can see he wasn't exceptional, but I think he felt for years he had to perform exceptionally because he should and it didn't help him.

IQ is pants and she also wouldn't score that high if she was dyslexic because her profile would dip in certain areas

I'm dyslexic - I joined Mensa at 17 because I was fed up of being called thick or lazy at school.

My statistics lecturer (from rather a long time ago)always said that IQ tests only proved that you were good at IQ tests and that they were developed to prove that white, middle class people were more intelligent than other ethnicities or the working class. Disclaimer: that last bit may or may not be true.

I am another with a very high IQ. Only know this as they did it a test as part of my Dyslexia diagnosis. As far as I understand it. Having dyslexia doesn't preclude a high IQ, you just score much higher in certain sections. Indeed, as I got older and figured out ways to 'manage' my dyslexia my IQ went up.
It was only that my mother spent my school years channeling a Viking, that I got any intervention at all.
It current terms, I would certainly consider myself to have been let down by my school. Yes, I have done well at uni etc, but I put it down to hard work and determination rather than any IQ label.
So, she could have a high IQ, and had no intervention. Actually, it's the general case if school was in the '80's or early '90's.

IQ tests measure a very specific skill set, and one that does not necessarily map to success in life. I have a full scale IQ of 155 and I score in the top 0.2% for verbal ability and memory. Which is quite helpful in my job, which is IT/research related. However, it is not a super high-paying mega job, because what also matters is the rest of what you want in life - and I want to interact with people, make IT work for them, and also support mental health and dementia research. If I moved into the sort of job some people might think I 'ought' to have based on my IQ, I would have no job satisfaction, lose all the things I love most and probably be really, really bad at my job.

I also still need a skilled mechanic to service my car, plumbers and electricians to maintain my house and teachers to teach my children - just some of the skills I don't actually have.

Lastly, you can have a genius IQ and be a shit human being.

Only know this as they did it a test as part of my Dyslexia diagnosis.

Dyslexia used to have a discrepancy definition ie difficulties with reading and writing that weren't explained by cognitive deficits. This is no longer the case and dyslexia is recognised to exist across a range of intellectual abilities. IQ tests are still used (but now referred to as underlying ability) to looks for strengths that may act as compensatory factors for example strong verbal scores will support reading comprehension etc. However they are not reliable for a variety of reasons and should be viewed with extreme caution.

I'm another one who took an IQ test as a kid and got a stupidly high score - I've taken a few since reaching adulthood and they all come out much more reasonably. (Around 140). So I do think that the tests aren't accurate when you're young.
Plus I have no common sense at all, and I would say "average" intelligence with the ability to sound very, very stupid.

It is possible your sister had a high IQ and was failed by the school, certainly. I do doubt the 170 IQ though - it's not impossible but would put her higher than most well-known "geniuses".

I once sat with my arse in the freezer because i had got bubble gum on my skirt and been told you get it off by freezing it.

Sounds like something I'd do Arf (sky high IQ & Dx of dyspraxia)

It's not 'thick' (honest!) It's just a bit literal

I used to be a member of MENSA but like PP I got fed up if the superiority complex of many other members and the assumption that 'intelligent' people should be self employed and making as much money as possible

My school certainly wouldn't have guessed I had a high IQ, as when I bothered to turn up I was either a daydreamer or disruptive. My mind works great for problem solving, but is not so good for 'normal' social skills etc., which are pretty essential for getting ahead in life.

IME extroverts with good social skills are more likely to succeed than those with a high IQ.

IME extroverts with good social skills are more likely to succeed than those with a high IQ.

I think there's an awful lot of truth to that, which is sad for the introverts.

Some lovely replies and explanations Arf and the bum in the freezer!!!

In answer to the OP, totally possible.

I was tested at about age 8/9 and came out with an IQ score of 148. No idea how they got that ridiculously specific number. Don't even remember taking the test, but I have seen the paperwork from it.

Why were they testing me....? Because my class teacher thought I was 'so stupid' that I should be left back a year or sent to a school for children with special needs - this was the 80s, mind.

So that should tell you everything you need to know about classroom performance v 'IQ'!

Oh, and I do monumentally idiotic things on a daily basis.

I worked with a Mensa member. She quoted the Daily Mail and seemed to believe everything it said. I came to the conclusion that high IQ wasn't as valuable as common sense and a bit of critical thinking.

Im training to be a sw in Denmark. We had a visit from someone who worked with unemployed people under 30. They couldnt understand why 2 particular young women never got qualifications. They tested lots of things including iq, and found both had an iq of 70. 11 years in the danish school system and no one had noticed. So yes i can belive that the opposite happened!

There's no such thing as an intelligence test. Just proxies for. And most have an agenda to fulfil anyway.

My MILs recollection of events is vastly inaccurate as to what actually happened - even recently

Love all the (not so) stealth boasting in this thread.

Dh has an IQ under 100 - he gained a place reading Physics at Cambridge - changed to a different fairly numerate degree and got a 2-1. My sister discovered she had an IQ of 146 - mum thought she was the dimmest of us all, her school record was unremarkable - 2B's and 4C's in her O Levels - she's done pretty well in her career but I'm not convinced IQ is a good judge of anything.

DH IQ was tested as a child and his was genius level no stealth boast it's a pure boast on the mans academic abilities from me but he is still as irritating as fuck sometimes.

My brother is a member of Mensa and he is a twat.