# What is your IQ? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 26, 2012, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130 "2012-11-26T06:03:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/1 "2012-11-26T06:03:12Z")
It’s simple: A voluntary response survey of Dopers’ IQs. :eek:. ---
**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:** [November 26, 2012, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/2 "2012-11-26T06:14:38Z")
Formal testing for the gifted and talented program when it was first started when I was in Jr High resulted in 129. Later semiformal testing for Mensa scored a 135. Split the difference at 132. ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/3 "2012-11-26T06:17:29Z")
Sadly, I’ve never had anywhere near formal testing. But all the online tests I’ve found (which are close enough, I’m sure) assure me that I hover between 130-135. I’m sure that’s an entirely reliable number. ---
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/4 "2012-11-26T06:18:02Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Formal testing for the gifted and talented program when it was first started when I was in Jr High resulted in 129. Later semiformal testing for Mensa scored a 135. Split the difference at 132. Drats. You should have used your 129 and gave the change to the poor Doper with a IQ in the 60-69 range. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/5 "2012-11-26T06:25:58Z")
Cheated slightly… Took the test in just about the most comfortable possible circumstances: no pressure, for fun, administered by a test operator who was a close personal friend. (A formally trained and licensed test administrator, I hasten to add.) Still, a comfy environment is certainly going to help boost the number. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/6 "2012-11-26T06:46:42Z")
When I took the Mensa tests in 1991, they gave 2 different tests. I scored 138 on one and 151 on the other. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/7 "2012-11-26T07:06:29Z")
I love these threads. ---
**Author:** ![Beastly\_Rotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/8 "2012-11-26T07:41:56Z")
Four foot six ---
**Author:** ![midnight-dreary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@midnight-dreary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/midnight-dreary)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/9 "2012-11-26T07:56:28Z")
When I went to a psychologist, in a passing comment, I mentioned that one of those stupid online tests, I scored 115. He said that he thought that mine would be higher than that, but I’m not quite sure I’d believe him. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/10 "2012-11-26T08:10:51Z")
According to this online test, 200. I’m still waiting for my free iPad though. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/11 "2012-11-26T08:19:35Z")
My IQ is 238. This guy told me so. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/12 "2012-11-26T10:11:35Z")
Just shy of seven inches… Ooops, wrong thread, 🙂 but what with the tone of the thread, it’s an easy mistake to make. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/13 "2012-11-26T11:19:14Z")
I got tested when I was 11, and it was 143. Got tested again at age 25 in grad school and again it came up 143. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/14 "2012-11-26T11:23:09Z")
> [@Beastly\_Rotter](#): > > Four foot six That is a long time. If I was ever tested in school I was never told the results. So I voted don’t know. ---
**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:** [November 26, 2012, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/15 "2012-11-26T11:47:20Z")
I’m not going to report my score, but I will say this: I took the Weschler as a favor for a friend. It was kind of a neat experience. My performance in the coding section dragged down my overall score. My favorite part was making shapes out of blocks. (Apparently I haven’t changed much since kindergarten.) It was mentally exhausting though, and it was really obvious how biased the test was toward Western/European culture. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/16 "2012-11-26T12:18:49Z")
Never been officially tested, but my brother has and he is way smarter than me (MD/PhD, high school valedictorian, 3.98 college GPA with little effort, his top 20 grad school was full of people who did undergrad at MIT, Caltech, Harvard, etc). His wife is a teacher who had some official tests and he scored about 130. That surprised me, I figured he would’ve been 150 or so. So if he is 130, I’m probably 115. I have no idea though. I struggled to maintain a B average in undergrad, so I would be 110-120, I’d assume. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/17 "2012-11-26T12:32:57Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > Just shy of seven inches… Ooops, wrong thread, 🙂 Call yourself a Doper? That’s not even 95th percentile! (seriously, you beat me to it) ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/18 "2012-11-26T12:39:40Z")
I’m embarrassed to admit that I still remember my SAT score from 1971. According to [this site](http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/oldSATIQ.aspx), my IQ is higher than I expected it to be. Finding this out has caused some pretty weird feelings in me, primarily that I’ve been an under-achiever my whole adult life. Wow, I feel weird. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/19 "2012-11-26T12:48:24Z")
Even if you say "“Stanford Binet scale” you are talking about several different scales. What adds to the confusion is that the numbers resemble each other: both have 100 as average, and above 120 as gifted. But the “academically-and-beyond-gifted”" (and that is the range Dopers and most IQ-fans are interested in) score about 125-130 on the one scale, and 140-160 on the other. The difference is due to how that particular test deals with standard deviation in the comparison group. Percentiles are supposed to have dealt with this issue, so they are more reliable, even in bragging contest. [Read more](http://www.123test.com/iq-scores-and-differences/): > [@](#): > > Your IQ score indicates how you have performed on an IQ test in comparison with a norm group. For example with a Dutch IQ test, the Dutch or the Dutch work force could be the norm group. If you take an IQ test on an American site, your IQ score most likely will be the result of a comparison with Americans. > > The norm group with which your test score is compared, has an average score of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. A standard deviation is a measure of the spread, in this case of the IQ score. If the standard deviation is 15, 68 percent of the norm group scores between 85 (100 minus 15) and 115 (100 plus 15). In other words: 68 percent of the norm group has a score within one standard deviation of the average (100). > > In addition, 95 percent of the norm group has an IQ score within two standard deviations of the average. Thus 95 percent of the norm group, for example the Dutch, scores between 70 (100 minus 30) and 130 (100 plus 30). Only 2.5% of the norm group will achieve a score above 130. Purely on the basis of chance and given the fact that the Netherlands has a population of 16 million, it is likely that there are no more than 25 people with an IQ of 170. A person with an IQ of 180 is likely to be the only one in the Netherlands (17 million people). Only 4 out of 1000 people have an IQ of 140 or higher. > > **However, with a lot IQ tests on the Internet it is relatively easy to achieve a score higher than 130. These tests often have another purpose, for example gathering marketing information**. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/20 "2012-11-26T12:56:42Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > When I took the Mensa tests in 1991, they gave 2 different tests. I scored 138 on one and 151 on the other. The underlined part is extremely important. Without knowing which scale is being used, the numbers are as meaningless as a temperature of “32” - are we freezing, already frozen, or hottish? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130.md?page=2)