baby what's your score?

A dear old friend of mine and I were talking about IQ scores tonight. I never really paid much attention, but I do remember a bit of hubbub in high school when I tested at 161. I was too busy worrying about making rent to give a damn about IQ tests. (I moved out of home before grade 11 even finished.) There were a selected few of us who were chosen (for what reason I have no idea or recollection) to participate. I remember thinking it was a bit of a joke, but a great excuse to get out of class, and I zipped through it as fast as I could, only paying moderate attention to the questions that made immediate sense, flippanlty making the 'best guess' at the ones that didn't immeditaely appeal to me. I finished quick enough to have time to zip out to the smoking doors for several minutes before class started again...

In college I did one (simlarly) and tested 157. On free online places I've always tested in the 120- 150 range. I did some online searching to see what it all means. According to most places, even at 125 it puts me as 'superior intelligence' and that 161 makes me a bloody 'genius.' HA! Cool. Who'da thunk?

Frankly, at the end of the day, I think IQ testing is a joke. For the record, I work in a building full of doctorates and feel like a complete idiot most days. Having a (ha! lol) genius IQ doesn't make me an engineer (or architect or medical expert) any more than owning a piano makes me a pianist. Some days I struggle with how to make the key fit in my bike lock, I spend hours trying to make accounts balance because something just doesn't make sense, and I can't quite follow the plotlines in novels so have to re-read the same chapter 4 or 5 times before my brain figures out how it fits into the continuum of the story.

The tests are, so far as I can tell, partly intermediate math put in terms meant to make you think too hard about it, and then a lot of 'logic' I suppose. But I know I'm analytical, and even if I don't 'know' the answer, I'm pretty quick at making a 'logical' guess. Multiple choice questions are so easy to navigate, I question the accuracy of the testing methods as much as what the questions are meant to quantify or qualify. As a measuring stick, I have a friend in high school who did the Social Studies departmental finals on LSD. Apparently, the multiple choice 'dot' was skiing moguls down her answer sheet. Final score on the multiple choice section? 82%. The written part she got zero on, as the dot jumped off the page after the multiple choice section and skiied out the door, with her on all fours chasing after it, jabbing at it with her pencil all the way out the gym doors...

I know some brilliant people with learning disorders, who by virtue of the fact they couldn't read and process the words in a timely manner would score in the 'retarded' or 'delayed' range, and some very intelligent people who would score very low because they simply don't think in terms that IQ testing measures. I find it amusing when they send back with titles like, "You're a philosophical analyst." Huh?

I started an online SAT test once, but got bored and went to surf camera porn (sexy lenses and filters and such) and never finished. Anyone ever done one of those? Anyone else ever been IQ tested? Do you 'believe' in IQ testing? Why or why not?

For spits and giggles, here's the Tickle quiz. I scored 147 on this one the first time, and 139 the second.

Comments

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Unless otherwise noted, writing and watermarked images on this blog are copyrighted to Hope Walls.