How Smart Are You?

Last night on the CBC they aired a new show called Test the Nation. Our RWA chapter's Christine D'Abo took part in it, although her episode doesn't air until September. The premise of the show is to take six groups of people and give them an IQ test. The individuals answer the test questions and then they take the collective score of the group to see which group comes out on top. Last night's groups consisted of Tattoo Artists, Fitness Instructions, Millionaires, Surgeons, Radio DJs, and Mayors. Then they had a celebrity panel.

The great thing was, you could take the test yourself on line. It was a true IQ test broken into multiple categories. You had a stipulated amount of time to answer the question before it automatically moved onto the next.

Never one to pass up a challenge, I fired up the computer and got ready to go. There aren't any warm up exercises for this type of exercise, so I just smacked myself in the face a few times to make sure I was awake and alert. I flexed my fingers over the keyboard and tried not to get fidgety. Would do to be hitting the wrong button as once you made your choice it automatically jumps to the next question. There are apparently no do-overs on IQ tests.

First up - Language skills. Whew. Easy one to start with. I feel myself relax as I motor through the questions. Next up, memory. Okay. No problem. Logic. Oh oh...no, okay, okay, not too bad. A bit of a brain twist, but I survived. Visual follows logic. I'm feeling pretty good. Then we hit math. The word problems are no problem. Then they start throwing questions at me like if 4 is less than x which is less than 6, and 2 is less than y which is less than 8, then what does x plus y equal. Uh...z? Uh no.

All told, I ended up with an IQ score of 127. Not too shabby. The average IQ falls between 90 and 109 and genius is anything over 134. I considered sending my scores to my grade 11 chemistry teacher who suggested I would never amount to anything because I couldn't stay awake in his class. The test was made up of 60 questions and my sections scores weren't too bad. Language - 12 out of 12; Memory - 5 out of 6; Logic - 11 out of 12; Visual - 6 out of 6; Math - 8 out of 12; and Perception - 8 out of 12.

To give a little perspective, Madonna's IQ is 140. Charles Dickens - 180. Leonardo DaVinci comes in at 220 (these are all estimated as I'm sure Leo didn't have to park his butt in front of the computer screen and listen to the little beeping clock telling you you'd better hurry up and answer because your time was running out!). On the flip side, Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA and Nobel Prize winner had an IQ of 120.

I think the test is still available on line if anyone wants to try it out. And if you get CBC in your area, check the show out - especially in September when Christine's episode airs. I hear she's sitting in the front row!