Customer Reviews

Mensa Challenge Your IQ (Mensa Word Games for Kids)

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This is a comment on MENSA: CHALLENGE YOUR IQ by Harold Gale and Carolyn Skitt. As a psychologist who has administered thousands of IQ tests, I was intrigued (and disappointed) by the skewed nature of the IQ distribution used in this book. The standard deviation of most commercial IQ tests is 15. Thus, an IQ of 130 is two standard deviations above the mean, which falls at the 98th percentile and qualifies the examinee for membership in Mensa. The IQ scale used in CHALLENGE YOUR IQ is grossly inflated. The standard deviation appears to be 24! Thus, a person who scores 115 on a commerical IQ test would get an equivalent IQ of 124 in this book. This is a whopping difference and is bound to make readers think they are far smarter than is actually the case.

The problem with most IQ like books is that they either are too easy{to sort of boost your ego] or teach irrelevent suff.This book is one of the best of these kinds of books.made by Mensa, and is keeping to every thing you need to boost your IQ

as per previous reviews, the only fault I have with the book is that it does tend to get repetitive and, as far as challenging goes - well, some of the problems are a measure of sheer tediousness rather than smarts. But perhaps that's good in developing EQ so a benefit to be gained anyway. If you like 'puzzles' then this is not a book for you. It is a series of IQ tests.

This is an interesting collection of IQ tests. Mensa tends to put out a lot of repetitive material, but this set of tests is different. My only complaint is that the tests within the set are very similar. As to the complaint that the scores are inflated, in my version of this book, the percentiles are mentioned next to each score, with the 98th percentile highlighted, meaning it would be a qualifying score for Mensa. Therefore, there should be no confusion about your performance. Even the complaint that a standard deviation of 24 is not valid isn't a good one. Some tests have such a standard deviation, including the Catell scales, a commonly used IQ test.

First of all, its rather "stupid" to buy a book that appeals by offering the reader that it'll "boost their IQ". Your IQ doesn't simply skyrocket (or go up) by doing a book full of foolish exercises, in fact doing these exercises will do either of the following to you: 1) make you feel rather confident and elite OR 2) make you feel stupid and throw away the book because you feel IQ doesn't prove anything. In either case the reader has a right to feel that way, however, one should be aware that an IQ test simply serve as a rather easy way to determine a person's abilities because there are no better way to do so. If there were better, complex and accurate ways to determine intelligence abilities we wouldn't be wasting time and money and screwy pictures. Nevertheless, buy this book to amuse yourself with screwy pictures and exercises and feel insecure about your abilities OR laugh at others and feel good about yourself. In either case if the book has made you feel superior for the day then it is certainly worth your time and money, else don't buy it.