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. Enter the answers and the site will respond with an estimated score. 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 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. Your intelligence is gauged in respect to another person. It’s one method commonly used to measure human intelligence.

The average IQ score is 100. If you’ve taken an IQ test and you scored 136, this means you’re a lot more intelligent than the average person. Any score less than 100 indicates your intelligence level doesn’t match up to the average John Doe.

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. This should be guided by the requirements for the type of work offered. A high score would indicate the candidate is well suited for the position. That way some candidates could be eliminated since they would most likely not be able to make the job.
• College entrance On top of the SAT and other tests IQ tests to judge their intelligence. As there are often fewer places than applicants, this could be an additional screening tool. It would increase the likelyhood to find the top brass.

Disadvantages of the IQ Test

• IQ tests are not perfect Many people who score well in IQ tests may not perform well in real life situations. They didn’t rise high enough or fast enough up the corporate ladder.
• Not the most important success factor College students who initially showed promising scores on their IQ test ended up not being so hot when they sat 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. 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. Another area not covered is your emotional intelligence, also called EQ, how good you are at handling other people and relationships. 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.