A Different Post – IQ Measures

A long time ago I was a MENSA member. I liked feeling ‘clever’. But, it has an annual renewal fee, and with the advent of 3 very demanding children plus moving countries (and credit cards), the membership lapsed. My post is 2 fold:

1. A personal explanation of why I think having that type of membership is important, both in a personal and in a business vein, and
2. Sharing an example of a test question I got right, and one that totally stumped me. Can you get them both right?

If you have no interest in IQs or IQ testing, this is not for you.

Why I decided to try MENSA in the first place:

1. At school I was always told I was ‘very bright’ by the teachers, and they made it easy for me to do extra classes. I kept a low profile as I was on the tennis, swimming, netball, and athletics teams….and the debate team… couldn’t fit the chess team in, conflicted with tennis – I’m clearly not that smart… My Point: I wanted find out if I really was as ‘smart’ as the teachers said – I was a bit jaded, even by the age of 16. It’s a bit of a bummer when your history teacher teaches you something that is categorically incorrect. *sigh*. I did uber well at everything except maths – got 74% total grade if I remember correctly; waaay below my usually of 80% minimum… Was it my IQ? I decided to find out…
2. At university I had a lecturer who made maths seem more ‘OK’. I sucked at maths at school. By the time I left university I was excelling in both maths and statistics. And my lecturer happened to mention that ‘the quality of my questions, and my self-delivered answers would make me a great teacher one day..’. He asked me if I was a MENSA member, at the time I said “No.”. I have yet to fulfill the ‘great’ part of teacher, but I am and have been a teacher for some years (partly of Econometrics and Quantitative Methods), both in the senior high and university classroom, and in the workplace
3. I’m curious. One of my colleagues happened to mention to me just before the birth of my twins that I would lose at least 20% of my IQ (and mental acuity) after 3 years… I agree there is some loss due to sleep deprivation and prioritization changes… but, I think “I still got me some!”

Ergo… I’m going to try it, yet again, when the opportunity arises.

Why IQ At All?

If I was to interview someone tomorrow for a role, I would be interested in their IQ test scores, just as I would be interested in their language skills. What I would be looking for – in relative order – would be:

1. Relevant/related experience
2. Aptitude tests
3. Personality tests
4. Colleague reviews (e.g. LinkedIN)
5. General Education
6. IQ Test

It’s at the bottom of the list… why? Because there are a lot of very bright people out there who have not had the opportunity of a great education, or exposure to testing. It’s nice to know, but not a deal breaker. It’s also good to know for best-fit purposes; some very high IQ folks can be very anti-social… not many mind you, but a few. There are certain jobs that fit better than others as a ‘general rule’, but that is what the interviews are for.

Heaven forbid on my first interview after high school with my IQ (as reflected) of 157, I may darn well have been locked-up as a bedlamite. I seem to be doing quite well in the real world, with a husband, 3 kids, 2 dogs, a cat and a darn good job (thanks to Intuit).

The IQ example I mentioned are here:

The one I got:

• 59 – APPLES AND PEARS
• 76 – CAVIAR COUTURE
• ? – GOLD GALORE
• 57 –  THE BREAD OVEN

What number is ‘Gold Galore’ ?….   Answer will be shared on the 19^th October

The one I did not get:

Check it out. Let me know how you did

Stay tuned!

-L