What weight does an IQ test hold?, REALLY

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If you have a 200 IQ and cant tie your shoes, what can your IQ do for you or others?

As a dumb drummer, I just have to ask "Who cares?"

I don't know Stephen Hawking's IQ but I doubt he can tie his shoes...if that's your measure.

Holds no weight with me.

hahahaa! sweet!! !
my mum sees stephen hawking all the time and apparenetly he is very rude...

HAHAHA!! ! That's hilarious! I really honestly don't think most IQ tests take into account other forms of intelligences. I'm a proponent of the multiple intelligence theory, which (if you don't know already) means that there are many forms of "smart" or aptitude, not just the ability to solve word problems, analogies, and math problems (the "regular" kinds of things that traditional IQ tests, well, test). My IQ when I was a little kid from the WCIS was actually 86. According to them, I would be 16 points away from being mentally ret*d (which I'm not by the way, if you couldn't tell already lol).

Another thing I don't agree fully with is standardized testing. Sure, it gets people to perform at a standard level, or for places to have an aptitude cut-off point, but then you get people who learn all the tricks and games of the test and end up earning high marks when in fact they just took a special class or only studied the test. I just took the GRE and performed relatively badly, and was very pissed at the fact that they offered classes for thousands of dollars for individual tutoring for the test. Basically they said that the more you paid, the higher score you're likely to get. It's unfortunate to be told that just because you couldn't afford the special classes that you had to either work harder to get the same score, or save up money to take the class for the test. Then there are renowned research institutions (who should probably know better) who have cutoff points for admissions, which prevents some people who actually deserve to be there from getting in. It's a tough world that we live in, but I guess we have to live with it for now. It's highly unfortunate with the way things are going for standardized testing, and I'm hoping for things to change sometime relatively soon.

Mine was only 97, but I don't agree with that. If they took the performance part out, it would be a bit easier (curse you, blocks!).

I did pretty well on it and the answer is : important for you, meaningless as information for others.
The use of IQ these days is primarily to understand your strengths and weaknesses *as is relates to academic performance*. The number in particular is often useless as any good IQ test (done by a professional in person of course) the real meat in the data are the results of the sub-tests. These scores will tell you much better what you are good and what you are bad at, so then you can approach you studies and career better informed.

Last edited by Eldanesh on 12 Nov 2010, 4:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

You might be able to figure something out, like how to terraform one of Jupiter's moons.

I've precious little faith in IQ, at least if you're trying to pass off the traditional, Stanford-Binet scale as the sole determinant of one's intelligence.

IQ tests are bollocks. They never were, and still are not, an accurate way to measure any sort of intelligence. Even the guy who made the first IQ test as we know them today said so.

I once read a definition of the IQ score as a measure of how well you perform in an IQ-test. I don't think that those tests have much to do with the practical application of intelligence in everyday life. The kind of tests they do with animals seems more appropiate for that, like those chimpanzees that had to stack boxes to reach a bundle of bananas that was dangling out of their reach.

Actually I often think that I would be better off if I (and my family) did not know my IQ. There are those occasions when I will have a fight over something or other with my mother and she just goes and tells me "Why can't you understand this if you're supposed to be so intelligent?" At the moment she does not now I have AS and I do not intend to tell her, but even without that information it's a pretty far shot to assume that people with a high IQ cannot get themselves into a pointless argument over no real cause at all...

IQ can be calculated through averaging the Verbal and Performance IQ scores. Based on this measure, my IQ could have been determined to be 101, based on an IQ test I was given in fifth grade. That sounds like a very "average" result, quite typical for the general population, doesn't it?
However, when one takes into consideration the 52 point gap between the scores, that changes *everything.* The aforementioned number is rendered meaningless. My evaluator could not figure out what to make of these scores. He was right about one thing, however. He opted not to bother averaging the scores to calculate my overall IQ, because he recognized that the result of such a calculation would mean nothing in my case.
Speaking as someone whose IQ cannot be calculated in any meaningful way, I'm inclined to agree that the IQ test is not an accurate measure of intelligence.

Last edited by OuterBoroughGirl on 13 Nov 2010, 12:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

It only holds the weight you give it -- nothing more, nothing less.

nothing, unless administerd by a professional guy

It can get you a t-shirt and a smug attitude if you score well enough.