IQ Test – Measuring Your Intelligence

Probably you are familiar with term IQ test. In a lot of printed publications, focused on women in particular, you may find them. Or just google ‘IQ tests’ and you will get as many as you like. 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 to start from the beginning, what is an IQ test really? What is the meaning of the IQ score? IQ is the ‘Intelligence Quotient’, a number telling how ’smart’ you are compared to other people. There is some connection between your IQ score and what professions may suit you or how well you may do in college.

The whole idea of the IQ test is to measure the potential of your brains using problems posed to you on paper. Written problem solving is the core idea of IQ tests. 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. A score below 100 tells that you are less intelligent than average.

Advantages of the IQ Test

• Recruitment Let’s say you’re hiring someone for a new job. 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. A high score would indicate the candidate is well suited for the position. Some candidates who would probably not be able to do the work could be screened out this way.
• 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. It would increase the likelyhood to find the top brass.

Negative sides of the IQ test

• IQ tests don’t tell the full story A High IQ sore does not guarantee that you also perform well in other important aspects. It is quite common that they do not climb very fast or high on the corporate career ladder.
• Not the most important success factor Many students with high IQ are a dissapointment when they hand in their term papers. According to some scientific studies have shown that a high self-discipline is more important than a high IQ score. Relying only on smartness is not enough you must put whatever IQ you have to work to do really well. Often high IQ students are overtaken since they do not put in enough effort as the courses become more difficult.

• IQ does not measure everythingLeadership is one area which is not measured by IQ tests It doesn’t measure your emotional quotient or EQ – how you’ll get along with other people, including co-workers, superiors and peers. There is also the theory of multiple intelligences, that defines 8 different aspects of intelligence that you may have to varying degrees. Intelligence is so much more than a single score.