Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Maximum IQ = 144

Several months ago, I took the Tickle IQ Test, advertised as “the most thorough and scientifically accurate IQ Test on the Web.” I’d never taken an IQ test before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

When I finished, I thought there was a good chance I’d answered every question right. I was only iffy on a couple of questions. I submitted my answers, and it said my IQ was… 144. High, but not quite the mindblowing score I’d expected from not missing a single question. So where did I go wrong? The website kindly informed me that for $14.95, I could get a complete report with all the correct answers. That’s when I passed the real intelligence test – by passing on the offer.

Yesterday, I got an email from Tickle saying I could get the report for free (after declining a bunch of lame offers). I skipped past all the babble about my intellectual type – it seems I’m a “Visionary Philosopher” – and went to the answer key. Guess what? I did answer everything correctly!

Apparently, 144 is the maximum IQ you can get on this test. Unless, of course, they score it based on something other than right answers, such as the amount of time taken. But nothing in the test instructions or score report suggested that. To test this possibility, I took the test again, this time inputting what I already knew were the correct answers as fast as I possibly could. The result? 144. Maybe they take your age or education into account? I tried again, saying I was only 20 years old and didn’t have a college degree. 144.

It’s not terribly surprising that a 40-question test can’t make very fine distinctions in the upper and lower tails of the distribution. But if this is “the most thorough and scientifically accurate IQ Test on the Web,” I’m not impressed.

28 comments:

MT said...

But if this is “the most thorough and scientifically accurate IQ Test on the Web,” I’m not impressed.

Well what in the world could impress a man of such intellect and vision?

Chris said...

I decided to take the test myself and I can now rest assured that I am of the exact same level of intellect as you in every way, shape and form. "Tickle" told me so.

Glen Whitman said...

Don't feel bad, Ben. The moral of the post is that you shouldn't put too much stock in this particular IQ test.

Anonymous said...

I think your wrong,i took the test, my IQ was...152!

Glen Whitman said...

Maybe they've changed the test now. To repeat: I had the answer key, so I knew all the right answers. I typed them all in, and no matter what other variables I changed (age, education, completion time, etc.), the result was always 144.

And shouldn't someone with a 152 IQ know the difference between "your" and "you're"? :)

Anonymous said...

I think your wrong, i took the test myself, and my IQ was...152.

Anonymous said...

I HAD A 144 TOO

Anonymous said...

I had 144 also. I tried the same things you did (reentering the answers as fast as possible,changing age and level of education) I think that test is lame

Anonymous said...

i got 142 without even trying thought i had every answer right too

Anonymous said...

It's interesting. Most people I talk to nowadays, they seem to score extremely well on the IQ test. I've yet to meet an individual with an IQ (according to them) below 130. Often the case is "I have a 140 IQ, according to this IQ test I took." Logically, if statistics tell us that the average is precisely 100 that people are in fact scoring, how is it everyone (at random... from people on the internet, to in person) are f ucking brilliant? LOL I really do believe people are lying. That, or the IQ test needs to be revised. Because if all you mediocre individuals who are yet to do profound discoveries like Einstein or Gauss are receiving profound marks on the IQ test (140 or above, thus solidifying your place as a genius, when you've done nothing brilliant to show for it) then certainly the IQ test is not creditable, and people should really stop talking about their IQ, and prove their supposed genius.

Anonymous said...

Those who lie probably account for 25% of the people who say their IQ is 130 when they clearly don't deserve it.

The other 75% are ones who take tests like the Tickle one.

By the way, on the Tickle test I scored 133, and am 15.

Does anyone know the age at which the brain stops maturing/increasing neural connections, thus increasing intelligence? I'd like to think I won't be stuck at 133 the rest of my life.

Anonymous said...

yes the brain stops forming neural pathways at the age of eleven. unfortunately what you have now you are stuck with.I also got a score of 144 on the tickle IQ test but i wasn't surprised at all as i was doing a level maths at the age of eleven and have been a member of MENSA since i was twelve...

Anonymous said...

I to am a member of the maximum tickle IQ society.opped I.Q.I think is a test evaluating learned responses to normal schooling, and is also calculated by a age formula. Unfortunately it can not measure other intelligence i.e. common sense,etc. Proven by the fact that I dropped out at fifteen and pour concrete for living. Stay in school and your I.Q. will increase!

Anonymous said...

I got a 144 too.

Anonymous said...

I'm 14 scored a 136 on the tickle.com IQ test and a 144 on another one. I really don't think that I'm that smart. Online IQ tests are wrong. Everyone seems to be a genius. The lowest online score I have heard of is a 125 and that would be a gifted person in the top 10 (or higher) percentile.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Glen should do something more useful with his sizeable intellect.

Anonymous said...

im 15, and i got 144 too

Tina said...

i took a different test, and depending on your age and the time you took you got a different score. When it went from a "25 year old" with my time of 8 min and 17 seconds to answer the 40 questions I also got 144! Coincidence, but when I put my age into their calculations, I got a much higher score. :) But don't worry about it, because if you really care you should take a REAL IQ test with a professor of some sort, because a couple of years ago, I took one of those and got a more realistic score instead of "165" (higher than Einstein!).

Anonymous said...

Eh.. it really depends on the test that is being took. What i mean by this is I have seen soooo many different I.Q. tests and maybe 10% seem to determane an acurate Intelligence Quotient. I payed for a friend of mine to take the WAIS-IV test with me when the old one was revised in 2003. he scored 117 while i scored a 140. And yes IQ was at one point determined by an age formula "100x Mental age divided by Chronological age." but is a bias and old form of it, i am unsure of the the scoring of the tests now. English was the only subject I had trouble with in school and these online tests should not influence your decision of intellegence in anyway. they are for your personal enternainment. The odds of meeting so many people in the 2 percential is so far out there its not even funny. i cant put a sentence together or spell to save my life dont think so highly of a test theres no way they can determine the true mental compasity of someone. were all humans and therefore dont know everything you cant expect someone who truely doesnt "know" the answers themselves to sit there and tell you your stupid or your so f@#king smart...

Anonymous said...

In regards to the earlier comment posted by the 'mensa member'; although neural development begins to regress at a fairly early age, this has very little to do with intelligence. It has been found that environment, education, and motivation can raise an IQ by as much as thirty points. Thusly, one is not just 'stuck with' a specific IQ level determined by hereditary dictated development. At any rate, I have found no standardized tests online that are valid and reliable. If you really want to know your IQ, spend the money to take either the Stanford-Binet or the previously mentioned WAIS-III.

Anonymous said...

Hi, First let me mention that most who are average or below have no interest in taking a test like this...thus mostly higher scores are reported. Second, the whole point of the test here is profit$$. The folks at "Tickle" are in business to make money and the entire thing is a mind game. The report you pay for is as creative as a well written horoscope...nothing more! Such flamboyant (but generic) writing is intended to puff up an ego and can entice one to open up the wallet. How can a web-site know YOU so well by virtue of such an impersonal multiple choice STANDARD test? Yes, I also scored a 144 about 2 years ago...and paid my money to print the report so I could also play with it. It made no difference, thus proving the theory most of us have after participating in this "test". I received the same printout using different personal info each time. Beware, however, that if you do not cancel in the first week you will loose your money unless you use the AMEX card! They want your money, nothing more. You can still do this and have fun...it is great at a party, as it takes a very short time to complete and the answers are creative when not sober.
Have fun, be safe!

INSAINE

Anonymous said...

I think the test is bogus. I also got a 144. Most of the people I have found responding to this test say they got a 144.

Unknown said...

INSAINE is right, and I would add this: Look at all the people talking about their scores. The whole point is to dupe "geniuses" into gloating and spreading the word around to a bunch of people and increasing a) the likelihood of selling a report to them and b) profiting off of email address sales and successful spam campaigns, all while c) employing one person with a more-than-likely 95 point I.Q. to maintain the website.

Or is it d) none of the above?

Anonymous said...

Well, before going to university I engaged in a 3-hour long IQ test evaluated by real specialists. I got IQ=185.
Then, when I went to university in Europe, I got lost with all the beautiful women and fantastic wines one can find over there. I still don't know whether I got more addicted to wine or to women. After the whole degrading (albeit thrilling) experience, my IQ probably plunged like October 2008 markets as I spread my genetic wealth around and burned the rest with ethanol.
One of these days a girlfriend suggested I'd take two online tests: one before and other after "being with her". We were both "tipsy"... err... actually, a bit more than that...
I did so and got all my answers right both times... but only attained the weird 144 points other people had been complaining about.
I wonder whether those online tests might actually have some sort of a "cap".
Anyway, if 144 ended up becoming my new degraded IQ, I could never complain. I guess I'm much happier now...

Anonymous said...

I took another test not Tickle and i ended up with 163 IQ

Anonymous said...

I am from Bulgaria and i am 12 years old.I tested myself on another IQ test.It was said that the IQ test was made by scientist.SO i always wanted to find my IQ so i tested myself and i got a IQ of 140.According to the scores listed in the site i got IQ over 130 which means according to few sites that i checked very high IQ for my age.

Anonymous said...

I'm convinced that ones IQ is less conducive to brilliance or creativity than the simple ability to focus. The most intelligent person I know strives daily to maintain only his personal comfort. His fears and desires are strangely childish. What creative impulses he might have he seems to supress (beyond playing counterpoint on a guitar IN HIS BEDROOM--not on some stage). I'm not saying every "brilliant" person is in this distracted condition, I'm just advising everyone to quit worrying about respective IQ's and learn to FOCUS on their AMBITIONS to get shit done.

Screen said...

Fact: It's a popular trend these days to find your IQ and claim you (or your child) have a very high IQ. Many people lie about their IQ, so don't trust everyone you hear.
Also, when you know what signs to look for, you can quite accurately guess if a person actually is gifted or not. It's not as accurate as an IQ test, but most of the time you'll know if someone calling themselves gifted or genius may be telling the truth or are just making it up. Most gifted people have specific patterns of behavior and personality, especially children.

Fact: Online IQ tests are bogus. I hope we'll never have online medical check-ups, that would probably cost a lot of lives. A real IQ test is nothing like these online scams.

Fact: Most people don't understand what an IQ test measures. An IQ test doesn't measure intelligence. In fact there is no such thing as intelligence, this is just a concept we imagined but has no accurate definition. An IQ test measures TO SOME EXTENT one's cognitive abilities.
Also, an IQ test is divided in categories. The IQ score of all categories are then put together to make an average. So somebody could be gifted in one category but only average in another.
This demonstrates that IQ tests measure different abilities, not just one big thing broadly called "Intelligence".

Fact: IQ is not memory. IQ is just one's ability to process information. Memory is only a small part of IQ.
Many kids at school who get great marks are not gifted, they just study more. They learn, they memorize stuff, but that's about it.
In fact, gifted children usually struggle at school.
Gifted people will be better thinkers, but they won't be living encyclopedias.
People who learn a lot by reading and memorizing have plenty of knowledge, but they can't do much with it.
A gifted person on the contrary will be able to understand better how things work, how things are the way they are. This is true for science, but also history, arts, geography, politics...
A gifted person is less likely to get "stuck" on a question they haven't learned the answer previously. They can usually answer the question by drawing on their knowledge, comparing the stuff they know, etc. This is harder to do for average people.

And I want to point out: you don't have to be a scientist to prove you're gifted. Many gifted people have normal jobs.

So if you feel you understand things faster than people around you, if you think you can process information in your head while people around you need to write stuff down and make drawings and figures to perform the same analysis, if you think you learn and memorize things faster, then you may be gifted.
But don't assume your colleague is gifted because he settles more deals than you do, don't assume some kid in your child's class is gifted because he never got less than an A, and don't assume your friend who spends hours reading books or articles on the web is gifted because she knows a lot of stuff about ancient Egypt.


And one more fact: every generation's average IQ is higher than the average IQ of the previous generation. The increase varies from country to country and is somewhere between 5 and 25 points per generation (15 points on average).
Albert Einstein would not be considered a genius today, but merely gifted.
Remember IQ scores are based on the population average. The average score on a test will be upgraded or downgraded to 100. Other scores will be modified to keep proportions the same.
It's not about how many answers you get right, but how well do you score compared to everyone else.
A child scoring 130 today probably got as many good answers as Einstein did when he scored 165 several decades ago.
Makes you wonder what the fuss today about Einstein is about, doesn't it?