Probably you are familiar with term IQ test. You find them everywhere, in particular in ladies magazines. Or just google ‘IQ tests’ and you will get as many as you like. A number of more or less difficult questions will pop up and you have to figure out the appropriate answer. Enter the answers and the site will respond with an estimated score. Neat and simple.

To start over, what is an IQ test really? And what does the score mean? IQ is the ‘Intelligence Quotient’, a measure of how smart you are compared to the whole population. It’s supposed to give you an idea of how well you’ll do at a certain profession or how well you’ll perform academically.

The basic concept of an IQ test is to estimate how well the brain solves problems in paper form. Written problem solving is the core idea of IQ tests. The raw test scores are then compared to other persons. It is the most used method to measure human intelligence.

IQ 100 is defined as the average of the whole population. Any score over 100 means you are more intelligent than average. A score below 100 tells that you are less intelligent than average.

Positive sides of the IQ test

• Employment Let’s say you’re hiring someone for a new job. One way to get a better understanding of the candidate’s capabilities would be to let them take an IQ test. You could select the type of test to use. These may be more related to the type of work involved. A high score would indicate the candidate is well suited for the position. Some candidates who would probably not be able to do the work could be screened out this way.
• Academic admission You could get potential students to sit for an IQ test to gauge their intelligence in addition to their SAT scores. As there are often fewer places than applicants, this could be an additional screening tool. That way there is a better chance to pick the top performers and weed out students with less potential.

Negative sides of the IQ test

• IQ tests are far from infallible though Many people who score well in IQ tests may not perform well in real life situations. They didn’t rise high enough or fast enough up the corporate ladder.
• Other factors may be more important College students who initially showed promising scores on their IQ test ended up not being so hot when they sat their term papers. Studies have found out that a student’s self-discipline is a better gauge of how well they’ll do at college or high school. Relying only on smartness is not enough you must put whatever IQ you have to work to do really well. Quite often students who made a stellar performance with little work at lower levels fare less well as courses become more difficult, as they are not used to work and become discouraged when they do not immediately understand.

• Many abilites are not measured by IQ testsLeadership is one area which is not measured by IQ tests Another area not covered is your emotional intelligence, also called EQ, how good you are at handling other people and relationships. There is also the theory of multiple intelligences, that defines 8 different aspects of intelligence that you may have to varying degrees. So your IQ score may not be the only defining factor in your overall intelligence.

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