Mensa/IQ Tests and Other Stuff

[Flavus Aquila]

Has anyone else here taken the Mensa test, or other IQ tests?

I took the Mensa test about four weeks ago, and got an email today informing me that I have been accepted as a member.

It kind of shocked me, because when I took the test it was timed and extremely high pressure. There were about six, or eight sections (I can't remember, I was so phazed by the experience), and they would give you something like 7min to answer 50 questions. I only managed to finish one section completely, and had left at least five questions unanswered in all the other sections. The time-pressure was so intense that I was actually shakey/giddy at the end and absolutely certain that I would not have come anywhere near close to qualifying. (I haven't been left shakey by anything in over a decade, except for when my car started drifting out of control on an icy highway in Canada a couple years ago). I had taken IQ and psych tests years ago as part of recruiting, but they never told us any of the results.

Has anyone here taken timed IQ tests?
Has anyone actually finished all the questions?
What kind of freakishly intelligent/quick individual can do all those questions?
Arrrrgh!



If anyone else is an Mensa member, do you actually find it worth being a member? What kind of benefits are there? Is there a stigma about being a member? (They kind of creep me out like the Masons).
(I took the test, just to do something different, and to possibly get a mensa email address, for the the purpose of pissing off some of my friends).

 

[Wyote]

Sure. I'm a spatial genius. Super elite useless skillz right here.

You are right though, it's pretty intense, especially if the answers don't just naturally jump off the page at you (which they should if you're a superior human or ascended indigo golden child or whatever the latest trend is)

 

[Flavus Aquila]

Sure. I'm a spatial genius. Super elite useless skillz right here.

You are right though, it's pretty intense, especially if the answers don't just naturally jump off the page at you (which they should if you're a superior human or ascended indigo golden child or whatever the latest trend is)

Spacial genius isn't useless. You'd make an awesome chemist. Crytalography, and organic chemistry demand it.

 

[Tin Man]

I've never taken the Mensa test, though I've taken other timed IQ tests. My biggest problem with most of them isn't the timer (though it can be intimidating), it's that the first 10 - 20 questions are very easy. So when you finally get to the more challenging ones you're bored. I know it's to get you warmed up, but it's annoying.

I have known a few people who were members of Mensa. It does not sound like a healthy environment. Lots of arrogant, obnoxious people who think their IQ makes them better than everyone else. It might be interesting, but I don't think it's worth the membership fee.

 

[Flavus Aquila]

I've never taken the Mensa test, though I've taken other timed IQ tests. My biggest problem with most of them isn't the timer (though it can be intimidating), it's that the first 10 - 20 questions are very easy. So when you finally get to the more challenging ones you're bored. I know it's to get you warmed up, but it's annoying.

I have known a few people who were members of Mensa. It does not sound like a healthy environment. Lots of arrogant, obnoxious people who think their IQ makes them better than everyone else. It might be interesting, but I don't think it's worth the membership fee.

The test I took had a similar layout: easy first, the difficult last. I was too tense to get bored; the proctor was watching me like a hawk, to make sure I didn't scribble anything in the way of working solutions on paper. She was also very abrupt and loud when giving the one minute warning, and the pens-down directive.

Even though I have been accepted, I am yet to pay for annual membership. I am wary of any petty snootiness, bad manners, or impatience. I won't prejudice my experience and will go into my first meeting and/or dinner with an open mind. I'll post my experiences here.

I expect it to be awkward, as MBTI is probably a better entree to social compatibility, than IQ. (Introverted intuitives are more likely to be high IQ, so there might be some simpatico outlooks).

 

[Poetic Justice]

I've taken several IQ tests and have gotten scores ranging from 112 to 176. Meh. I don't know what to think
I've never taken the mensa one though. Did you have to pay to be tested?

 

[Wyote]

I honestly think that there's nothing particularly special about Mensa members other than they've had a life that has enabled them to achieve to a greater degree than some others. This is why your experience is going to vary from chapter to chapter. I've heard some say they've had great groups and others say it was just a bunch of assholes. Sometimes there are hierarchies that form within chapters and some people don't really like that. Just because a person is super good at calculus or verbal skills, it does not make them equipped for anything else at all. Even people who do well on all sections don't necessarily have any social ability, civility or cultural discernment.

I've known a couple of people in the triple nine society that have enjoyed the experience, I think it may have a more welcoming mentality. I'm sure the experience there also varies, though.

 

[Tin Man]

I honestly think that there's nothing particularly special about Mensa members other than they've had a life that has enabled them to achieve to a greater degree than some others. This is why your experience is going to vary from chapter to chapter. I've heard some say they've had great groups and others say it was just a bunch of assholes. Sometimes there are hierarchies that form within chapters and some people don't really like that. Just because a person is super good at calculus or verbal skills, it does not make them equipped for anything else at all. Even people who do well on all sections don't necessarily have any social ability, civility or cultural discernment.

I've known a couple of people in the triple nine society that have enjoyed the experience, I think it may have a more welcoming mentality. I'm sure the experience there also varies, though.

Very true. Most of the people I know who joined had a fairly negative experience, but I've also heard of some very positive experiences. Where people found the environment friendly and mentally intriguing.

I think it's worth giving the first meeting a go. To see whether it's an environment you might enjoy. And even if most are rude and arrogant, there still may be one or two people there who would be worth meeting.

 

[Gaze]

I almost had the test done a few years back but copped out. Based on the most official version of an IQ test, I would not get into Mensa. Although I really wanted to be a genius. I've also wondered about the benefits of belonging to a high IQ organization. And as some have already stated, it probably depends on the members. I don't have a negative view of being high IQ or someone being a member of an organization. It's a matter of what you do with the IQ. There are organizations whose goal is to help members better understand how to use their intellectual advantage for advancement of knowledge, and benefit of others. And if you're able to find a group you connect with, who shares similar values, and allows you to feel you can accomplish more by being a member, then go for it. The experience is what you make it.