Where to find reliable IQ Tests?

General Questions
#1

Does anyone here know where I could find a good, free, timed, online IQ test (Besides the Mensa Workout). I’m looking for something that would reflect questions you might see on a ‘true’ IQ test. Over the years I’ve taken a few online tests, but my scores have ranged from about 98 to 175. Just a few minutes ago I took one that told me my IQ was 163. I doubt my IQ is anything close to that, but I’d still like to find out.

So can anyone here reccomend a reliable IQ test that is accepted by many people to be accurate?

If you need to know, I’m 18 years old. So no tests that expect you to have a large background in mathematics or english… because they are out there, and hard as hell (my 98 score:).

#2

My Mom’s a school psychologist so I heard a lot of IQ test related chatter growing up. There are some things you should know about IQ tests. (1) They are a diagnostic tool used to help determine either why a child is having difficulty in school or if additional. (2) The scores are not absolute, and can certainly be expected to vary day to day, and from test to test. If you practice taking the IQ tests and become familiar with the questions your score will go up. Will that make you smarter? (3) For the most part the results don’t correspond with success in later life. They are a good indication of how well a child will do in school up until the 12th grade, provided the scores are within a normal range. In other words if your score is below 80 or above 120, all bets are off. A slow child might work hard and develop excellent study habits, wheras a smart child might get lazy or bored and stop paying attention.

My Mom feels that IQ tests are worthless beyond grade school, and greatly prefers non-verbal tests such as the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC), which provides scores for a variety of thought-related skills, and is therefore a much more powerful diagnostic tool.
The idea of a single score defining something as amorphous as inteligence is silly. She would see children with normal IQ’s who couldn’t read, or couldn’t add, and kids with low scores who were far better conversationalists and had lots more on the ball.

You need to establish your smarts based on criteria important to you and what you desire to accomplish in your life. There are people who know a hell of a lot more about crack and heroin than I do, but I don’t admire them for their knowledge.

#3

If you really want to know your IQ, I doubt you can do it online, simply because of the uncontrolled environment. After all, these are standardized tests.

I would recommend that you splurge the $30 and take the Mesna Admissions Test. You get to take 2 IQ tests that are professionally proctored and scored, meet some interesting people that want to get into Mensa, and might qualify yourself.

I took the tests on a fluke and got in. Some Mensans are completely loony, but I’ve also made a couple of good friends.

#4

There are very very few IQ tests that are not biased in some way, usually culturally. I would post why here but it would be easier to sum up and easier for everyone to understand if you read The Mismeasure Of Man.

#5

This reminds me of the time when I worked at a bookstore. My housemate, who was nominally my boss, tossed me one of those “test your IQ” books, saying, “I did pretty well, but it was hard–it took me all day.”

I opened the book up to the first page of the test. The first thing it said was, “you have exactly one hour to complete this test.”

The online IQ tests are even more of a sham than the regular IQ tests are. As someone long ago pointed out right here, why would you pay to be told you’re merely average?

I’ve played with a lot of those online tests. I know what I scored when I was sixteen. There is no way I’ve added twenty to thirty points to that from fifteen years of doing beer bongs, smoking pot, and chasing skirt instead of studying.

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