# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/81 "2009-10-30T03:42:16Z")
High school =134, again in college= 132. once more when thinking about graduate school, age 38= 135 ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/82 "2009-10-30T04:28:44Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I took a Mensa test once and got a 148. Which I knew we’re not supposed to include but my mother showed me the paperwork from when they tested me in grade school and placed me in all the advanced classes and programs and it was right in that range. I don’t recall the official grade school score but 148 is close enough for government work anyway. So I guess the Mensa tests aren’t entirely worthless (or else I had a pretty nifty coincidence) The self-administered tests are pretty worthless. The proctored tests are pretty accurate. In fact, just about any self-administered IQ test is worthless. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/83 "2009-10-30T05:03:33Z")
Don’t remember taking any IQ tests but there was some kind of evaluation when I started first grade. I remember being upset that I was placed in the ‘stupid’ class. My birthday was under the fall age cut-off so I was only 5 years old while most of the other kids were 6, so that’s what I thought the reason was. All the cool kids were in the other class and I was in this smaller, different class. There was no kindergarten here then. So my concerned mother checked with the school and it turned out that the ‘stupid’ class was called the second grade. There were too many first graders for the little school that year so based upon some kind of results they put about a dozen of us in with the second graders. I still did the second grade the following year with the rest of my age group but didn’t pay much attention, which irked the second grade teacher to no end. “Not working at his potential” comments on the report cards. I have used this as a motto to live my life by ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/84 "2009-10-30T05:53:49Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Okay, three 195+. Who is joining me in the SUPER AWESOME GENIUS! club? I’m so with you. My IQ actually approaches infinity. ---
**Author:** ![Sonnenstrahl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Sonnenstrahl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonnenstrahl)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/85 "2009-10-30T06:28:39Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Below 84, what are we talking about? Is the person even going to understand how to answer the poll? Just wondering, wouldn’t 84 be as statistically rare as 116? Therefore, not all that unusual or noticeably far from average at all? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/86 "2009-10-30T12:30:04Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > The self-administered tests are pretty worthless. The proctored tests are pretty accurate. In fact, just about any self-administered IQ test is worthless. Ok, that makes sense then. This was one of the proctored tests where there’s ten of you in a room and they do the test there. My mom saw an ad in the paper for it back in the mid-90’s and said she’d pay the $20 if I took it because she wanted to know the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/87 "2009-10-30T12:58:16Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > I took what I believe was the Stanford-Binet test (red and white blocks, put the picture stories in order) a couple of times when I was in grade school but never got the results; the only firm confirmation I have is the PSATs from 1987 when I scored in the top .5%, and from 1988 when I scored in the top 1%. Where’s that put me on the polling scale? No freakin’ idea. PSAT scores are equivalent to an IQ test? I’m really, really good at language, and really, really terrible at math. I’ve regularly scored in the top or or two percent on the verbal sections of these standardized tests. And then I score, usually, around the 50% range in the math section. (On the SAT, I scored 190 points higher the verbal section than I did on the math. On the GRE, it was 120 points.) Am I half a genius and half a totally average fool? I don’t knoooooow. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/88 "2009-10-30T14:37:07Z")
Just for fun, here’s a table showing the expected number of people in the world today have an IQ greater than a given value: ```auto 115 9.5 x 10^8 130 1.3 x 10^8 145 8.1 x 10^7 160 1.9 x 10^5 175 1.7 x 10^3 190 4.8 x 10^0 ``` It’s possible that every single person alive with an IQ of 190+ is a poster here and has voted in this poll, but it’s also possible (and significantly more likely) that people here are full of shit. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/89 "2009-10-30T14:50:22Z")
I have only been subjected to a proctored, official IQ test once - it was in Kindergarten. I scored a 154. I don’t really know how much that means, though. There was one kid in the class who clocked in at 159 - he was certainly a creative type, but scatterbrained and didn’t do as well in classwork and on standardized tests as I did. And now I’m a DBA and he’s an assistant manager at Wal-Mart. I think the standardized tests (SAT, ACT) were, honestly, more useful in predicting long-term success. That said, I don’t think the whole exercise of measuring intelligence is off-base. I definitely feel smarter than 99% of humanity - a hypothesis reinforced daily by observations of how people drive. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/90 "2009-10-30T14:56:13Z")
I was “gifted” in my youth but it hasn’t done me any good. IQ vaguely recalled as 164 but take that with the appropriately-sized grain of salt. Mind you, as I enter my dotage\* I consider it a good day if I remember to put trousers on before I leave the house. That said, my wife (who does not post here), who always thought she was stupid, went through a rigorous battery of tests as part of a clinical assessment of her dyslexia as an adult and came away with a measured IQ of 161. With that pedigree, we’re both a bit nervous about our 15-month-old daughter. She’s obsessed with books already. It’s not a good sign. \*mid-40s ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Krebbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@Mr.Krebbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Krebbs)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/91 "2009-10-30T15:04:52Z")
This is a good time to ask a question I have about IQ scores. When I received my results, I got an overall score, a score for “right brain” processing and another for “left brain” processing. Thing is, the overall score is not an average. What is that all about? I took the IQ test (don’t remember which one) at 22, administered by my shrink. My overall score was 136 (122 rb, 140 lb); supposedly that places me in the 99.7% percentile. Btw, I did ask my shrink the above question, but her answer wasn’t very satisfactory. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/92 "2009-10-30T17:08:33Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > Just for fun, here’s a table showing the expected number of people in the world today have an IQ greater than a given value: > > ```auto > > 115 9.5 x 10^8 > 130 1.3 x 10^8 > 145 8.1 x 10^7 > 160 1.9 x 10^5 > 175 1.7 x 10^3 > 190 4.8 x 10^0 > > ``` > > It’s possible that every single person alive with an IQ of 190+ is a poster here and has voted in this poll, but it’s also possible (and significantly more likely) that people here are full of shit. A third possibility is they used a different standard. The Cattell IQ test in particular scores higher than many (probably most?) others. From [here](http://www.iqtestexperts.com/iq-scores.php): > [@](#): > > Besides, these two scales which use a standard deviation of 15, another scale in popular use is the Cattell’s scale which uses a standard deviation of 24. That can skew the poll results pretty significantly. There’s probably still a full-of-shit component, though. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/93 "2009-10-30T17:26:09Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Where’s the ‘I don’t know’ option? 🙂 That’s my question, too. For some reason, I think I took an IQ test in grade school, but we weren’t allowed to know what we scored. At one point in my adult life, I was curious, but now, I don’t care. Assign me any number you want - it won’t change what I’ve accomplished and who I’ve become. I’m smart enough to know that, at least. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/94 "2009-10-30T17:28:46Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > It is assumed that those posting know that the only certainty about IQ tests is that they measure your ability to do IQ tests. No kidding. Some of the tests are the epitome of “i’m never going to be able to use this in any kind of practical situation”. I got either 161 or 163 when I was 16, and I think my having forgotten which it was says more about the legitimacy of the thing than I could. I can only imagine now i’d do worse at the maths side of things, and better at the pattern recognition. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/95 "2009-10-30T17:30:32Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > There’s probably still a full-of-shit component, though. Or peple replying based on some Internet pop-up 10-question test where getting 10/10 randomly selected questions quickly enough gets you rated at 145. Seriously, who has had a “formal” IQ test? Not a lot I’d guess. I put a number in based on a self-administered, self-scored 1-hour timed exam I took once for fun, which was in booklet form and not online (this predating me having Internet access back in 1987). I’ve since taken a few of those on-line quizzes, only the more serious ones that require at least 30 minutes and the results have been more or less the same (+/- 5 pts. from the number that self-administered test gave me 20+ years ago), so I figure that’s pretty accurate, and if asked give the midpoint number if I answer at all. ---
**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 30, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/96 "2009-10-30T17:46:53Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Seriously, who has had a “formal” IQ test? _raises hand_ My mother bought a “free IQ testing session” at a synagogue auction, just for fun. I went into a little room with an honest-to-God qualified psychologist who regularly did this sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/97 "2009-10-30T17:51:45Z")
My IQ is about 11 inches long, and about seven to eight inches in circumference, depending on the temperature and my mood. ---
**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 30, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/98 "2009-10-30T18:07:32Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > It’s possible that every single person alive with an IQ of 190+ is a poster here and has voted in this poll, but it’s also possible (and significantly more likely) that people here are full of shit. > [@ZenBeam](#): > > There’s probably still a full-of-shit component, though. Hmm, what? Rescind this _at once!_ ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/99 "2009-10-30T18:58:55Z")
I don’t know. The only time I remember taking an IQ test, it was as a volunteer in college. I took an IQ test, some sort of psych eval test and did some drawings (draw a picture of a man. draw a picture of something that makes you happy. draw a picture of…) I have no idea what the premise was and no idea what the results were. I volunteered because a pretty girl asked me to. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561/100 "2009-10-30T19:51:58Z")
I took an individually administered WAIS IQ test earlier this year as the guinea pig of a doctoral student in clinical psychology, so technically the results aren’t valid. I figure it’s the closest thing I will ever have to an accurate IQ score, though: 129. (I am 26 years old.) 129 is considered ‘‘Superior’’ but not Mensa material. The most remarkable thing to me is that I scored much higher on the math, memory and story problem portions than I expected to. I have always felt I had to work much harder in those areas than others, and I generally score lower on standardized tests in the math sections. Unsurprisingly, I did extremely well on the verbal. And I had a ton of fun with the blocks (seriously, that was the best part. They should save it for last.) I thought it was a cool experience and an opportunity to learn how the test actually works. Valid or not, the results reflect about how I’ve measured up academically over time. I’ve always been at the top of my class, but particularly as an undergraduate and graduate student I find there are definitely people who make me feel like a complete moron. So 129 seems accurate. Oh, and fun fact: I almost missed the easiest question on the verbal test, not because I didn’t know the meaning of the word (which was the intellectual equivalent of ‘‘pie’’) but because I wasn’t answering in the right way. :smack: This made me realize how arbitrary the test can be. You can completely know the answer and still not get credit for it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/515561.md?page=6)