IQ

I keep getting bugged by Facebook to take their IQ test. As a member of Mensa and other high IQ groups, I am always interested in IQ tests. If you are too, I would suggest a book I just finished. The Big Book of IQ Tests by Norman Sullivan and Philip J. Carter. Its a great book, but I must warn you... these guys are "puzzle fiends".. and you will get a massive workout taking their tests.

Based on their scoring system.. with average being 100: I scored (variously) at 118, 132 150, 169, and 182. Now, according to research about the Stanford-Binet scoring system, which used to be the normal test that all school kids in Massachusetts took in the 4th grade: the average medical doctor has an IQ of 120. Under that system, 132 is considered "genius level" and 2% of the population should have that score. (According to that, there must be 20 million geniuses in China and 6 million in the U. S.)

A 2% level or above in any recognized IQ test will get you a membership in Mensa. A 1% level will get you a membership in Intertel (not an International Police or Spy organization.) High scores on College Entrance Examinations might get you in also. Especially the LSAT.. except, for some reason, there aren't that many lawyers in Mensa. (I wonder why.) ;0)

I have always been good at taking tests and have always scored high. (Except for my first IQ test in the 4th grade, where Miss Savage reduced all my scores until they met her expectations for students in her jurisdiction. This is another story that I love to tell, and if I haven't already covered it in a blog yet.. I will.) Armed with these scores, I joined Mensa and Intertel and a couple of other groups of lesser renown.

Good test takers run in my family. Once, I took an Australian IQ test, supposed to be the toughest one around. There were only 10 essay questions. I was given credit for getting all questions right. And guess what.. my "long lost Brother" (another blog subject) took the same test and got 9 of the questions right. We had not conferred with each other about the test. I think that the Australian author wasn't prepared for two Americans to get such a high score, and went back to the "drawing board"... and hasn't been heard of since. (He never did learn that we were brothers. I have another brother.. and I bet he would do as well.. and my sister as well.)

We owe it all to the fact that we had the same super-intelligent mother. Thanks, Ma!

I know, this all sounds like bragging. Maybe so, but I haven't even told you about other people who have recorded astronomical IQ's, like Elaine's daughter and my three kids. 80)