# MENSA Intelligence Test



## nixgeek (Jan 19, 2006)

Hey all.  I thought I would post this for kicks.  I saw it on digg.com and my wife and I thought we would give it a try.

http://www.mensa-test.com/

Give it a go and see how you do.  No time limits at all, but please be honest and post your results (if you want to).

Me: 23/33
Wifey: 29/33

(Yes, I know my wife is smarter than me.....but then again she DID marry me.  ::ha:


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## adambyte (Jan 19, 2006)

I think a better gauge of one's intelligence would be the "workout" on Mensa's official site http://www.mensa.org 

... After taking that test, the site said I would have a "good chance" of passing Mensa's test.

lol this thing on the other hand.... This looks HARD! But I'll give it a go.


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## Zammy-Sam (Jan 20, 2006)

Ufff, I must be stupid.
Am stucked at 9 and I was surprised how tough it was by now. I am giving it up now. *sniff*

Edit, found two more!


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## nixgeek (Jan 20, 2006)

ACtually, this morning I found out that one of the ones I answered and it told me was wrong was in fact correct.  It's the one that says "100 C of a E."  My wife told me that she found the answers and it was exactly what I typed in, but for some reason the page didn't like what I typed.  Go figure....my 23 should actually be a 24.


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## mdnky (Jan 20, 2006)

I didn't get one that said "100 C of a E", though I did get "100 C in a D" (100 cents in a dollar).  Are they randomizing the questions?

Managed to find 21 so far, but I'm out of time (have an appointment).


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## SubaruWRC (Jan 20, 2006)

Let's put it this way, a lot of Hollywood stars and even Paris Hilton are apparently Mensa members, so don't put too much stock into these kinds of supposed tests.


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## nixgeek (Jan 20, 2006)

Well, I just put it up for kicks.  It was fun to do. 

As for the questions, I'm not sure.  I don't think they are since I loaded them up in two separate browsers (the page was giving me some problems).  I think there might be something screwy with the coding since it wouldn't always take my answers that were correct, and then all of a sudden it would.  Strange.


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## Zammy-Sam (Jan 20, 2006)

google scored 33/33!


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## Zammy-Sam (Jan 20, 2006)

Btw, I dare to say it really has nothing to do with intelligence but a lot with general knowlegde. For a non-american and non-christian quite hopeless..
Or am I just trying to justify my bad score?


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## adambyte (Jan 20, 2006)

I agree. Very biased.

<-----Trying to justify my bad score.


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## bbloke (Jan 20, 2006)

I'm on 30 out of 33 right now, and am going insane trying to figure out the last three!

At the moment, I haven't got the answers for numbers: 10, 28, and 30.


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## Esquilinho (Jan 20, 2006)

Well, I'm not a native English speaker and I'm not a christian so I only got 6 right!


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## mdnky (Jan 20, 2006)

Nah, it's definitely skewed a bit Zammy.  Not a good test of intelligence either IMO.  Some people are really good at this kind of thing, others just plain suck at it.  A lot of it depends on your education background (are you more into math and science, or english and history, etc.) and possibly even sheer luck.

As far as the coding...the correct answers disappearing are on purpose.  If you accidently answer wrong and go back and fix something (say misspell a word), then it'll still count it right but show the error kind of grayed out (happened to me with the Fahrenheit).  If it is correct, it clears the box and lightens the border around the box.


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## nixgeek (Jan 20, 2006)

About the answers disappearing, that I knew.  Actually, it would change the red hightlight to a green highlight and dim out the box.

However, when I had the correct answer in the box it didn't switch it.  I later found out that the one I had answered wrong (according to the test) was in fact correct (according to the answers for said test on the MENSA site that my wife found).


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## Mikuro (Jan 20, 2006)

Esquilinho said:
			
		

> Well, I'm not a native English speaker and I'm not a christian so I only got 6 right!


_Not a Christian?!?_ Then you must be...*unintelligent!*  


Caution: Comments on the test ahead. I try to keep the spoilers light, but nevertheless, you might want to skip it if you haven't given the test your best try yet. You have been warned.

Most of the ones I didn't get I really had no chance in hell of getting, because I'd never heard the phrases/facts before in my life. That's always a problem with this kind of thing. Even after reading the answers, I have no idea what one of them means (the last one). The most it really proves is that my knowledge of sports and religions I have no interest in is  surprise, surprise  not very complete! 

It's a neat idea, but any test that relies so heavily on arbitrary knowledge can't really be considered an _intelligence_ test. And I sense a liiiittle bias when there are _three_ questions about the Bible! Sheesh. Especially since anyone who gets one will probably get all three.

I don't think it's biased much towards Americans, though. I see one question I wouldn't expect a non-American to make the connection with, but I see several that I wouldn't expect an American to get. There's a particular sport name they use that simply isn't used in America, and there are other sports that most Americans just wouldn't be familiar with.


And now for some entries of my own design, guaranteed to be biased!

361 P on a F-S G B
4 N T of B
8 B in a B
20 P for each P in S
114 S in the Q

There. Replace 5 of the BS items from the test with _those_ BS items, and I'm firmly in Genius territory!  (Although I'm not sure I'd have gotten that last one if I'd seen it on the test, to be honest. But I had to put it there.)


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## Esquilinho (Jan 20, 2006)

Mikuro said:
			
		

> _Not a Christian?!?_ Then you must be...*unintelligent!*




Err... not wanting to start a religious discussion here, but... what is that supposed to mean???


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## Mikuro (Jan 20, 2006)

Esquilinho said:
			
		

> Err... not wanting to start a religious discussion here, but... what is that supposed to mean???


Darn those vague smilies!  To be clear: I was mocking the people who designed the test for acting as if familiarity with one particular religion equates in any way to intelligence. I was NOT mocking you, or any religion(s)!


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## Esquilinho (Jan 21, 2006)

Mikuro said:
			
		

> Darn those vague smilies!  To be clear: I was mocking the people who designed the test for acting as if familiarity with one particular religion equates in any way to intelligence. I was NOT mocking you, or any religion(s)!



Ah! fiuuu!


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## bbloke (Jan 21, 2006)

Woohoo, I got 33/33 (without cheating or assistance) in the end after coming back from a meeting at work.  

It was going to annoy me if I had to give up yesterday!  I'm not really sure it genuinely tests intelligence, although it could do in some ways and not in others.  

I thought there was a bit of a bias towards Americans, but then again some other questions would have seemed to me to be harder for Americans.  As for the "Christian questions," I'm not really convinced they are biased towards Christians, as I doubt believers would know the relevant answers off the top of their heads anyway; I think they were a bit more "general knowledge"-like.  Non-native English speakers will, in my opinion, have a much harder time with this quiz, to be fair.  I think any language barriers will be by far the largest obstacle.


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## easterhay (May 6, 2006)

Retiring with honour at 29 (though have to admit that 9 P in S A was a total lager-inspired fluke).
This test is definitely skewed away from patagonian agnostics.

Mikuro, I got 8 B in a B, and that scared me off even contemplating the rest. Technospeak baffles me. On second thoughts, a quick try wouldn't hurt, would it?


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## Mikuro (May 6, 2006)

easterhay said:
			
		

> Mikuro, I got 8 B in a B, and that scared me off even contemplating the rest. Technospeak baffles me. On second thoughts, a quick try wouldn't hurt, would it?


8 B in a B is actually the only techy question of mine. The others are based more on (non-American) culture and (non-Christian) religion, to balance out the American/Christian bias of the test. 

Been a while since I wrote that post. Looking at them again, it even took _me_ a while to get them all!


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## easterhay (May 6, 2006)

Ok, cover me, I'm goin' back in for another look. If I'm not out in half an hour, send a search party


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## Amie (May 6, 2006)

Got 32/33. Duh, I must be a genius. Someone has GOT to tell me (before I go lose ALL sanity) what the answer to No. 17 is! I'm sure it's something stupid, but for some reason, I could NOT, for life of me, figure that one out. Argh.


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## easterhay (May 6, 2006)

Ooooh, please, let me show off.....11 players in a football (soccer) team

Ta daaaa!


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## Qion (May 6, 2006)

Just wondering... does anyone know what mensa means in Spanish?

It's an adjective that means (feminine) "stupid". Hehe.


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## easterhay (May 6, 2006)

Mirá vos -  http://www.spanishdict.com/AS.cfm?e=mensa

Todos los días se aprende algo nuevo


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## Amie (May 6, 2006)

easterhay said:
			
		

> Ooooh, please, let me show off.....11 players in a football (soccer) team
> 
> Ta daaaa!


No wonder I missed that one. lol


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## Qion (May 6, 2006)

easterhay said:
			
		

> Mirá vos -  http://www.spanishdict.com/AS.cfm?e=mensa
> 
> Todos los días se aprende algo nuevo



Tienes eso correcto.


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## easterhay (May 6, 2006)

Tal cual. Buenas noches


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## Qion (May 7, 2006)

Quizá debemos tener un foro Español... Pero entonces tendríamos muchas personas que quieran los foros de Galés, Finlandés, Gaélico, etc. 

Sí...


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## easterhay (May 7, 2006)

Justo pensaba en eso anoche - debe haber mucha gente acá que habla español y que se maneja mejor con su propio idioma que con inglés. No sé. Yo me animo - soy inglés pero vivo en Argentina y yo contesto en castellano tranquilamente.
La verdad es que vengo acá (a macosx.com) justamente para poder comunicarme en inglés - pero no implica que no usaría un foro español.
¿Empezamos un thread nuevo para ver si hay necesidad? 
Y por favor, disculpame mis errores de redacción. Y ni hablemos de los acentos, je je!


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## nixgeek (May 7, 2006)

O talves una seccion en espanol en este foro.  Mis padres son de Mendoza, Argentina.  En los 70s, se mudaron para Nueva York e yo naci alli.


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## Qion (May 7, 2006)

Pienso esaterhay tiene un punto bueno. Empezaré un thread nuevo.

(Btw... los acentos son muy fáciles con un Macintosh)


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## easterhay (May 7, 2006)

> (Btw... los acentos son muy fáciles con un Macintosh)


Indeed they are - sadly it's not a question of _how_ to write them, but _where_ to write them. Y ahí mi gramatica me abandona. Bueh...estoy aprendiendo tódávíá, je je
¡hasta el nuevo thread!

y nixgeek: 





> Mis padres son de Mendoza, Argentina. En los 70s, se mudaron para Nueva York e yo naci alli.


Supongo que nuestro aniversario reciente (de los 30 años del golpe de estado del 24 de marzo del 1976) tiene algo que ver con la decisión de tus viejos, no? No es por nada que naciste lejos de la dictadura.

Sí - que tengamos una sección española de este foro. ¡Vamos muchachos!


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## Amie (May 7, 2006)

How did a thread about IQ tests turn into a Spanish thread? lol


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## easterhay (May 7, 2006)

Indeed, we did get rather carried away.
The resulting (new) thread is here: http://www.macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=271637&goto=newpost
Apologies for the linguistic hijacking


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## Amie (May 7, 2006)

No apologies necessary. Not to me, anyway. The mods might be a different story. I thought it was rather humorous.


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## Lt Major Burns (May 7, 2006)

i'm tired, and i can't be arsed.  after two bible questions, and the dollar one, it blatantly biased toward tradidional american culture.

i'll stick to a standard unbiased, logic and maths IQ test...


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## Qion (May 7, 2006)

I've found that the IQ test(s) at Tickle are usually very reliable, if not the best you can take for free on the internet.

I found their "Super IQ Test" quite challenging. (And also quite unbiased)


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