Almost everyone has heard about IQ tests. They’re in lots of magazines, especially women’s magazines. You can find them online too, just by Googling ‘IQ test’. A number of more or less difficult questions will pop up and you have to figure out the appropriate answer. Press ‘Submit’ and seconds later you will have the judgement of your mental capacity.

But what exactly is an IQ test, anyway? And what does the score mean? IQ is the ‘Intelligence Quotient’, a measure of how smart you are compared to the whole population. It may be used to see if you are likely to do well in some proffessions or in academic studies.

The IQ test measures your intelligence to solve problems written on paper. What is measures is the ability to solve written problems. The raw test scores are then compared to other persons. It’s one of the standard methods to estimate human intelligence.

The average IQ score is 100. If your score is higher than 100 you are more intelligent than average. Any score less than 100 indicates your intelligence level doesn’t match up to the average John Doe.

Advantages of the IQ Test

  • Hiring E.g. you like to hire someone for a position. You could get a better understanding of the applicant’s intelligence by conducting an IQ test. The test could be on logical, linguistic and spatial intelligence. These may be more related to the type of work involved. The results should give a clue on the suitability of the candidate for the position. That way some candidates could be eliminated since they would most likely not be able to make the job.
  • College entrance On top of the SAT and other tests IQ tests to judge their intelligence. This would be useful if there are too few places on the course to accommodate everyone who wants to study. That way there is a better chance to pick the top performers and weed out students with less potential.

Disadvantages of the IQ Test

  • IQ tests are far from infallible though Plenty of folks who have taken an IQ test as part of the interview process didn’t do so well at work. Quite a large share of high IQ persons are simply not as successful as you would expect from their IQ score.
  • Other factors may be more important Many students with high IQ are a dissapointment when they hand in their term papers. Studies have found out that a student’s self-discipline is a better gauge of how well they’ll do at college or high school. Relying only on smartness is not enough you must put whatever IQ you have to work to do really well. Many high IQ scorers have been overtaken by so-called ‘weaker’ minds with much lower IQ.

  • Many abilites are not measured by IQ testsFor example IQ tests can’t measure how well you’ll do as a leader. Another area not covered is your emotional intelligence, also called EQ, how good you are at handling other people and relationships. There is also the theory of multiple intelligences, that defines 8 different aspects of intelligence that you may have to varying degrees. So your IQ score may not be the only defining factor in your overall intelligence.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Filed under: Every Day Life

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!