IQ Test – Measuring Your Intelligence

Probably you are familiar with term IQ test. You find them everywhere, in particular in ladies 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. Then you submit the test and before you can count to ten, you get your results – a two or three digit number. Neat and simple.

To start over, 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. It may be used to see if you are likely to do well in some proffessions or in academic studies.

The basic concept of an IQ test is to estimate how well the brain solves problems in paper form. Written problem solving is the core idea of IQ tests. Your intelligence is gauged in respect to another person. It’s one of the standard methods to estimate human intelligence.

IQ 100 is defined as the average of the whole population. 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.

Positive sides of the IQ test

• Hiring 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. You could select the type of test to use. These may be more related to the type of work involved. A high score would indicate the candidate is well suited for the position. You could weed out those who don’t make the cut.
• Academic admission 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. That way there is a better chance to pick the top performers and weed out students with less potential.

Negative sides of the IQ test

• IQ tests are not perfect Plenty of folks who have taken an IQ test as part of the interview process didn’t do so well at work. 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. 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.

• Many abilites are not measured by IQ testsLeadership 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. So your IQ score may not be the only defining factor in your overall intelligence.