# What is your IQ? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 29, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561 "2009-10-29T03:51:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/41 "2009-10-29T13:23:09Z")
My sister and I were tested early in grade school; I remember we had to go to school for it on a Saturday or holiday or something. This was in the early '70’s. My score was 132 and hers was lower, but they didn’t say what it was. Very soon after that I was moved to the school’s “gifted program”, which allowed me to leave school for part of every day, or maybe just a few days a week, to go to an adjoining building for specialized instruction. In my 20’s I was in law school and during extensive testing which confirmed my suspicion that I had ADD, was administered another IQ test. I asked for the result and they wouldn’t tell me. I told the story about my childhood test and what my score was, and all they would tell me was that I scored higher than I did when I was a kid. Doesn’t matter- I’m intelligent enough to get me to where I am in life without too much difficulty. It’s not nearly as important as, say, the length of my dick, or anything. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/42 "2009-10-29T14:26:11Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Aged 17, tested in prison, 170. > > I was told it was the highest score yet seen, and got mocked by the other inmates for still ending up behind bars. You’re going to have to tell us why you were in prison at 17. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/43 "2009-10-29T14:27:37Z")
Tested in elementary school, Mammahomie wouldn’t give me a precise number but said it was “high.” I’ve never had it professionally measured since then, but I’ve taken those Mickey-Mouse on-line tests and scored high. I’m guessing it’s in the 125-135 range. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/44 "2009-10-29T14:35:06Z")
I don’t remember what test I took, but I think it only went up to 150. 141, tenth or eleventh grade. Honestly, I don’t feel that smart. I may be able to figure out [toothpick puzzles](http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/104907/Toothpick-Giraffe-Puzzle-Martin-Gardner-NYT) and can spell “floccinaucinihilipilification” without looking it up, but my people skills are almost nonexistant. I misunderstand instructions that everyone else gets because no one explicitly told me things like, “In college, all papers should be typed”. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/45 "2009-10-29T14:43:52Z")
I took a full WAIS (adminstered by a licensed psychometric analyst/chartered psychologist) when I was about 30 and got either a 142 or 144 or 146 - I don’t remember which. Good thing they don’t test for memory. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/46 "2009-10-29T14:45:35Z")
Tested in Jr High for admittance to one of the extracurricular programs. Yes, I was another of the students they asked my parents not to give the results to for fear that I’d get all uppity. Found out much later that the result was 143. So while I was a walking thesaurus and could solve polynomial inequalities in my head, my people skills were non-existant. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/47 "2009-10-29T14:53:08Z")
I have taken a few IQ tests over the years and they all have showed between 125-135. I guess this is considered somewhat high but there has been nothing in my life experience to demonstrate I am unusually bright. Strange. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/48 "2009-10-29T15:05:21Z")
I have to confess . . . I’m the guy in the 175-194 category. Or at least I used to be. We were tested once in elementary school, but they didn’t release the results, not even to our parents. But I knew I did well, since the test seemed extremely easy to me. Plus, I had no trouble getting good grades. Fast-forward to high school: I got 1600 on my SAT. At some point during college I volunteered for a battery of psychological tests that continued over a period of a year. These included, among other things, probably every type of IQ test available at the time. At the end of the study they gave us the results, and my IQ was 183. Now . . . some 40+ years later . . . my brain has apparently shrunk to the size of a walnut. I can no longer do math in my head, I can’t spell for shit, and I can’t remember anyone’s name. It seems that my “left brain” has atrophied, while my “right brain” has trouble focusing. And I take a lot of naps now. I don’t dare take any kind of IQ test these days. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/49 "2009-10-29T15:07:23Z")
1. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/50 "2009-10-29T15:24:16Z")
Too bad this poll isn’t public-I’d love to know who chose the 195 option… ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/51 "2009-10-29T15:25:12Z")
[QUOTE=John difool] Too bad this poll isn’t public-I’d love to know who chose the 195 option… [/QUOTE] Me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/52 "2009-10-29T15:30:35Z")
Below 84, what are we talking about? Is the person even going to understand how to answer the poll? ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/53 "2009-10-29T15:56:04Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Where’s the ‘I don’t know’ option? 🙂 I need that, too - I don’t remember ever being tested, and was never told the score if I was. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/54 "2009-10-29T16:10:23Z")
College - about 1977 - tested out 171. And gained the descriptive “underachiever” for what little time I had left in the educational system. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/55 "2009-10-29T16:11:56Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > . I can no longer do math in my head, I can’t spell for shit, and I can’t remember anyone’s name. Welcome me to the club, except I’m not even 40 yet… I took Calculus in college for my degree, and that particular class was 3 years ago I’d say. When I started college I was 26 or 27 and wasn’t ever a math person really (basic math yes, algebra, no), so I had to start with pre-algebra as I did bad on my compass test. Needless to say I failed to pass a basic math test at a temp agency a few weeks back. Obviously the addition and subtraction wasn’t hard, but I hadn’t done multiplication or division by hand in over 10 years. Not to mention I felt pretty cocky having a college degree and having to take a basic math test. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/56 "2009-10-29T16:25:38Z")
195 or over - “off the chart”, tested when I was 12. I was good at math and logic problems but I am certainly no genius. I don’t think that score measured anything more than my ability to score highly on that test. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/57 "2009-10-29T16:35:55Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Now . . . some 40+ years later . . . my brain has apparently shrunk to the size of a walnut.. I’m 53 now. I was throwing out some old stuff in preparation for a move a couple of months ago, and I ran across my old Organic Chemistry lab notebook from college. As I riffled through the pages, I thought, “_Damn_, I was smart.” It was like looking at a different person. Oh, well, at least I’m less of a jerk now. (145 IQ, IIRC). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/58 "2009-10-29T16:46:14Z")
Like most, I can only approximate. I was apparently tested in elementary school without knowing it. When we all started 7th grade, we were placed in homeroom classes that supposedly segregated us by IQ scores or some such. It was easy to see, as everyone knew who the really bright kids were, and they were all in 7A. The next level were in 7B (where I was), and the rest of the nameless rabble were in the rest of the classes. I’ve assumed that I probably tested somewhere between 125 and 140, but have no real idea. It’s all arbitrary anyway, as we all know brilliant engineers who can’t write a coherent sentence. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/59 "2009-10-29T16:53:38Z")
The results here reported are (and this is a technical term) “total horseshit.” That is all. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/60 "2009-10-29T16:55:20Z")
I took an IQ test before high school to get into advanced classes; my parents never told me what I got, and I don’t want to know, but I know it’s at least 130, because that’s what I needed to get into those classes. I’ll assume it’s 131. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561.md?page=4)