Do you know your IQ?

[blackdogdays]

I think deep stress and bereavement have depleted my brain. I get muddled and mentally fatigued so easily.

I do have risk factors for dementia so hoping it's just stress.

IQ is certainly not the be all and end all of cognitive testing but wondered if many MNetters know their IQ? Are there any tests that are free online that are also reasonably accurate?

What is your score? Do you ever feel as though life has dimmed your cognitive function over the years?

High enough to know that IQ is controversial and not a good measure of actual intelligence (though that's just knowledge and education rather than intelligence). There are different intelligences and different tests can give different scores. Autistic people can score high in some areas and low in others, while non-ND people will have more even results over all areas. Being weaker or having a learning disability in one area can bring your score down when you're actually super intelligent. Some people are just not good at taking tests. There's also research that suggests that EQ is more important to success than IQ. I know what my IQ supposedly is but it's not important or useful info.

How old are you OP? Menopause is a pretty typical time to experience brain fog. Especially if you are stressed etc.

"I'd rather be born lucky than smart. Coz a lot of smart folks ain't eating regular"

Our primary tested us at age 11 and I scored 144+. A small handful of us then went to Saturday morning classes run by MENSA. All good fun and v interesting at the time.

According to IQ tests I shouldn’t be able to sit the right way round on a toilet. They are nonsense.

Really, the answer to this question is the same as when someone asks you "Have you read the bible ?"

"Which one ?"

Mensa, 156. Lots of autistics are similar.

I scored 135 as a child and recently. But I'm ND and can get confused and anxious doing very simple things such as trying to get the £1 in a supermarket trolly etc. Good at patterns etc but real difficulty with practical stuff.

Just so it's clear to readers, who may draw their own conclusions from this thread armed with this information.

IQ is normalised, so 100 is always the average.
99% of people have an IQ under 135, because IQ is based on a standard deviation, not an absolute score.
The Stanford Binet has a ceiling of 160.

Generally IQ is a load of codswallop. The proof is embarrassingly easy.

(For example) - You would have to be wrong to say that dogs do not possess intelligence. Yet the last time I gave a dog an IQ test, it scored fuck all.

So clearly the test is not measuring "intelligence". Human intelligence ? Maybe,

Now give someone who can't speak English an English IQ test. And pretend to be surprised when they score significantly less than if they had taken in their own language. (This can also cover people with dyslexia).

Once again, what are we measuring ? Clearly not "intelligence", unless we are writing a thesis around only English people can be intelligent.

The unpalatable truth (for some) is that "IQ" is only measuring selected proxies for intelligence.

That's before you get into things like you can easily score +/- 10% between two days on the same flavour of test. So even then it's only measuring intelligence on a given day at a given time. Much like blood pressure.

All of this would be astrology if it weren't for that fact that some countries (e.g. the US) will execute people with a normal IQ over someone who is sub "normal".

If someone tells me they have an IQ of 140 (or whatever) it's a very useful fact. Much the same as if they told me they were a Scorpio, or reincarnation of Napoleon.

Mine was 120 something in my twenties. I imagine I’ve lost some brain cells since then.

I agree that I don’t think an IQ test is what you need right now. If you are worried about cognitive decline then obviously your GP would be the first port of call but also have you thought about those brain training apps? My MIL uses them and really enjoys the mental stimulation.

I like the sound of you 😀

I did a Psychology degree at Uni and as part of course we all did an IQ test. I'd always thought mine would be average but it was 131. Anyone scoring over 130 was invited to do official Mensa test but I didn't bother and only 1 person actually went for the official test. I'm sure mine has faded over time because I forget loads. I do know my DD had her IQ tested at school by an Ed Psych because she was very advanced. Hers was 156. She got a 50 percent scholarship and 50 percent nursery to a good independent school. I only had to pay for her uniform and extras. My son was tested by the same Ed Psych at the same school and his was 146. He was offered a chance to sit scholarship exam at the same school DD went to but refused because he didn't want to go to school on Saturdays from 8-4pm or Sunday schools chapel once a month. They are both adults now and I often think he is the smarter of the 2.

Your IQ isn’t a fixed thing so changes throughout your life.

I have never taken a test though DH was literally Sheldon Cooper as his Mother took him for a test when still a young child. His results were off the scale. He is now Head of Dept in a science subject at a University. He thinks it’s just a bit of nonsense. I just asked and he never knew the specific result as a child so I now feel compelled to ask his Mother.

When I was a teenager I went through a phase of caring about my IQ and being smug about it. As an adult I realise that no one cares and 'IQ tests' are mostly garbage anyway.

Yes, but I don't publicise it. It's well known that the factors you mention have an impact on mental function and baseline IQ is mostly a number with only a tangential relevance to life outcomes.
And no, I'm not saying that because mine is average.

I had my IQ tested by MENSA as a teenager. I scored 161 on the Cattel B test which is the highest possible score on that test and puts me in the top 1% of the country.

Allegedly...

It has made pretty much zero measurable difference to my life. I've got a first class degree, am a single parent, live in a rented house because I've never earned enough to buy.

A few of my friends know. We laugh about it...

It means I can see patterns in things and I process things quickly. Oh, and I can perform well on IQ tests. Nothing more.

I have zero common sense, no 'street smarts' and I'm autistic.

Yes, assessed by educational psychologist as part of dyslexia screening as child and teen. 147.

It hasn’t related to decent earning potential yet, but I’m awaiting assessment for ADHD, which would explain why I fell apart at uni. I’m damn good in a debate mind.

IQ isn’t the most important thing.

IQ test reports on threads like this tend to be biased towards people who are smart, because generally only smart people are interested in testing their IQ to find out what it is.

I don't think IQ is completely useless, OTOH it isn't the be all and end all of intelligence either.

For example, if you were to test maths and physics PHDs you would probably get the average score well above the standard expectation value of 100.

OTOH IQ tests are something you can train for, and you can learn how the tests "work" and practice them in order to boost your score. So they are clearly not totally about innate intelligence.

You can use them as a rough guide to tell whether people have high intelligence or not, but probably not much more than that. For example I would be fairly confident that people scoring 140-150 are much smarter than average, but not at all confident that someone scoring 140 was less smart than someone scoring 150.

Oh and I beat anyone hands down at any game that involves spotting patterns. Just don’t as me to do scrabble.

I had to do an official one for work and I scored 146 which was a huge shock as I thought I wasn't particularly good at maths or anything.
Can't say it's helped me in life, all it's seemed to cause is ruminating thoughts and depression.

No. I've never needed to know my IQ. I passed my 11+ in 1966, passed O Levels and A Levels and have a degree. Why would I need to know?

I used to know a couple of people who were in Mensa. They were older people who, through family circumstances, hadn't had any higher education so I can see that they wanted to prove they were intelligent.

Different tests have different results. 130 on one could be 160 on another.
I know I have a top 1% iq though, that's how I got into a grammar school as I failed the 11+ and my parents appealed.
But that just shows, iq isn't everything. I'm logical and can see patterns easily, but can't pass a written English exam