IQ test facts
I am sure you’ve heard of an IQ test by now. They’re in lots of magazines, especially women’s magazines. Doing a web search will also find as many as you like. You’ll get this page of questions filling your screen and you’ve got to select your answer online quickly. Press ‘Submit’ and seconds later you will have the judgement of your mental capacity. Neat and simple.
To start over, what is an IQ test really? And what’s the number mean? 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 IQ test measures your intelligence to solve problems written on paper. Written problem solving is the core idea of IQ tests. Your intelligence is gauged in respect to another person. It’s one method commonly used to measure human intelligence.
Taken over the whole population the average IQ score is 100. Any score over 100 means 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
- Recruitment E.g. you like to hire someone for a position. One way to get a better understanding of the candidate’s capabilities would be to let them take 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. Some candidates who would probably not be able to do the work could be screened out this way.
- College entrance IQ tests could complement the SAT in the judgement of a student’s intellectual potential. As there are often fewer places than applicants, this could be an additional screening tool. You could pick the cream of the crop from the high IQ scorers and send rejection slips to those who didn’t make the grade.
Negative sides of the IQ test
- IQ tests are not perfect 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. 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. Often high IQ students are overtaken since they do not put in enough effort as the courses become more difficult.
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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.
