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?

Yes.

I had a university lecturer who was asked about it once and she said MENSA is a club for intelligent under achievers.

I was tested as a teen because my dad wanted me to be tested. He also wanted a metal badge (like the old AA ones) for the radiator grill on his car but I wouldn't let him have one!

Then my parents banned me from telling anyone at school about it in case it increased their academic expectations of me.

I was a member of MENSA for about 3 years because my dad paid. When I went to university, he would send me the annual subscription money and I spent it on food (beer).

I've met a few men who've told me they were probably intelligent enough to join MENSA and believed that their lack of professional success was down to not having made 'contacts' with other intelligent people. They were very miffed when I told them it was a load of nonsense and full of equally dissatisfied people trying to prove they were better than everyone else!

i'm in my late 20s and my IQ is 146. I am very dyslexic and have always been an over achiever in live and an underachiever academically.

life not live

I'm not impressed by intelligence or 'IQ' scores.

I have friends who are probably similarly 'intelligent' and others who were in the bottom sets at school. I value people for more than their score on a particular test on a particular day.

I dont know mine but I knowy sons
It was done by an educational psychologist and took ages. It is broken down into different areas and some are below average, some average and some above average. From memory top 1% of pattern spotting but very low on verbal comparisons. There isnt an overall score just a comment that he has a spiky profile common in autism..

We did this at university and mine was 125. I was well chuffed until I saw that there were a lot more with higher values. I felt a bit deflated after that.

Haha yes. Remarkable how such a small percentage of the population has congregated in this thread.

I joined Mensa when I was 12 - had to go and sit the test on my birthday - was not happy!

I think this thread shows that intelligence doesnt automatically equal sucess. In fact I think soome of the most sucessful people I know (in terms of money/recognition) arent super intelligent but they have social skills and other types of intelligence.

Definitely this.

No idea, never tested. Stress and bereavement does/has affected me the way you mentioned in your post OP

All evidence indicates mine is 13.5

Jeez you guys! Everyone with 170 IQ! At least make it sound believable 😅

143 but im not actually that clever. I know what's right but I couldn't tell you how I know. Also have loads of brain flops now im peri meno so even though I know something I can't find it in my head

@AuditAngel most iq tests are capped at 160. If you have an iq over 130 you are in the top 2% of the population. Iq is calculated using standard deviation meaning that the further away you get from baseline, the more exponentially unlikely it is you’d score higher If less than 2% of the population have an iq two standard deviations from the mean, I find it unlikely that a random mumsnet ter would have an iq almost 5 standard deviations from the mean. Particularly considering most tests don’t allow you to score over 160…

Not all IQ tests are equivalent - in fact all psychological tests are judged by four factors - internal consistency, whether they get similar results to other tests purporting to measure the same thing, and whether different administrators get the similar results, whether the tests work on different populations.

The notion of IQ is rooted in British Imperialism and Exceptionalism and was originally developed to answer the question of what made the British aristocracy so superior to the peasantry, and the British superior to other races.

In science the question you start with can lead you to flawed results.

I've done them in the past but don't remember the score.
Similar to you, @blackdogdays - grief demolished my memory to the point that I have also worried about being a candidate for dementia at times.

OP,

I also think this is about your bereavement, possibly hormones, etc. All of that can be awful and certainly affect cognition. Your GP may be able to help, or perhaps a counsellor.

I am glad no one paid much attention to IQ tests in my home country as far as I know. I think IQ is probably fluid throughout life.

I remember reading a biography of the great physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman. Everyone considered him one of the true geniuses of 20th c science, a term those in the field do not use lightly. He said no, my IQ is around 115. I am just determined to do my best with what gifts I have. I think that’s the right idea.

Best wishes, OP

Took a test probably 15+ years ago and got 129 IIRC.

Above average. But it's absolutely no indicator of how you will actually get on in adult life.

I don't think anyone has said 170+ have they?

I've probably still got my.letter in a box somewhere. I'm happy to add a photo of it (if I can find it!) if you really don't believe anyone.

This is going to make me sound like a twat. I'm not.

You're right about the 160 but in a standardised scoring system, there are scores that are too high or low to score reliably. So they give a score that reflects that. Which is why I got 161. That's how it was explained to me at the time and how it is explained in the standardised scoring I use at work.

Like I said though, it means nothing. If you met me, you'd possibly think I was 'quite bright' (if you cared!) but that's all. I scored well on a couple of tests when I was 17 🤷🏻‍♀️

@ListenToTheBirds pp was claiming they had an iq of 177 when they randomly got a test for a job interview. Obviously some tests go higher however as you say regular standardised tests cap at 160. An iq of 161 is much more believable than an iq of 177 - because of how standard deviation works!

Oh really? Well, I suppose it depends on the test used but 177 would seem to be a bit random.

Like I say, it's not something I'm hugely concerned about!

There's also the question of what exactly tests are testing.

When I graduated I was accepted for a management progression job with a massive telecoms firm. They contracted UCL psychology department to administer some tests to whittle 200 down to 10. (I remember coz I went round the British Museum beforehand).

Since it should have been fucking obvious to a hall full of STEM graduates that the one thing a massive telecoms firms would not be interested in was the maths ability of graduates in STEM subjects, I did wonder what the real test was about.

And since I was one of the 10, I clearly got it right. And it was fuck all to do with maths, geometry, or working out whose cap when on which peg on what day.

It was a useful experience. And one that has made me wary of "tests" ever since. Certainly one I have sneaked into interviews when I'm the tech resource.

I scored 164 as a teen (test done by an educational psychologist). I feel slower and less intelligent these days (nearly 50).

Tests stop at 160. If it's clear you test above that you get a very very special test done so keep that in mind when reading some of the nonsense written here. You have to be tested under exam conditions so online is not a true indicator. Mine's 156 mensa tested and certified.