Who Do You Think You Are? Part II: Online IQ Tests
By Julie C. Roth, Executive Producer
Real-life, professionally administered IQ tests have several sections to measure the various aspects of your intelligence and therefore take a few hours — even days — to complete. Online IQ tests may take anywhere from 13 to 60 minutes to complete and may ask logic, mathematical, analogy, vocabulary, general knowledge or pictorial questions to determine your score.
Here’s what the scores traditionally mean:
- 79 and below — Below Average
80 to 89 — Low Average
90 to 109 — Average
110 to 119 — High Average
120 to 129 — Superior
130 and above — Very Superior
Depending on the test, your scores may vary by as much as 40 points — as mine did — which is a lot, even if each test is measuring only one aspect of your intelligence. On some of these, it may have more to do with the test’s scoring procedures than your level of smarts. So don’t be too upset if you score lower than you expected; the test simply might not be measuring your strong suit.
Some IQ Tests
European IQ Test
Steve Bond, president of Online Psych (AOL Keyword: OLP), recommends this test. The majority of questions contain several diagrams (as above) and ask you to choose which other diagram belongs in the bunch.
Body-Mind QueenDom IQ test
This site is devoted to mental and physical health and offers many psychological tests created by “Cyberia Shrink,” including this IQ test. The test consists mostly of analogies, logic and pattern recognition questions, such as,
- Which one of the following five is least like the other four?
___Cat
___Lion
___Dog
___Turtle
___Elephant
What the test doesn’t measure is “verbal, social or emotional intelligence,” according to the site. Unlike many IQ tests online, this one is scored according to professionally accepted norms.
Virtual Knowledge IQ Test
A maker of testing and educational products prepared this test. I scored the highest on this 20-question test, which mostly asked analogy questions, such as
- Which of the following five makes the best comparison?
AABABABBA is to 112121221 as ABABBAAB is to:
___11211221
___21121221
___12122112
___22112122
___21211222
Majon Cybermall IQ test
Consisting mainly of vocabulary and logic questions, this test was devised by a publisher of GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT and SAT study materials: the Nova Press. I did least well on this one — perhaps so that I’d want to buy the company’s books.
The Self-Discovery Workshop IQ test
The site claims its 13-minute true or false test will provide scores within five points of those administered by professionals. The drawback here is that you must provide your e-mail and/or street address in order to receive your scores, and the company takes that opportunity to send you a sales pitch for a “Complete Personal Intelligence Profile” drawn from your results. So, somewhere on the site they’ve got a record of me and my score. The plus side? If you’re like me, you’ll score phenomenally well on this one — and WANT to buy that profile. (Suspicious? You be the judge.)
The Mensa Workout
So now you’ve taken all these IQ tests, and you think you’re worthy of the Mensa Society? This test may bring you back down to earth. It did me.
Taking all of these tests over a weekend, like I did, may clutter your mind a bit. But any one of them should prove entertaining — and quite possibly enlightening.
(NetGuide originally posted this article on February 22, 1998.)
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