Is an IQ Test fairly Measure Your Intelligence?

These days we have the same serious problem when we try to measure IQ, and something more important is how IQ can relate to the successes and achievements in this world. There is a problem which is considered as one of the biggest is that people teach their young adults and kids how to figure out and score high in the questions of the IQ test , and parents send their children to weekend camps in high school to help them score high on the SAT test and the likes.

In college or universities, students buy test question books of MENSA and then study them in the library for weeks or even months, and after that go to take the tests in order to see who of them is the most intelligent. Well, they ended up doing all this by fooling themselves in the assessments of IQ test. In brief, everyone can easily pass the test if they have known the questions all along, or they have done many similar questions so that they know every the trap and trick.

The UTNE Reader, a famous American magazine, published in 2009 an article whose title was "Stupid people of high IQ" by Gordon Bennett. It rally hit the nail right on public's head, and there is a funny quote in this article making much sense: ''Here there is no standard test to measure the ability of people for rational thought. New Scientist magazine highlighted the work of Keith Stanovich, the author of "What an IQ test miss", who believed a test which measured "rationality quotient" can be useful to measure how intelligent people are.

And in fact, I think these mentioned articles and comments are absolutely right. These things are exactly what I have thought and I am very amazed that people of high IQ cannot solve easy problems. 

Which is better: an IQ Test or an EQ Test?

Emotional intelligence (as better known as EQ) is considered as one of the most useful method to predict success. Many studies, in fact, show that a high score of an EQ test is a better gauge of the success then a high score of an intelligence quotient (as better known as IQ) test. For example, Richard Branson with dyslexia could not write and read normally as his classmates in school, however he has been one of the wealthiest people in this world for many years. Certainly you now have a question in mind: why is that?

To answer this question, there are a few reasons. However the major reason why EQ is the better gauge is since it can indicate how much an individual can change and manage his actions in daily life. An IQ test does not indicate this, it only indicate how fast an individual can perform problem-solving on paper. In addition, EQ can indicate how an individual can deal with situations in real life.

Another difference between an IQ test and an EQ test is that EQ could measure how well you can react and deal with others. To create or lead a successful business, an individual needs the ability to have efficient and effective workers to do his or her work. In order to do this best, he or she has to make people work together in harmony and this requires him or her ability to manage the emotions of many people. An individual with high EQ can manage efficiently this in comparison to another with lower EQ. This is a thing that an IQ test cannot do.

In addition, people who can handle with the emotions of other people well and in general have better relationships romantically and socially. People with high IQ are more likely to be socially abnormal or anti-social. People with high EQ are more likely to be more accepted in this society.

Why Not Need an IQ Test to Get into College?

With all the different things which are needed during the process of applying for college, some wonder whether they need to take the IQ test to get in. And the answer for those is NO. This seems to be not very trustful, because you think that colleges want to know how intelligent their students are. However, do you think that a high IQ score dose not have any relation to your success in college?

The way colleges determine if you will be successful in their colleges or not is by the your score of ACT or SAT, by your writing quality, and your results in your high school or in your current college in case you want to be transferred. They do not require any IQ test, even though this idea has come up in several online forums. Some think that maybe IQ can help reduce the number of dropouts from college. So far, there is no college takes this route.

Your ability of solving problem is measured on an ACT or SAT test and can be a very good gauge of how well you will study in college. The IQ may be not necessarily a good gauge of how well you can study in college, though it is used casually to determine what you can achieve and how far you can go in life.

The reason colleges do not use any IQ test for their determination is virtually unknown. They simply have not done that before, and nobody has made up the idea good enough for people to make that. Likely if you do not have an IQ score high enough in order to get into college, your future is completely dark. If you really have the desire, drive, GPA as well as standardized test scores in order to get into college, your future will be great.

Got a high Score of an IQ Test? You are still not Smarter than Anyone!

Here is an example of the different kinds of intelligence. Suppose you are in the room with full of friends. And suppose that you just got a great score of 160 of the IQ test in this morning and now you feel very proud of yourself. Well, a friend comes and says, "Hey, have you heard that Paul could talk his way out of a stolen car this morning?” You just think, “Guy, how would a person is able to talk his way out of such situation?” Then you remember that John was born and grown up in tough streets of the town and have a savvy which only comes with this type of background.

Do you think it is fair if you think that you are more intelligent than Paul? Well, you do but just in some certain aspects. But what do you think if Paul says that he is "street-smarter" than you? Probably it is true. So we can say that a person may be smarter than another in a certain field but the other may be smarter than you in another field. But who is more intelligent? This is the point which makes the answer more complex. You, who got great 160 score in an IQ test, and Paul, who get a controversial 100 score, who is more intelligent? You may think that the answer would surely be you, based the score of the IQ test. However is it fair when you say you have more general intelligence?

What about children who have Down's syndrome? Many people may speak out loud "I am surely smarter than all of them". That may be true as it comes to problems as well as problem solving, but not all. For example, some with Down's syndrome are able to sing any song they once heard. So, what I mean is, do not say you are more intelligent than anyone.