I tried this one - got 142. Don't know how that happened.
And they warn before you start that if your 1st language isn't English, the test is likely to show a lower result than it should.

*gets ready to rule the word*

I don't think those tests prove how smart you are. I've done the MENSA entry test twice and scored in the 150s both times. I am, it must be remembered, a man who once trapped his nipple in a paint roller. Well smart.

I'm not going to attempt the maths test. I was quite good at it at school (B at A-level maths/stats) but I've forgotten how to do most of it. I use a lot of maths in my work but I couldn't do most of it without Excel.

The area of Quebec where I live has consistently the worst high school maths grades in the province. There are a lot of kids in summer school this year.

But theres a difference between smart (your IQ) doing tests like these and having common sense (trapping your nipple in a roller haha)

I have many friends who are smart and have IQ's in the 130-140 range but have about as much common sense a a peanut and also do stuff like trap their nipples in rollers or drill ceramic by taking a run up with the drill on full speed from 3 ft away!! classic.

Not many people have both smarts and common sense.

I'm having trouble picturing that one but it sounds like an excellent way to knacker the ceramic, the drill and the body. If my mitre saw practices are anything to go by, I have the smarts of a newt.

I agree, if you fall for sending money to some society that says you are smart, what does that honestly say about you? There is a lot of argument among psychologists about the validity of the tests as more often then not it says more about what you have been taught.

I grew up in a grammar school area and was groomed at junior school to take the 11+, and when I can be arsed to take these tests I usually score up in the 160 range, although I did get 190 once. Personally I don't think they say much about intelligence at all...although I have never got my nipple trapped in a pain roller. I do participate in "discussions" here though, and that's pretty dumb innit.

Oh yes. It is a waste of time. The first time I did the first self-adminstered test, it was just out of curiosity. I did it again, a couple of years later and under identical conditions, purely as a control. I got almost the same result. I declined both invitations to join.

I took a quick look at the first test linked above, and its bullshit so I didnt bother with it.

Any psychology first year (or even an engineers whos friends with a psychology lecturer) will tell you the questions cant all be text based and linguistic...you will notice real IQ tests will have a range of question types, including numerical and visual / geometric, in order to level the playing field to account for a wide range of cultural and educational backgrounds.

Some of the questions were also very open to interpretation, depending how you chose to read them, which is also a big no no.

I've always wondered about MENSA - I mean, what's the point? A club for supposedly brainy people... you're brainy, you pay money to join MENSA, and err.... maybe you get a magazine with stories about other brainy people?

Maybe they have discos. Can you imagine a MENSA disco?!

"Heeeyyy there darlin', what's a plain, bespectactled but frighteningly intelligent girl like you doing in a place like this?"

You've just outlined my reasons for not joining. I don't like discos.

Yay! I just got my score - 129 Do I get points added if I tell 'em I was bopping away to Steve Wright in the afternoon and eating salad at the same time as doing the test?

That constitutes an 80-point deduction.

I imagine Mensa is full of people who are desperately insecure about the fact that they're not as bright as some of their peers and they're trying to prove something to themselves. I know lots of very intelligent people and none of them are Mensa members; they don't need certification from some silly club.

thats coz they are trying to get in the wrong club

No offence but I doubt you did a proper IQ test then if it gave you a score of 160-190, being as mr average is 90-110 (50% of the population), your average degree grad is 120 and only 0.5% of the population making up the likes of Mr Hawking and Mr Einstein are 140+ I find that score very doubtful unless your Mr Hawking in disguise? but again Intelligence is nowt without common sense.

Lets just say I wish I had a camera at hand!

Well its not for me to judge how smart other people think I am, I'm just telling you the results I had in the past with these online tests...

As I've got older the overall score seem to have gone down. They are age weighted I guess. FWIW I got 29 of 30 of the ones in the second test and it rated me 138... and the one I didnt get was an anagram I couldnt be arsed figuring out after I couldnt see it straight away.