Whatever. It’s not like there really is, in some objective sense, One True Answer to any of these. They’re just “Do you think the same way as the test designer?” questions. Who cares?
Which of the following is the coolest:
Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Wolverine
The moon landing, the eradication of smallpox, the atomic bomb, the Internet
Very good 
Sorry that I don’t have the official answers, but there seems to be consensus on what are the likely answers. Looks like I got the third one wrong- I was overthinking it and relating envy to love or hate because it’s a verb. Also agree with the poster who said *hill *and land was a reasonable answer to the fourth, but that *land *and lake is better.
You can actually get the test marked by Mensa if you post it away, for a fee. Have to say that Mensa are taking the piss with this home test, it is extremely straightforward. The numerical parts would be within the grasp of an 8 year old. I reckon they send out a soft test to perk people’s interest to sit the supervised test, for a fee 
I’m a little surprised that land/lake is the consensus for the last one. In the first place, a lake is not always surrounded by land; swamps and rivers often (usually?) come into play. Also, from a more strategic point of view, land/lake, as the virtual mirror image of water/island, is a little too on-the-nose, and test writers would probably be loathe to make it so obvious. Obviously land/lake *could *be a correct answer, but with a perfectly acceptable (IMO superior) alternative, I’m guessing that land/lake is a red herring.
Those are my answers before reading the thread… I have to say I’m uncertain about the first answer more than anything.
Justifying land/ocean: an island is surrounded by water. An island is made of earth. Land is, of course, earth as well and its border is the ocean. I dare you to find a continent (Europe and asia are a continent together) that is NOT surrounded by ocean - in other words, the ocean defines the borders of the land in the way that water defines the borders of an island.
This should have been a further edit to my last reply: I have a problem with these kinds of tests, because if there are right and wrong answers without an explanation for justification, then the test is only measuring someone’s IQ in light of the test-writer’s idea of intelligence.
The way I was thinking was that ‘fierce’ is more of an *obvious *physical attribute than the others. You cannot always determine these qualities (arrogant boastful timid proud) just by looking - they are more subtle. But then I suppose something might be fierce, but may not look fierce. Anyways I agree with tall,timid.
You could probably just as easily say that timid and proud have only 2 vowels, all the others have 3. Or only tall and timid start with a t.
**VarlosZ **- you can have a valley without a hill. eg a gorge, canyon, surrounded by plain or mountains.
**TheMadEngineer **- ocean does not always surround land. eg Cyprus in Mediterranean Sea or Ostrov Ol’khon in Lake Baikal.
I did the mensa home test at 8, and the supervised one also. Like you say, some of the questions are incredibly simple. I think the idea is it tests different types of thinking processes, so someone who finds the language part of the test easy may find the spacial …thingy much harder. I think you have to be consistently good in all areas to get a high enough score to get in.
That said I think the tests are a bit pointless (as is mensa as a whole 
) because your ability to recognise a cube from a different angle or define the relationship between two sequences of words bears little relationship to useful life skills. During my (brief) membership the whole things was a little too elitist for me - lots of people standing around congratulating themselves for being better than everyone else and basing the worth of each other on a quiz score.
I mean no offense to any current mensa members. I was just a child at the time and my memory of it could be completely wrong. I’m sure the majority of members are very nice, interesting people.
A valley is always surrounded by hills.
What do you think the Mediterreanean is? Seas are specific regions of oceans; the Mediterreanean is part of the Atlantic.
Is “gorge” generally considered a subset of “valley”? I don’t think so, but I could be wrong.
That said, I think I’m going to change my answer to lake/land for a different reason. “Island/water” is a specific formation surrounded by a general type of substance, just like “lake/land.” On the other hand, valley/hill is specific/specific instead of specific/general.
I had a different take on this one. Envy generally means you want to have a thing that is someone else’s; jealousy generally refers to wanting that person in a relationship. (There are plenty of exceptions, but I see this as the main difference between the two).
So I said greed and love: both refer to positive feelings toward an external, but greed refers to wanting things, whereas love sort of refers to wanting a person. Greed is like envy without the other possessor; love is like jealousy without the other “possessor.”
Otherwise my answers matched the consensus.
You are right that “envy” and “jealously” sometimes mean two different things, a distinction these days often overlooked. Envy means a longing for things one doesn’t has and a twinge of resentment directed towards others who do. Jealousy, in addition to being synonymous with envy, can also mean the condition of being protective of one’s possessions or positions or apprehensive of losing them.
Thus, I can envy you for your foxy boyfriend. Likewise, I can jealously guard my riches. The difference in the two words is not related to taking a human/non-human object.
Although some insist on a complete difference between the two words, the use of jealous as a synonym for envious is not non-standard. Context will typically make it clear which meaning of jealous is intended.
I didnt know the Mediterranean Sea was part of the Atlantic Ocean.
Which ocean is lake Baikal part of? Is the Dead Sea part of the Atlantic or Indian Ocean? The Red Sea - Indian Ocean perhaps? What about the Caspian Sea? Or the Aral Sea (the Sea of Islands)?
“C: A blue wobbley thing with mermaids” (dictionary definition from BlackAdder)
Lake Baikal is a lake, and thus not part of any ocean. Bodies of fresh or salt water which are cut off from oceans, such as Lake Baikal and the Aral and Caspian Seas, are not parts of oceans.
The Red Sea is part of the Indian Ocean.
Fair enough; I did a scant Googledef before posting, but I should’ve looked further. FWIW, here’s what Random House has to say as to the difference:
Actually, I think your question is a better selector for Mensa membership than those in the OP!
Glad to see we agree in principle (along with many others in the thread). BusyScissors, will you be posting the “correct” answers at any point?
I sat the supervised Mensa test this morning, and the island, water question was on it! So that’s one in the bag, thanks guys Shame about the other 149.
Seriously, it was an extremely tough test. I was surprised at how hard it was, and it’s all in the time limit. I pissed the home test in half the time but this one was a step above. You couldn’t take the paper away with you so I don’t have any questions to post; they were probably all doable given time but the pace the test went at was brutal. It was divided into 8min and 12 min sections and I had the feeling you get in a long distance race where you slowly slip out of contention. I’m not expecting a good score.
The second paper was all graphical, and the sections needed to be blitzed - 2.5 mins for 15 or so questions with the last 4 or 5 being properly difficult (for me). Respect due to the agile minds who can tackle that.
I think its interesting about the ‘… what bout this one lake that may be connected to the river…’ or ‘oh yeah well this sea is part of this ocean’ or such and such… thats not how you do logic problems at all. The words are merely symbols… you aren’t supposed to be diving deeply into examples of exceptions. Just plain ol’ symbols. And you all have me confused by your land and ocean… or whatever the hell was finally decided. Right away I assumed that question to be hill and valley… but whatever. That’s why I’m not a part of mensa I guess.
Please note: one of the problems with IQ tests is that sometimes people find an answer which is perfectly logical (so it should count as good) but not the one the writers thought of. That is, my logic may not be the same as their logic. This is specially bad where words are involved.
malice, jealousy, greed, kindness, envy, stupidity
Stupidity isn’t a sin, neither is kindness.
tall, arrogant, timid, proud, fierce, boastful
Tall is a physical characteristic, the rest aren’t. Timid doesn’t have a similar meaning to the other four.
envy, jealousy (love, hate, greed, cruelty, selfishness, terror)
No idea. Greed and selfishness come closest, but they’re actually two very different things.
island, water (sea, land, ocean, lake, hill, valley)
land, lake? An island is surrounded by water, a lake is surrounded by land.