• Question: Is there a more accurate way of measuring intelligence than an IQ test? I ask this because I have always wanted to know how smart i really am and i have tried so many online IQ tests. The results vary enormously! One said 97, one said 144! I think these are both ridiculous. The average for my age is 115. Could you help please!!!

    Asked by darkmatter8 to Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim, Tom on 29 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 29 Jun 2012:

      You cannot measure intelligence, only capability of doing certain things (which changes all of the time). IQ tests are used on young children in the USA to guess how successful somebody might be. A better test for this is the ‘delayed gratification test’ where you give a child a sweet and tell them that if they keep hold of the sweet, they will be given another. Then you walk out the room. Children that eat the sweet, aren’t so successful on average as the ones who wait and get to eat 2 sweets.

      I don’t think any such test is of any value.

    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 29 Jun 2012:

      You can train yourself to get a higher score at IQ tests by practising them. I think this means that they’re a flawed way of measuring intelligence. Of course, the problem solving and pattern matching skills that you need to do well in IQ tests are the same skills that make people good scientists and engineers!

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