# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/141 "2012-11-27T22:36:14Z")
Whoops. Found the actual test score. It was 13.2. (This is really **cmyk’s** dog. He doesn’t even know what a decimal is. Poor thing.) ---
**Author:** ![drew870mitchell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drew870mitchell/32/3946_2.png) [@drew870mitchell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drew870mitchell)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/142 "2012-11-27T22:50:35Z")
Internet test (I was younger and stupider, don’t burn me at the stake) 130. Never been formally tested - the SAT and GRE conversion tables in the first few Google search results say \> 150, which must be hogwash. Knowing what I’ve learned about IQ, and distributions, and standard deviations, I could totally buy 115 to 130. I suspect that the test is very useful for people in “the middle” - e.g. 70 to 130 - and useless for everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/143 "2012-11-27T22:58:47Z")
> [@drew870mitchell](#): > > Knowing what I’ve learned about IQ, and distributions, and standard deviations, I could totally buy 115 to 130. I suspect that the test is very useful for people in “the middle” - e.g. 70 to 130 - and useless for everyone else. Considering that 70 is the cut-off for mental retardation, I wouldn’t call someone with such an IQ to be in the statistical “middle”. Now, ninty-five, that’s gotta be right in the heart of the curve. ---
**Author:** ![FlyByNight512](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/82dd89/32.png) [@FlyByNight512](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyByNight512)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/144 "2012-11-27T23:25:12Z")
> [@drew870mitchell](#): > > Knowing what I’ve learned about IQ, and distributions, and standard deviations, I could totally buy 115 to 130. I suspect that the test is very useful for people in “the middle” - e.g. 70 to 130 - and useless for everyone else. A friend of mine is a professional psychologist who administers IQ tests on a regular basis. He told me that the ‘regular’ IQ test (no, I don’t remember which variation) really isn’t accurate above 140. It’s looking for an average distribution and isn’t tuned to deal with the extremes in either direction. I imagine comparisons become much less meaningful at that level anyway. I’m sure someone will be along in a moment to contradict me. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/145 "2012-11-27T23:31:28Z")
Never took a proper IQ test but I played along with a national ‘IQ test’ a few years ago that was broadcast on TV, I believe it was called ‘Test The Nation’. It seemed fairly legitimate actually. Anyway, I got two questions wrong out of about 96, which dropped my IQ score by about twenty points…I thought that was a little harsh… 😃 Seriously though I would class myself as fairly well educated and generally curious about the world around me rather than particularly smart. edited to add: broadcast in the UK…see what I mean about my mad thinking skillz? ---
**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 27, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/146 "2012-11-27T23:59:20Z")
I once dated a guy with a very high IQ. He had nearly a perfect score on his SATs. He was fucking insane - bipolar with obsessive compulsive personality disorder. The first time I went to his dorm, he showed me that he had mapped out Detroit’s entire sewer system. He was planning to become mayor of Detroit and save it for everyone. I’m just saying, that’s the closest brush I’ve ever had with true genius. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/147 "2012-11-28T00:26:38Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I once dated a guy with a very high IQ. He had nearly a perfect score on his SATs. He was fucking insane - bipolar with obsessive compulsive personality disorder. The first time I went to his dorm, he showed me that he had mapped out Detroit’s entire sewer system. He was planning to become mayor of Detroit and save it for everyone. > > I’m just saying, that’s the closest brush I’ve ever had with true genius. Did he ask you if you had a bed?..because he could build for you one if you didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/148 "2012-11-28T00:27:02Z")
Did a proper test for Mensa when I was younger and scored 176. And it’s all complete nonsense. It shows only you are good at IQ tests. I do make a good pho bo soup though… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/149 "2012-11-28T01:15:57Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > 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. 😛 While I don’t doubt points were added, in one of the IQ threads I did a study showing we are better. I took the number of Jeopardy contestants on the Dope divided by the number of posters, and compared the average to the total number of Jeopardy contestants divided by the population at large. Our average was two orders of magnitude higher than that of the general public. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/150 "2012-11-28T02:00:03Z")
I’m huge in Germany. ---
**Author:** ![spoon\_river](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@spoon\_river](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spoon_river)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/151 "2012-11-28T03:29:09Z")
No idea. I do know when I took the SAT when I was 12 --part of the Johns Hopkins Talent Search-- my score was the same at 7th grade as it was in 12th grade or whenever we took them. Don’t remember exactly – about high 1300s or 1400 or so (the old style out of 1600, no writing component). Missed one verbal question, not so good on the math. Stupid test, though. I guess I would have liked a real IQ test, administered by a trained psychologist, at a younger age pre-middle school when I probably would have given a shit – but we couldn’t afford that kind of crap when I was a kid. Even just being a semi-finalist for National Merit Scholarship got me a good scholarship at a private school, though, for high school. Don’t know how that worked – it was a long time ago. They sent me some certificates my mom put in some frames and hung in my bedroom as a kid, along with some bullshit county-wide spelling bee championship I won in 5th grade or something like that. So, yeah, I’m bright, probably pretty high IQ, I guess, but also an idiot in a lot of ways, self-destructive, and an obsessive perfectionist. Could be worse – I’m not autistic, I don’t think, but I do play well with others. Emphasis on the “play” – sports, music, chit-chat, competing at card games, drinking beer, telling filthy jokes, flirting with chicks, and all the regular stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/152 "2012-11-28T04:13:08Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I’m huge in Germany. I know what you mean. My huge Western IQ is so much bigger than all these little Asian IQs. ---
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/153 "2012-11-28T04:36:35Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I know what you mean. My huge Western IQ is so much bigger than all these little Asian IQs. I know. **I.Q.** is huge. 🆒 Thank you. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/154 "2012-11-28T05:26:40Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > While I don’t doubt points were added, in one of the IQ threads I did a study showing we are better. I took the number of Jeopardy contestants on the Dope divided by the number of posters, and compared the average to the total number of Jeopardy contestants divided by the population at large. Our average was two orders of magnitude higher than that of the general public. Speaking as someone whose unused superpower is remembering bizarre amounts of trivia, I’m not sure Jeopardy correlates to intelligence so much as to memory. The kind of memory used in Jeopardy (long-term, broad) and the kind of memory used on a typical IQ test (short-term, low-item-count for pattern analysis) don’t really correlate at all. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/155 "2012-11-28T08:34:33Z")
> [@Beastly\_Rotter](#): > > Four foot six No, silly! It goes like this: 197 (99.999999999%) 11.25" $23,000,000,000 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/156 "2012-11-28T14:16:02Z")
I don’t actually even need an IQ, being a [Q](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_%28Star_Trek%29) ---
**Author:** ![living\_in\_hell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@living\_in\_hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/living_in_hell)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/157 "2012-11-28T15:52:22Z")
Why would anyone think that an online IQ test was reliable when in order to take the test IRL, you need to find someone trained in its highly standardized administration and interpretation? ---
**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 28, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/158 "2012-11-28T19:50:30Z")
> [@living\_in\_hell](#): > > Why would anyone think that an online IQ test was reliable when in order to take the test IRL, you need to find someone trained in its highly standardized administration and interpretation? Because the online IQ test told me my score was one godzillion, and why would the internet lie? ---
**Author:** ![taskmgr.exe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@taskmgr.exe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taskmgr.exe)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/159 "2012-11-28T22:02:49Z")
To seriously answer the question; my lessons used to suck at the beginning of the high school. School consultant told my parents to take me to a psychologist. She made and appointment for IQ test. Thereafter she gave me an IQ test. I scored 126. She just told me I had to study or I’d deeply regret consequences of not studying. I kept not studying. After 1 year, my parents took me to an psychiatrist. He diagnosed with me clinic depression. It was highly likely to be untreatable depression. However, after using some medications given by him to me, I improved my grades significantly. I really was at the top of the list of the class when it comes to grades. What I mean is, no matter how intelligent you’re, if you’re sick in the head (can be psychological or chemical), you can’t accomplish anything. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130/160 "2012-11-28T23:03:40Z")
> [@living\_in\_hell](#): > > Why would anyone think that an online IQ test was reliable when in order to take the test IRL, you need to find someone trained in its highly standardized administration and interpretation? Cuz computers are more consistent than humans and never make mistakes. So they’re better than human administrators and deliver the results much faster. Says I, a guy who’s never had a IQ test. Silly, I know. But my point still stands: if you never had one, how would you know it’s any different from any other standardized test of general knowledge that _can’t_ be administered online? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-iq/642130.md?page=9)