Honest Reviews

Probably you are familiar with term IQ test. They’re in lots of magazines, especially women’s magazines. Or just google ‘IQ tests’ and you will get as many as you like. You simply fill in your answer to the tasks given in the test. Enter the answers and the site will respond with an estimated score.

But to start from the beginning, what is an IQ test really? And what does the score mean? IQ is the ‘Intelligence Quotient’, a number telling how ‘smart’ you are compared to other people. It’s supposed to give you an idea of how well you’ll do at a certain profession or how well you’ll perform academically.

The IQ test measures your intelligence to solve problems written on paper. What is measures is the ability to solve written problems. Your intelligence is gauged in respect to another person. It’s one of the standard methods to estimate human intelligence.

Taken over the whole population the average IQ score is 100. Any score over 100 means you are more intelligent than average. A score below 100 tells that you are less intelligent than average.

Advantages of the IQ Test

• Employment 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. You could select the type of test to use. This should be guided by the requirements for the type of work offered. The results should give a clue on the suitability of the candidate for the position. You could weed out those who don’t make the cut.
• College entrance You could get potential students to sit for an IQ test to gauge their intelligence in addition to their SAT scores. 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 far from infallible though Many people who score well in IQ tests may not perform well in real life situations. It is quite common that they do not climb very fast or high on the corporate career ladder.
• Other factors may be more important 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. Quite often students who made a stellar performance with little work at lower levels fare less well as courses become more difficult, as they are not used to work and become discouraged when they do not immediately understand.

• Many abilites are not measured by IQ testsFor example IQ tests can’t measure how well you’ll do as a leader. 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. So your IQ score may not be the only defining factor in your overall intelligence.