An IQ or Intelligence Quotient is simply a number derived from a standardized test. It is a number that shows you how your intelligence compares with that of an average person of the same age.
A reputable IQ test is one that has been carefully prepared and given to a large number of subjects prior to its public and private use in schools and clinics.
There are IQ tests that are given individually; that is, you and the examiner are alone in a room while questions and tasks are presented for you to solve. Then there are IQ tests that can be given in a large group and you read the problems, work them out and put down your answer.
Generally, the tests that are given to you individually are better indicators of intelligence, but they also are the most expensive to take.
Tests found in books and on the Internet are certainly less expensive and will give you an idea of your IQ, but again they tend to be in the arena of popular psychology, and not true, in-depth testing.
But basically, what is intelligence anyway? Simply stated, it is the efficiency with which you solve the varied life problems that come your way. In an intelligence test, we really cannot measure anyone’s true intelligence; we only infer ones intelligence by the number/amount of the problems solved. It is interesting to note that IQ tests are closely related to ones level of exposure to our educational system. Someone who has a low level of schooling, for example the poor person who drops out of school at a young age and has to work to support his family, will likely not do well on an intelligence test. Most IQ tests sample a small amount of ones understanding of historical facts, memory skills, number skills, motor skills and some visual and auditory skills,as well a variety of other human skills. The results of this sampling yields a score, and that score is compared to the scores of a group of people your same age, and then a total number of rights answers produces an intelligence score.
For most tests, a person who scores 100 is only in the average range of intelligence. This might come as a shock since in school 100 is perfect, the best you can do. Not so with intelligence tests!
For example, a test might indicate that average is between 89 to 109, with 89 being low average, 100 being average, and 109 falling in the high average range.
Most IQ tests also give a percentile score. For example, the 100 IQ score is equivalent to a 50th percentile. So, if 100 people took the same test you took and those who scored 100 are considered to have done better on the test than 49 out of the 100 people. It also means that 49 other people did better on the test than you did.
But, the important thing to remember is that the IQ score is not perfect and it should NOT define who you are.
One summer while I was taking a summer school class, my professor had everyone take a group IQ test.
We were told that we would be placed into three groups, to be determined by our score. We all did our best, with some finishing in 30 minutes, some taking 45 minutes, and some taking an hour or more.
Several days later, the professor placed three groups on the board, in a high, middle and low progression of scores based on the IQ test. Obviously, everyone was well aware that the group with the higher score was the place to be.
A little sheet of paper was folded so that it was “for our eyes only” and each of us carefully and secretly opened it. I was in the low group, meaning that I had made a low score on the test. All kinds of things ran through my mind: “I could not have scored that low, could I?” “I am not showing my score to anyone.” “I wonder who did better than I did?” “Am I that dumb?”
Well, the professor had done an interesting thing. Everyone in the class was given a low score, which meant that he had not even scored the test that we so diligently worked. And, his message was extremely profound: How did you feel when you were labeled and put in the low group?
So, perhaps the answer to the question of determining your IQ is just as profound. Does it really matter what your “score” is? Are you going to let a score define who you are and what you can do. After all, your IQ score is only a reflection of how well you do on a selected group of tasks selected by someone else on that particular day, time and place.
And, let me tell you, there are many things that can affect the score that you receive. Here are just a few things:
1. Lack of sleep prior to testing
2. An emotional upheaval right before testing
3. Lack of proper nutrition
4. Lack of or need for medication
5. Untreated depression
6. Untreated attention deficit disorder
7. Spat with your loved one
8. Poor attitude toward taking the test
9. Anxiety about taking tests
10.Failure to follow the written directions
I once observed a student finish a 1 1/2 hour IQ test in 10 minutes. He simply went down the answer sheet, and without reading any of the questions, filled in the circles in a random order and turned in his paper.
So, while you might be faced with an IQ test some day or you might want to know your IQ, do not think that your score is chiseled in stone. IQ is fluid and your score will never be the same each time you take an IQ test.
One of the people my dad worked with in the oil field hhad a Ph.D degree, and it was often said that he did not have the common sense to come in out of the rain. So, people can be book smart and not get along with anyone; they can be book smart and rattle off a lot of information that is not much use in everyday life, and they can know the location of every country in the world and still get lost going to work.
Again, intelligence is how well you solve the everyday situations and problems that come your way. Most of us learn a trade, spend our life perfecting our skills, and learn to get along with our felow workers; and that, my friend, is putting your intelligence to good use.
