# Just took the mensa test **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 21, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204 "2015-11-21T17:28:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/21 "2015-11-22T23:47:35Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > The one I took was all picture logic. That had the advantage, in theory, of being language-irrelevant, but the disadvantages that one, people actually do get trained or not in how to deal with slashes and dots and wavy lines (my sister in law didn’t, I did), and two, it leaves out linguistic intelligence. Yeah, oh my heavens, I’d be horrible at that sort of thing. Give me words! I fully agree that the standard of IQ tests from when I was a kid leave out people who are intelligent in other ways than words. People are intelligent in different ways, and I don’t understand why people (the in general people) can’t grasp that concept. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/22 "2015-11-22T23:50:05Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Then there’s the “I know my score from eighth grade; since then I’ve verified it with free tests, first in magazines and later online; but I still wonder why, if I’m so smart, why ain’t I rich?” post, which I am providing now. 😃 Taking the test looks like fun because I’m weird like that, but not worth the time and expense to reinforce what I already know. 🆒 I don’t have any doubt that I’m fucking smart. I am. I’m really, really smart. However, I do have some personal quirks, mannerisms, and failings that compensate for that. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/23 "2015-11-23T03:30:23Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I don’t have any doubt that I’m fucking smart. I am. I’m really, really smart. However, I do have some personal quirks, mannerisms, and failings that compensate for that. Maybe things like describing yourself with thing like “I’m fucking smart. I am. I’m really, really smart.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/24 "2015-11-23T03:44:55Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I don’t have any doubt that I’m fucking smart. I am. I’m really, really smart. However, I do have some personal quirks, mannerisms, and failings that compensate for that. Yeah, those quirks, mannerisms, and failings have always been my downfall. ☹ Especially failings. Quirks can be forgiven if your successings outnumber your failings. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/25 "2015-11-23T04:03:28Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Seeing the titled of this thread, my first thought was “how many posts before someone comes along to post their IQ score completely unsolicited?” > > Surprisingly, it didn’t happen until post #5. (Although to be fair, 2 of the first 4 posts were the OP) > > Now for the SDMB drinking game: take a drink each subsequent time this happens. Why do some derive joy from denigrating or ridiculing others’ pride in their accomplishments? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/26 "2015-11-23T05:05:40Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Why do some derive joy from denigrating or ridiculing others’ pride in their accomplishments? Taking a test is an “accomplishment”? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/27 "2015-11-23T10:07:35Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Taking a test is an “accomplishment”? No, anybody can take a test. It is passing a test that is an accomplishment. Did you really not know that? It is almost the _definition_ of accomplishment: Something done creditably. The successful achievement of a task. How can you be ignorant of that? ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/28 "2015-11-23T12:30:12Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > No, anybody can take a test. It is passing a test that is an accomplishment. > > Did you really not know that? It is almost the _definition_ of accomplishment: Something done creditably. The successful achievement of a task. How can you be ignorant of that? Wait… I thought intelligence was a trait… something you are born with. So you are saying anyone can pass the test if they work hard and persevere? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/29 "2015-11-23T13:21:27Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > Wait… I thought intelligence was a trait… something you are born with. So you are saying anyone can pass the test if they work hard and persevere? Test-taking is a learned skill. Certainly learning how to take tests better would improve one’s performance. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/30 "2015-11-23T13:45:54Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Test-taking is a learned skill. Certainly learning how to take tests better would improve one’s performance. So, Mensa is a certification of your test taking skills and not intelligence? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/31 "2015-11-23T14:00:32Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > So, Mensa is a certification of your test taking skills and not intelligence? Now you’re just being silly. For instance, when taking a test do you 1) stew over a problem for 20 minutes, getting more bothered and distracted as you go along, or do you 2) skip it and move on to the ones you can answer, figuring to come back if there is time? That’s the type of thing I mean by learned skills, and it’s got nothing to do with intelligence. After all, you may get all the questions wrong anyway, but at least you had opportunity to answer them. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/32 "2015-11-23T14:16:36Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > I still don’t get it… if I’m viewed as intelligent by my peers that is good enough for me. If I’m viewed as an idiot by my peers, a membership card probably won’t sway their opinion. Shrug, it swayed my stupid brother’s opinion. I hadn’t mentioned the membership to my brothers: I wanted it so I’d have access to the SIGHT program and to SIGs and to a bunch of crazy people “my style”, not to take out the card and drool on it. But apparently one day Stupid Brother was complaining to Smart Brother that I’d made some mistake along the lines of being too quick about something (that is, quicker than him and right), and he said “what does she think, that she’s some sort of genius?” “Eh well, she is.” “Uh?” “You said if she thinks she’s a genius. She is.” “Eh?” “Mom gets Mensa’s magazine every month, with Nava’s name and membership number on the cover. So, Nava actually is a certified genius. Now, excuse the interruption, were you done whinning?” According to Smart Brother, that’s when Stupid Brother accepted that yes, sometimes I am quicker at arithmetic than he is and it’s not an attempt at making him feel stupid, I just happen to have done that particular calculation a tad quicker! ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/33 "2015-11-23T14:29:19Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Now you’re just being silly. > > For instance, when taking a test do you 1) stew over a problem for 20 minutes, getting more bothered and distracted as you go along, or do you 2) skip it and move on to the ones you can answer, figuring to come back if there is time? That’s the type of thing I mean by learned skills, and it’s got nothing to do with intelligence. After all, you may get all the questions wrong anyway, but at least you had opportunity to answer them. Sure, if I’m taking a timed test and the “success” depends on my score I would opt for option 2. If my “success” and hence intelligence is decided on my ultimate achievement then I may opt to spend 20 years working on how to cure cancer. Who is smarter… the guy who scored well on a timed test or the one who cured cancer? Sorry, I just noticed this in your post… “and it’s got nothing to do with intelligence.” That was kind of my point. ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/34 "2015-11-23T14:44:59Z")
I have two questions that emerge from this thread (and other threads on high IQ/being in MENSA): - do people in MENSA bring up the fact that they’re members? (I certainly don’t - the only people who know are my wife, my son, the members of my chapter who I’ve met, and a small sub-set of 20,000 dopers.) The background presumption is that people leverage their membership in MENSA for status in their every day lives, but I really wonder if anyone does - there is are recurrent references to people somehow knowing their IQ from school, etc. Are there places that test IQ routinely in schools and report this to students? From my own background (Ontario - doing my primary and high school in the 60s and 70s) this wasn’t the case, nor did the schools do routine tests in the schools when my kids were attending ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/35 "2015-11-23T15:30:09Z")
> [@D18](#): > > I have two questions that emerge from this thread (and other threads on high IQ/being in MENSA): > > - do people in MENSA bring up the fact that they’re members? (I certainly don’t - the only people who know are my wife, my son, the members of my chapter who I’ve met, and a small sub-set of 20,000 dopers.) The background presumption is that people leverage their membership in MENSA for status in their every day lives, but I really wonder if anyone does > - there is are recurrent references to people somehow knowing their IQ from school, etc. Are there places that test IQ routinely in schools and report this to students? From my own background (Ontario - doing my primary and high school in the 60s and 70s) this wasn’t the case, nor did the schools do routine tests in the schools when my kids were attending I have encountered one person who constantly brought up her membership in Mensa as well as her MBA. She was very impressed with both and thought we all should be as well. Her work however did not impress us very much. In her time here the phrase “baffle them with bullshit” became common. She left after a few years and then re-applied to the company about 5 years later. I was one of the people the hiring VP called to get a recommendation. I hemmed and hawed and ultimately said probably not a good candidate… he laughed and said that since I was the third that reacted this way she wouldn’t get an interview. As for number 2… we did get scores from the school system for all of my kids, and I know my mom later told me that my teacher had called to tell her how she should be proud of my score (back in the 60’s). My youngest son also had to undergo testing for dyslexia and we were given his IQ results as part of that (gifted but learning impaired). ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/36 "2015-11-23T16:12:23Z")
On the more general topic, I have encountered people who say “I was invited to join MENSA but I turned them down.” From what I’ve read, they don’t solicit membership. You apply and either take the test or submit one of the other scores that they recognize. Your application is approved or not. If approved, you can choose how active you want to be. Is that basically the process? ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/37 "2015-11-23T16:26:24Z")
**tim** I believe you’re correct. My chapter newsletter constantly asks members to suggest to people we know that they might want to consider taking the entrance test, but I don’t believe there is active solicitation. Other than that, MENSA publishes what they will consider as qualifying evidence (e.g., scores on specific IQ tests, or in some cases scores on other tests that are deemed to correlate with IQ) or you can take the entrance test. If you take the entrance test - as **pancake** noted, they don’t tell you what your actual IQ is, but only that you made the threshold. I’ve read on the boards here where many people say they took the qualifying MENSA test and were told their IQ, but the organization says otherwise. Perhaps it was once the case. **spud** , I can see that that would be off putting. I can honestly say that I’ve known plenty of people who were intellectually arrogant, but never had someone cite their MENSA membership as evidence of it. But I have no doubt that some do ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/38 "2015-11-23T18:26:17Z")
> [@Cabin\_Fever](#): > > Not familiar with MENSA tests but am considered a genius at opening cans with nothing but a fork. I can open my pants with a fork, but my penis is so large it takes a pipe wrench to get it through the hole. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/39 "2015-11-23T18:30:36Z")
> [@D18](#): > > **tim** **spud** , I can see that that would be off putting. I can honestly say that I’ve known plenty of people who were intellectually arrogant, but never had someone cite their MENSA membership as evidence of it. But I have no doubt that some do I can say that in 30+ years in the business world I’ve encountered one who was obnoxious about it. I have seen many more on message boards though. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204/40 "2015-11-23T18:38:12Z")
> [@D18](#): > > I have two questions that emerge from this thread (and other threads on high IQ/being in MENSA): > > - do people in MENSA bring up the fact that they’re members? (I certainly don’t - the only people who know are my wife, my son, the members of my chapter who I’ve met, and a small sub-set of 20,000 dopers.) The background presumption is that people leverage their membership in MENSA for status in their every day lives, but I really wonder if anyone does Hypothetically, IF I was qualified for MENSA, or for the Triple Nine Society, I would only tell my mother. Maybe my spouse but not my children. Certainly nobody else. And as others have alluded to, bringing it up in a message board is pretty much the same as bragging about your massive swinging penis. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-took-the-mensa-test/738204.md?page=3)