Mensa Test
 

I've really wanted to join Mensa since I was a kid and heard about this super-exclusive club for smart people. I never could justify it until I moved to a city where I don't know anyone, and am now trying to network for my job *and* to find new friends. Now, the entrance fee seems pretty worth it to me, so I'd like to give the test a shot.

I need to be in the 98th percentile to get in. The trouble is, my score on the practice test was around 90th percentile. Granted, I was distracted and at work when I took it (you're supposed to be devoting your full attention and alone, because it's timed), so I don't know how much I can trust that score. I was just impatient, and really should've waited to take it, because I paid $18, and that link only works once.

Just in case I'm actually hovering around 96th-98th percentile, I want to know how I can "boost" my abilities a bit before the test. I know about all the "get a good night's rest and eat a good breakfast," but are there any drills or things that might improve my time? A lot of the questions were pattern-recognition, so has anyone taken any tests that test your pattern recognition skills and then explain the answer?

I take the actual test in May, so I would like to have enough pattern practices, and also do some refresher stuff with math and vocab. Any suggestions?

drown yourself in questions. tape up practice tests to the inside of your shower, in front of your toilet. plaster your tv with them so that the questions are no longer hard, but rather a part of every day life so that way when it comes time to take the test you wont have to rise to the occasion, but rather sit in a chair and do what you've been doing anyways

I like this, if only to confuse and baffle my roommate. I imagine that he would try to figure them out, similar to how he will often play any sheet music I leave up on the piano.

Really, though--I do spend enough time on the computer that I think that some drills on here would suffice.

Which test did you take? I just took this one: Mensa Workout | Mensa International and apparently I need to play more scrabble, as my only misses were the two anagrams. I did it quick though, I might have been able to figure them out eventually...guess i need to brush up on my word whomp. If there is a specific type of question you have trouble with, find a bunch of those and drill on them. It's not a knowledge test, it's an IQ test, so you can't exactly study for it traditionally (or it would be worthless as a metric), although you can practice the types of skills they are asking you to demonstrate.

Oh, I don't know how I overlooked that one, will have to use that one for practice. Here's the one I took: https://www.us.mensa.org/AM/Template.../mht_intro.cfm

Wait, it's $20, just to take their test? If I get the 'right' score, do I get in? If not, do not want...either way, not doing it here at work.

I assume that you already checked through the alternate entry methods: American Mensa | Qualifying Test Scores

I could get in on my SAT scores, for instance. If I lost my wife somehow, I'd probably try MENSA.

If you can't even find your wife, maybe they shouldn't let you in ;)

I got in.
I didn't study.
Or do anything.
If you did okay on the ACTs, you'll be fine.
A lot of it is paying attention to the instructions.
S read them wrong on one section, chose the answers from the wrong line ("For question 1 select your answers from line N, for question 2 select your answers from line B, etc") and blew the test, because he did better than me on the entire rest of the test.
And comprehension... they play you a tape you have to recall later.
It's really not as hard as the online IQ tests and those silly things.

Any benefits to being a member? What's your experience so far? Do you put it on your resume, or is that pretentious?

I have. Unfortunately, I haven't taken any of those tests, so I have to take the mensa one.

Thanks, this is helpful. Unfortunately, I haven't taken the ACT, so I'm not sure how I would do. I didn't graduate high school (although I did get an honors GED), so I haven't taken the SAT or ACT. I was consistently in the 99th and 98th percentile in my elementary and middle school testing, though, so I'm hopeful that not much has changed, and that brushing up on my math and vocab stuff will be enough to polish my proficiency.

The way I figured it, if the practice test is a good indicator for how well I will do on the actual test, it was worth the $20 to potentially save me the $40 later (if, for instance, I scored less than 80th percentile on the practice test, I wouldn't even bother with the real one). I am comfortable enough with my practice test score to go on and try the real one, though--just not completely confident enough to take a gamble like that without doing a bit of preparation. Not because of the cost, but because I can only take the real test once.

I wouldn't bother, purplelirpa. Mensa should be smart enough to not be so elitist.

telekinetic, if stuffy parties populated by pretentious pretenders are a benefit, sure there are.

I solved them all and spent a few extra minutes clicking through to make sure it got all my answers. The Internet is broken.
Oh, so my 150 on the WISC III counts? 5 standard deviations is a pretty big deal.
And my disappointing 1370 SAT score even counts?

If you guys are so goddamn smart... how come I'm here? My IQ is clearly two standard deviations below average.

I just put C for everything and they made me grand puba of Mensa.

Average is fine. I still want filtherton for intercourse in an elevator. After a party?

Every single mensa member that I have ever met, sadly without a single exception, has been a pretentious ass, and more importantly an ass that had done nothing useful with their vaunted intellect.... I say join some kind of club with real people in it....

True purpose of MENSA is to make money IMO. Its possible it started with good intentions but that's hard to see.


1: So let's start a club!
2: Sounds good, what's it for?
1: Uhhhh its for smart people...we'll make 'em take a test and everything!
2: err OK, but what's the club actually do?
1: Its fer smart people!
2: ya...you said that.
1: We'll have meetings and membership dues all across the country!
2: But what's it for? I mean the purpose of its meetings...
1: Smart people!
2: ....
2: I mean what's the point, why do they get together?!
1: Cause they're smart!
2: *walks away*

I always understood it to be a meat market, which is why I would join only if I were to become single.

Why not just chase a hot doc? Smarts, AND money.

/Sugarmomma'd! :D

===============================

Honestly...I think I qualify for the mensa club based on my IQ scores. But I'm about as useless as people get. Perhaps I ought to join so I can find my very own sugarmom....:D

I've always been afraid of IQ tests. I think I'd get destroyed by the math and patterns, because they hurt my brain.

I think overall I'd score average to above average.

Oh, and I'm pretty useless too.

I was forced to do an IQ test once. I think I got 142, apparently 100 is the average score, and 200 is the best, so 142 makes me in the top 29% of intellectuals. I'll take that. Solidly in top 1/3 of society!

Of course I would never join an elitist organisation like MENSA, I find the very idea of it appalling. Apparently from what I just read on Wikipedia if you have to be in the top 2% to join... so I guess I wont ever have to worry about joining it!

These MENSA characters might think they are smart, but I bet if me and an average MENSA member were to both drink 10 pints of beer and have a fist fight outside a kebab shop I'd beat his arse and then have not-really-attractive-but-drunk girls holding me back going "leave it, he isnt worth it" and so on while he was laid out taking a nap on the pavement...

Did you seriously just say "I scored a 142 out of 200 on an IQ test...therefore I'm in the top 29%?" About anything else, I'd yawn and move on, but demonstrating a basic lack of understandings about distributions while talking about your abnormally-high IQ needs commentary.

The test average is 100, and the standard deviation is 15, and it's normally distributed, so a 142 would put you in the top 0.26%...as in, smarter than 99.74% of the population.
*bites tongue*

Thank you for repeatedly confirming for me that you are literally the only person on TFP I have zero desire to meet in person, and in fact would actively avoid. Aggression issues, you has them.

I'm really glad you haven't met me.
Because I'm obviously an ass that has done nothing useful with my vaunted intellect. anyone who has met me knows this.

It's on my CV, it looks good, I enjoy the magazine, I don't go to the meetings (many long grey ponytails of both genders with birks and socks at mine), but I do take advantage of the discounts and membership plusses. Plus, sometimes it's nice to say, "look what I can do." I've had conversations with other Mensa members and it's nice to talk with people that use grown-up words. And don't care when I use them or when I say, "Fuck off."

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/7853/adamrj.jpg

so sayeth the lord... :)

Did it bleed?:thumbsup:

There are different IQ tests that have different grades. I had to take one when I was 23 and I started my job... they explained pretty clearly that the score you got wasnt "stand alone" but related to the average and graded you compared to other people.

0 is brain dead, 100 is average, 200 is top.

142/200 makes me the 29th cleverest man out of 100

Its pretty obvious, even to a man who aint clever enough for MENSA that to be in the top 1% you'd have to get 198!

_

As for my aggression issues... its just a joke about dealing with feelings of inadequacy. Its a response to claims of superiority. I say the same sort of thing if a girl describes another man as good looking, that I would when people go on about join a club I'm not clever enough to get into... I would have though the scenario was silly enough that it wouldnt sound like a genuine intention.

I dont want to be cleverer than 98% of people. I am happy to be cleverer than average but nothing special. If there are some people who get kicks out of wearing a badge that says "I'm better than most people" (and genuinely, what else can MENSA mean?).... its there choice, thats a statement of their personality... Im not saying its wrong, Im just saying its not me.

In any case I consider myself "special" in other wats. It is my genuine belief that I have more Y chromosones than a normal male. Probably 4 Y chromosones. This is scientifically possible. It is likely that I do not have an X chromosone at all (which is partly feminine)... I havent researched that part scientifically, but if I was analysed by science I suspect there is a good chance I have no X, my chromosones are YYYY. It is interesting to speculate whether I was born XYYY and the abnormal levels of testostorone in my body transferred the X into another Y.

Anyway, I dont want to derail your thread about how clever all you MENSA chaps are, so thats really a whole other discussion.

I will settle with:

I have taken an IQ test, and as I understand it I am not clever enough for MENSA

I dont want to be in MENSA anyway

I wouldnt bother studying for it, or putting any effort into it... if you want to improve yourself (which is a noble desire) learn a trade or a skill that will get you somewhere in life or bring you pleasure - learn a musical instrument, learn to carve wire, learn to rewire a house...

I was a member for a long time, really MENSA seems mostly about people fulfilling the TV Stereotypes for really no reason other than publically demonstrating that they can. They had a new member featured on the cover of the newsletter once, she had a few pretty conservative tattoos and piercings.

I'd say easily the majority of members who saw that picture more or less godwinned themselves with how violently they reacted to her. I doubt they've changed much since then.

I think MENSA is pretty much the defining example of why computational abilities of various kinds should not be directly equated with being "smart".

Lirpa, since this thread has gotten mightily derailed, honestly, I think that you'll do fine. Boosting math and vocab can be done with ACT or SAT study guides, but the whole test is more about thinking a little more abstractly.
Regardless of what people think about Mensa, if that's what you want to do and you're looking to meet new people, go for it! You'll be fine and might even have some fun :)

Almost everything in the real world has a normal distribution, not a linear one, and IQ is no exception.

http://meds.queensu.ca/courses/asset...bell_curve.gif

*hums we're going off the rails on a crazy train...*

Hell - is that true?

Last time I was tested by a real educational psychologist (long story short, through an accident of where and when I grew up I am part of a longitudinal study) I scored 167; recent uncontrolled online tests seem to put me in the 160-180 region, but I don't really trust them. If 142 puts you in the 0.26%, where the hell am I?

I don't FEEL clever, but standardised testing seems to show that I am.

Out of 1 million people, you would only expect 4 to have an IQ of 167 or greater.

You would be smarter than 99.9996% of the population.

Well, hot damn.

That's gotta be bollocks. There's no way I'm "one in a million" smart. These tests don't measure anything about personal skills, or emotional intelligence, sadly.

SF, I swear to gawd he's a troll.

Don't worry, you aren't :D Psychologists are realizing and discovering more and more "types" of intelligences. Somewhere hovering around half a dozen to a dozen.

There has also been shown quite a bit of bias for the "white man" in IQ tests. In other words, its really not the objective piece of work that most think it is.

Our brain is also a bit like a computer, if you have a crazy high IQ, like some autistic-people do, but lower intelligences in others, you'll get a bottleneck, just like a computer. All in all its looking like we are only as smart overall as our strongest link in the chain so to speak.

edit: ninja'd...looks like you already know what I mean about other intelligences.

Comments like this arent supposed to have a place in TFP

Unless they are aimed at me, in which case its fine... at least thats how the rules seem to work?

_

I have looked again into this. I have found

There are many different IQ tests that score in different scores to the same person

That a person's IQ can vary wildly even on the same testing scheme depending on mood, luck, etc...

That most people think that an IQ above 120 is not practically different to an IQ of 160 in terms of the use that person can make of their brain. 120 is enough. 160 might mean you remember things a bit better, can do mental arthimatic a bit quicker, use some longer words... but it doesnt change the practical intelligence of someone.

_

I repeat that MENSA is to me an elitist organisation that is based around self congratulation. That doesnt mean everyone who ever joinsit is like that, but thats what its like collectively. I dont know if an IQ of 142 allows one into MENSA and I dont care because I would never join such a thing,

I repeat my advise... rather than swat for a test that will give you a fairly meaningless and abstract intelligence score that might let you join some club full of people who also want to know their intelligence score--- learn a trade, learn a practical skill, grow vegtables, play music... do something that will bring you happiness or practical benefit.

:thumbsup:

This seems to be echoed by quite a few other people, who I feel may be misunderstanding my reasons for wanting to join mensa.

When I was in 7th grade, I had a wonderful opportunity to go to a summer camp sponsored by the gifted education resource institute. Up until that point, I was in advanced classes for some of my schooling, but generally forced to mix with people who made me feel like shit for being smart. I was ostracized and made to feel like something was very wrong with me by the people I interacted with. I didn't realize at the time that people generally don't like realizing someone is functioning on a different level than they are. And really, I don't blame them.

When I got to the camp, I met many people who were there for the same reason I was--we scored in the top 2% of our standardized testing and qualified to study at this camp. It was academic-based, but we all had a lot of fun goofing off and acting silly during our free time. Finally, people who I didn't have to pretend to be stupid in front of just to fit in! We could talk, share ideas, metaphors, dreams, and our new-found sexualities.

Since 7th grade, I've been through a lot of shit that could make it difficult for me to qualify for such a thing again--I have some chronic medical issues, I dropped out of high school, I did my fair share of drugs, I have been jumping from one severely stressful situation to another for the past 8 years. I know that I'm smart enough, I'm not doing this to prove anything to anyone. I just hope that I would perform well enough to be able to make it in, because it's worth something to me.

Now, I'm stuck in corporate hell, making good money with good benefits. I'm having to network with people. They had me join the chamber of commerce (for a $50 yearly fee, I will add), to talk to people about sales and shit that I am not exactly passionate about, but which I am good enough at to make money doing it. The mensa thing is for me. So that I can have a bit of an outlet finally getting to have a resource to find people who I know are as smart as or smarter than I am, who can relate to my "smart-people problems" and who want to get together and do things.

Perhaps I'm being idealistic. And maybe it's just that I haven't gotten to try for anything really hard in my life before. I don't feel that my reasoning is wrong.

That's funny, I don't remember you asking for any opinions about Mensa itself or explanations about why it is stupid, IQ tests in general or a degenerating debate about intelligence, Lirpa. Mensa tests are NOT IQ tests. They are an assessment/estimation of intelligence. You want to know your "true" IQ, go get a WAIS-IV. There is a reason they won't give you a number, just a pass/fail.


This thread is about Lirpa's quest to prep for something she's
a.) excited about,
b.) wanted since she was a kid, and
c.) has as a goal.

Go open a Mensa thread somewhere else if you want to bitch about it, but for cripes' sake, I thought we try to support people when they're looking to reach a goal they're excited about.

it isnt unreasonable that a conversation develops to be about more than the initial question.

Perhaps talking about the fact I might have 4 Y chromosones isnt very relevant, but talking about whether trying to get into MENSA is worthwhile or not seems pretty closely related to the matter at hand.

If purplelirpa wants to get into MENSA, I dont think anyone is suggeting it is a really harmful thing, just that maybe energies can be better spent on something with a more obviously practical application.

In terms of concrete advise, I think it is pretty straightforward and the OP will know for themselves: try to be relaxed about the test, do some practice online for a couple of weeks before hand... there isnt much else to it.

A cynic MIGHT say that since when you pass the test you have to pay a membership fee to get into MENSA, perhaps not so very many people fail... but I wouldnt be so cynical to give such ideas any real credence.

If you need reassurance...since I looked into it, apparently even my score of 142 is enough for MENSA: ask yourself this - if a society for clever people would let in even me, the bar cannot being set high. If you were taken out of classes to attend some sessions for brighter pupils it is likely that you must be bright enough for MENSA. I used to get taken out of class, for the purpose of standing and facing the wall outside so I couldnt distract other pupils anymore.