Published on 12, July, 2020
does anyone else feel this because i feel like out of anyone i know that i'm the dumbest and that i can never be as smart as everyone else and that i won't be able to get a good career because of this. i just feel like my IQ doesn't measure up to others.
It genuinely depends on what sort of IQ test you have gone through. I had a dyslexia assessment at Uni and they use a different one. If I had 2% more I could have joined Mensa.
When I studied Sociology we found that IQ tests, particularly the standard ones are biased. Biased in terms of it favours those with favourable backgrounds.
Check out Henry Wrinkler and what he says about it all. You will feel reassured.
It's interesting that different ethnic groups in Britain have collective strengths and weaknesses when it comes to GCSE grades and subjects taken. South Asians collectively show strength in science and maths but rarely do they take music for GCSE and the few who do tend to come from affluent professional families.
I have wondered if certain tests favour or disfavour people from different backgrounds.
I remember a job interview aptitude test where the maths paper was based around economics scenarios like retail price indices. A person with a foundation level GCSE in maths who had studied economics would almost certainly have done better than a person with an A Level in maths who had never studied economics before.
The maths was quite easy, mostly just KS2, but the scenarios obfuscated the questions.
When I took my Mensa test at age 23, I was an academic nonce. I'd failed everything at school. My mind was still pretty much that of a child. I knew absolutely nothing outside of my own small world. I didn't know anything about grammar, algebra, trigonometry, geometry. I didn't know how to use a slide rule, or even a pocket calculator. I knew hardly any history. The sciences were all lost on me. In many cases, that's still pretty much how it is. I know what a noun, a verb and an adjective is. I'm pretty good at mental arithmetic. I can add, subtract and divide. I know that pi is 3.14159265 etc. I know that the Norman conquest was in 1066. I know the difference between Catholicism and Protestantism. But there isn't much else. At 58, my mind is still pretty much a scrapbook. I know lots about little, and little about lots. When I took that test, though, I scored 148... and I know that some of the questions would have been easier for me if I'd had something more than basic mathematical, grammatical and scientific knowledge. So I often wonder just how 'neutral' they really are.
For me these tests are an amusing enjoyable pastime, not to be taken seriously.