Obviously not me, with my metric brain. 
Can i just officially and unequivocally call “bullshit” on internet IQ tests?
I just took three separate ones, and scored over 165 on all of them. Now, i consider myself a reasonably intelligent, with-it sort of guy, but having taking a WAIS test a few years back, and having had the psychologist explain some stuff about it to me, i know a few things:
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My IQ, as measured by a WAIS test, is nowhere near the 165 level
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The true/false or yes/no format adopted by at least some of these online tests is a ridiculous way to assess someone’s intelligence.
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The online tests do not have anywhere near the variety of questions that a proper WAIS test does (or any other recognised test, i’ll bet).
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(This one’s just a hunch) I’m willing to bet that the on-line tests crank up people’s scores just to get them to fork out ten or fifteen bucks for a certificate.
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Actually reading an IQ test to determine what it says about someone is significantly more complicated than just giving a numerical score. For example, on a WAIS test, there are two main sections, Verbal and Performance. Verbal has six sub-categories, and Performance has five. Those who want to see what a WAIS scoresheet looks like after it’s been filled out can go here. (The scoresheet is not mine, BTW. It belongs to an internet journal-keeper named Michelle. If you want to read her own impressions of the test, and of her performance, go here.)
For example, the psychologist who tested me told me that my verbal score was considerably higher than my performance score. Based on my scores, she outlined a bunch of things which i would probably be good at, other things at which i would be not so proficient. And she got it pretty spot on. The simple recital of a number doesn’t mean a great deal without professional interpretation.
It’s riighhhtt about here Mrs. Gump.
I’ve taken a few tests and the results have been between 129-147.
I’ve taken a few tests and the results have been between 129-157.
Rick’s Law:
*
In any Internet thread about IQ scores, the average claimed IQ score will be 25 points higher than the real average IQ of the people participating in the thread.*
I really don’t think people realize how high, and how rare, a 150-160 IQ is. The average IQ being claimed here is simply not possible.
Another thing I specifically remember about the tests I took for Mensa was that they were timed. I have never seen an internet IQ test that was timed. I have also never seen an internet IQ test that didn’t ask for an email address and several marketing facts. If everyone here really had those 160 IQs that would answer their questions about how valid those online tests are!
The only thing is, RickJay, how do you come up with your average 150-160?
I wouldn’t be surpised if my IQ has lowered a bit due to having a TV on pretty much whenever I’m home and not sleeping. 
My kid has been assessed twice with an IQ test. The first one took 3/4 of an hour and was untimed. He blew through it very fast. The psych took 2 hours to interpret the scores and write a report.
The one done last year took 3 hours for the timed test and another hour for achievement tests. The neuropysch took 3 hours to do the report and interpretation of her findings. It cost $700. That’s way cheaper than it costs in the US BTW.
Weird to think I could have just gotten him to spend 15 minutes on the internet and then could say he’d done an IQ test ;).
The internet IQ tests claim to give scores which no adult IQ test individually administered by a psychologist is currently capable of giving. The Weschler tests top out at 160 for children – I’m not sure of the ceiling for the WAIS but it will be lower than the WISC III.
Another data point is that any IQ score gained from group testing is suspect. It’s not as reliable as individual testing.
I stand by my choice, IEatFood! ! LOL
Yikes! Where does everyone get their ideas that this is low?? The average person who takes an IQ test is around 110 or 120, I believe I heard. That’s not low! It’s just not genius…can come on, how many people actually are geniuses?
I’ve taken several internet tests (including one they had on tv in france) and I think I’ve been variable between 120 and 140. You don’t have to be 200 to be intelligent! Most people never make it near there!
ok so I guess what I’ve said people have already posted. That’s what I get for not reading the whole thread! doh!
Just have to correct a couple of things:
- The average IQ is 100 because that’s what it means. Average. Of course that means of the entire population, including those who are severely handicapped (or whatever the correct term is these days).
- Other than at 100, the IQ score alone means nothing unless you know on what test it was scored. A 135 on one test does not necessarily mean the same thing as on a different test, which leads to:
- The qualification for Mensa is the top 2% of the population as measured on an approved, standardized, and appropriately monitored test. This will most likely be a different IQ number on different tests.
- If you don’t have prior evidence from a standardized test, such as may have been administered in school or in the military, or from a licensed psychologist, Mensa sponsors proctored group IQ tests. Typically, this consists of taking two standardized tests under the direction of someone who has been determined to be qualified to do so.
- In order to qualify for Mensa membership, one needs to pass only one of the two proctored tests. If your most fluent language is not the one available for the test, or if you have some other situation that would make the test unfair for you, there is an alternate “Culture Fair” test available, too.
These and other bits of info about the organization can be found at:
http://www.mensa.org/
MLS is right, except for one thing:
IQ-scores do tend to creep up over time. Just after a test is calibrated, the average IQ is indeed 100. After some years, in which thousands of people take the test the average IQ rises slowly. I do not know if the average can reaches up to **Sivalenses ** 110-120, but it could well be. Usually the test is by then again revisited and recalibrated.
hijack
Explanations for this bizarre phenomenon abound. Some believe we get just smarter all the time; some say we get more used to test-like situations. The most interesting explanation I have heard comes from Rupert Sheldrake. It is called the theory of “morphic resonance” . Sheldrake claims that everything that is done many times by many people (like learning the alphabet)just becomes easier, even for someone who has never heard of the alphabet. Things that happen leave an imprint in the universe, like a path through a thicket that makes walking along it easier because of the many feet that have tred before you.
/end hijack
That’s the Flynn Effect, the rising of IQ over time. Tests are renormed to balance for the effect. The WPPSI-R has just been renormed and gotten a new name. There’s a new Stanford Binet out in April. Most of the stunningly high scores (if not all of them) that have been around recently have been obtained using the Stanford Binet LM, a test which hasn’t been renormed for 30 years. While this test is extensively used by psychs who specialise in testing profoundly gifted children, it’s not widely accepted by other psychs.
I just took the proctored Mensa test on Saturday (March 15). They do NOT call it an IQ test, nor does Mensa provide you with an IQ ‘score’ - all you will receive is a notice of pass/not pass. The tests are mailed off to the Mensa headquarters in Houston, TX, where they are scored by a psychologist, and it takes two to three weeks to receive your results. As MLS has already stated, there are two tests - a short timed one, and a longer multi-section timed one. A high enough score on either test will qualify you for membership.
In many (or most) states it is illegal for anyone but a licensed psychologist to give and score an actual IQ test, which is why Mensa doesn’t actually ‘do it’ - they simply have ‘Mensa admission tests’. I have no idea whether or not I did well on the test, as I don’t know what number of correctly answered questions is considered ‘good’.
Also, I’m not sure when some of the posters tested with Mensa, but apparently the test I just took is quite different from the one others are reporting. I don’t know when the changes were made, but it is definitely not the same. 'Nuff said on that subject - anyone who wants to know what the test is like now will just have to take it and see for themselves. 
I’d also like to mention that the Mensa I encountered Saturday is quite different from the Mensa I met 20 years ago (and had no interest in joining). The test-takers were invited to spend the remainder of Saturday attending various Mensa functions (this was a regional blow-out of some sort). I was the only test-taker who stayed! But as I was desperate to meet and talk with some genuine real-life intelligent folks, they would have had to run me out with a stick, anyway.
I had one of the best times of my life! Wow! And of course, now that I’d give my left tit to be a member I’ll probably score too low on the test. Oh well, I’ve been invited to another Mensa party while I’m still officially in ‘limbo’, so I’ll take whatever I can get until my mental inadequacy is exposed.
Those online tests: I see that this has been mentioned, somewhat, by others here, but I also wanted to point out that nearly all of those online IQ tests also include an attempt to sell you something - because of this I automatically assumed the scores would be artificially inflated. And some of them are clearly ridiculous - no real IQ test is going to ask you whether a movie quote should be attributed to Mel Gibson or Clint Eastwood! And tests that ask questions about authors of classic literature, artists of various sorts, and other ‘rote memory’ questions are not testing intelligence, they are testing education - two totally different things.
The International High IQ Society has some pretty nifty online tests and are supposedly trying to have at least a couple of them scientifically validated. They have one that is just for people who have IQs over 140 - which is probably true, as I looked through it and found two questions that I might be able to answer, given enough time! I’m pretty sure I don’t even approach an IQ of 140 - I’ll be lucky to scrape over that 130 mark for Mensa. Some of you smarter folks ought to hop over there and try it out!
My apologies for bumping this after a couple of weeks of no interest, but I just couldn’t resist posting the results of my Mensa test.
I received my results Tuesday: “Your Mensa Admissions testing has been scored and, based on the percentile rank, you qualify for admission to Mensa.”
Woohoo! I made it! I’m now Officially Smart [sup]TM[/sup].
As I mentioned previously, Mensa isn’t allowed to provide an actual IQ score - they can only say that the test-taker scored in the top 2% of the population. However, supposedly one’s IQ must be at least 130 to qualify.
My therapist seems more excited than I am (I got a 6-exclamation-point congrats e-mail), but my soon-to-be-ex-husband is flabbergasted!
Ah, some moments in life are sooooo sweet.
Congratulations, coosa. BTW, the reason they don’t give you an “IQ score” is that the actual score is not really meaningful unless it is accompanied by the name of the test administered. A 130 on one test does not mean the same thing as a 130 on another.
I have the same impression about something close to 130 being “the average”, although it should be 100. But then again, those are US IQ tests. I was tested in Europe and scored 128, so I guess I have 158 in reality
Or perhaps I should reverse the definition: I can do everything a 100 year old person can, so my IQ should be 385
As for RickJay’s remark - IQ Tests really are meaningless, it’s all a combination of practise, luck and cheating plus a little bit of intelligence added to the mix for good measure.
When talking to people and seeing whether they can (and how fast they) grasp a new problematic, I can gauge their intelligence fairly well. But of course it’s a subjective method.
Congratulations, coosa! If that’s something you wanted, I’m glad you got it.
IQ=Intelligence Quotient. As in divided by 100. That’s what I have always understood, anyway. 100 is average. It shouldn’t be surprising that the average IQ posted here is above 100. Start off with people that are at least slightly computer literate, and that enjoy this message board, and you don’t have a very “average” sample of the general population.
My .02 worth.