# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/61 "2012-11-26T19:39:40Z")
> [@Modern\_Master](#): > > Don’t waste your time. You’re not going to get an honest answer. > > IQ tests measure how well you take IQ tests. Got a low score, huh? ---
**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, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/62 "2012-11-26T20:01:22Z")
This graph is so left-skewed … And drats, I forgot an option - “Cecil Adams.” ---
**Author:** ![Kelby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a587f6/32.png) [@Kelby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelby)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/63 "2012-11-26T20:05:52Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > My IQ hasn’t been tested in decades, so I’m sure that now it’s a lot lower than the 131 it supposedly was in high school. It shouldn’t be, all things being equal. Your test performance is compared to others in your age cohort, so the IQ score should still be within a few points of the original score, if you take the test again. Raw scores on individual subtests may indeed be lower, due to your age. ---
**Author:** ![CatherineZeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@CatherineZeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatherineZeta)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/64 "2012-11-26T20:10:50Z")
I’ve only been tested once officially to get into a magnet school when I was in 4th grade. The psychologist who administered the test said my IQ was officially around 120 but possibly higher since I was very shy and didn’t want to answer some of the questions. Since then I’ve taken a random online one which said my IQ was 112 and another one that said 95. I don’t think my IQ’s actually as low as 95 though- above or around 110 seems plausible. ---
**Author:** ![Freakenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b782af/32.png) [@Freakenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freakenstein)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/65 "2012-11-26T20:19:36Z")
Well, I have glasses so My eye quality isn’t too good. ( But on the other hand I’m very smrt ). ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/66 "2012-11-26T20:27:29Z")
I think it’s obvious that the self-reporting nature of this thread has caused a few people to add a few points. I’ve seen Great Debates, and there’s no way that we’re collectively centered two standard deviations above the mean. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/67 "2012-11-26T20:30:52Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > In other words, this is probably not a representative sample of the Dope. The problem with this poll is that it doesn’t go nearly high enough. 140? Pfft. Our IQ battles on this board usually have many contenders in the 160’s, a few in the 170’s (making them the smartest group ever assembled on earth according to the normal curve tables) but there is usually one or two breakout stars that show up late in the game to take the whole match in a surprise upset with a 200+ point IQ. This poll only goes up to the genius level when we clearly need better criteria for identifying the real best and brightest based on the champions who frequent this board. ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/68 "2012-11-26T20:34:04Z")
The couple online tests I’ve fiddled with would indicate my IQ is somewhere in the low 130s, but it hasn’t exactly resulted in me becoming rich and powerful, so big hairy deal. On the other hand, “I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T!” Based on the level of intelligence I see elsewhere in the interwebs, I would be shocked – SHOCKED I say! – to find many average or below average minds spending extended time at the SDMB. This community is not even remotely an accurate cross-section of the world’s personalities; the non-clever simply won’t understand most of what is written here. So I’m not at all surprised to see the poll skewing to the bright side. And, as noted above, this sort of poll will likely skew even further in that direction by virtue of only the braggarts and liers voting in it (myself included 🙂 ). ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/69 "2012-11-26T20:34:45Z")
This poll is retarded. ---
**Author:** ![DeweyDecibel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DeweyDecibel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeweyDecibel)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/70 "2012-11-26T20:42:09Z")
In school I tested at something like a 85, but that was discounted as a “testing error”, and empirical evidence leads me to agree. I have a graduate degree, interests, and professional success that makes a Forrest Gump level IQ unlikely. Online tests put me around 127-130 depending on the test, which seems to match up with my GRE and SAT scores. However, these are not formal tests, so I voted “I don’t know”. ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/71 "2012-11-26T21:01:52Z")
> [@DeweyDecibel](#): > > In school I tested at something like a 85, but that was discounted as a “testing error”, and empirical evidence leads me to agree. I have a graduate degree, interests, and professional success that makes a Forrest Gump level IQ unlikely. > > Online tests put me around 127-130 depending on the test, which seems to match up with my GRE and SAT scores. However, these are not formal tests, so I voted “I don’t know”. I just looked up the conversion from GRE/SAT to IQ and it correlated well to my scores. Granted, all these tests were 14, 18 and 25 years ago, so maybe I’ve gotten dumber as I’ve aged. I’m certainly not used to taking standardized tests like I used to, anyone have any online IQ tests (not spammy) where I can measure my current IQ and compare it to the old scores? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/72 "2012-11-26T21:03:02Z")
Voted don’t know and would have preferred the option of don’t care. One has to wonder what the point of a thread like this is. To mock the multitudes who claim absurdly high IQs? (General correlation btw - the more a poster has impressed me as being a dim bulb the more often he/she is fast to brag about how high his/her IQ is.) Surely anyone with any intelligence appreciates that the IQs reported here have little correlation with any reality. Internet IQ tests, recollections of what my sister told me she remembers from when I was in first grade? Personally I’ll echo **QtM** ’s position and take habits of mind (critical thinking skills, asking the good question, curiosity, sense of humor, etc.) over freakishly high IQ any day of the week. Richard Feynman allegedly had a tested IQ of 125. Ted Kaczynski 167. What does that tell you? ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/73 "2012-11-26T21:05:24Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Well, it seems less likely that someone would rush into an IQ thread to tell people they are of average intelligence. That leaves the two extremes, and I’m guessing those with lower scores aren’t very motivated to make their IQ scores known. > > In other words, this is probably not a representative sample of the Dope. The main reason I read The Dope is that the majority of regular posters are more intelligent than me… It’s nice to be able to stand in the corner with my dunce hat on. IQ - 138 at last reading… some while ago. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/74 "2012-11-26T21:08:01Z")
Over 9000! I don’t know that I’ve ever taken a ‘real’ IQ test, but if memory serves the last time I took one on the Internet it came up 120-something…so that’w what I voted in the poll. > [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Good to see that so far no one is average. We all grew up in Lake Wobegon. 😉 ---
**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:** [November 26, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/75 "2012-11-26T21:11:17Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Good to see that so far no one is average. My only disappointment is the poll isn’t further detailed for IQs of 140 plus. I love when we get something like 15% of the board reporting scores of over 160. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/76 "2012-11-26T21:12:44Z")
147 on some older system, where you added numbers to account for age (My intellect peaked early.) I don’t know how to convert it, and I never took the SAT, so I can’t use that conversion. I got a 32 on my ACT (26 at age 13), but I don’t think that correlates to IQ at all. It costs money to get a true IQ test, and I’ve never really had any real use for one to justify the expense. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby\_Slippers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/94ad74/32.png) [@Ruby\_Slippers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby_Slippers)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/77 "2012-11-26T21:20:49Z")
The only “official” IQ test I ever took was in the third or fourth grade, which would have been back in the 1950s. My teacher added a note in my report card saying that the test showed I had an IQ of 163. Which means, as one or two others have pointed out, that I’m a serious underachiever and have been all my life. Seriously, this is why I’ve never had much faith in such tests. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/78 "2012-11-26T21:29:31Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > The poll results don’t seem to match the quality of rhetoric. Oh yeah? Well the jerkstore called, and it was running out of ewe! ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/79 "2012-11-26T21:32:21Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > My only disappointment is the poll isn’t further detailed for IQs of 140 plus. I love when we get something like 15% of the board reporting scores of over 160. That is what I am saying. Mensa is for dumbasses. The Prometheus Society requires an IQ in the top 0.003% (IQ 160). The Mega Society is reserved for the top 0.0001% (IQ 171). I know the SDMB Club would have plenty of people that can do way better than that based on what people have secretly revealed in these threads. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/80 "2012-11-26T21:40:30Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > My only disappointment is the poll isn’t further detailed for IQs of 140 plus. I love when we get something like 15% of the board reporting scores of over 160. There’s a huge difference between 140/150/160… like… 6’2"/6’8"/7’9"… that’s off the top of my head, but relating to men’s heights. I may be talking out of my hat… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130.md?page=5)