Customer Reviews

Test Your IQ : 6th Edition

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book begins with a timed self-scoring IQ test up to 165. Then follows an explanation of what IQ is, and what it means. Finally, it discusses giftedness, aptitude, and intelligence.

The book is easy to read, informative, and contemporary. However, the test is perhaps too easy for adult readers, as scores are only adjusted for ages up to 16. Therefore, if you are older than 16, perhaps the test will not be particularily challenging. So if you want to boost your ego, then buy this book. But I suggest that if you want to challenge your intellect, then save your money for another book of puzzles.

If you're looking for a book containing a standardized test in the hope of accurately measuring your IQ, this is definitely the book you're looking for.

The book launches right into the IQ test following a few warm up sample exercises. All 60 multiple choice questions must be answered in 45-minutes for an accurate assessment and the scoring takes guessing into account.

Following the test are the answers along with a simple guide for obtaining an IQ reading from your score.

The remainder of the book is devoted to evaluating your score along with a brief history of intelligence testing and an analysis of IQ in the context of creativity and other mental traits. The book also dicusses tips on how to maintain mental sharpness and the entire book is easy enough to read within one sitting.

My only problem with this book (and it's a minor one) is that there is only one test. Perhaps this is reasonable since the accuracy of later exams can be "contaminated" with the reader's past experience. As for the test itself, my score matched those I received on on-line IQ tests to within a few points, and since the the content of this test was different but involved the same level of difficulty, I would have reason to believe that the score is accurate. I say, "would have reason to believe" because if you have a mathematical background like I do, you may wonder if this didn't provide you an unfair advantage. For example, some logic problems can easily be tackled with a working knowledge of rudimentary set theory and crude Venn diagrams. Even so, I still see no reason not to recommend this book to anyone, hence the 5-star rating.

This book is a quick read and gets right down to the test. The surprising part of the book was that it explained how my test results describe how my brain works. Even though I tested high on the IQ test I had problems learning in school. The book helped me to understand why and then helped me to think about new ways of learning based on how my brain works. The book also has a good section on testing methodology so that you can understand how the tests measure intelligence.

After reading the 6th edition, I happened to see the 3rd edition in the local library. The IQ test is identical-it looks like the only difference is that some passages of the essay section were either deleted or slightly altered.

Overall, this is a short and informative book. It's not for MENSA-types, looking for challenging IQ-like questions...but it will provide some insight into your thinking patterns (left vs. right-brain). As one previous reviewer noted, I think some of the questions are not culture-fair so don't take your score too seriously if it's low...

Also, I'm not sure the book clarifies enough what IQ is and isn't: to the general public, IQ is synonymous with "how smart you are"- this book dispells that notion but not as clearly as possible.

The key idea behind IQ is that g(eneral intelligence) exists, i.e., people who are good at one thing tend to be good at other things. Certainly, there's some truth to this, but taken to the extreme it implies that IQ tests consisting of only certain questions (like all verbal or all spatial tests) would be sufficient to measure g. Personally, I suspect that intellect consists of many diverse mental functions with varying degrees of cross-correlation. (This would also explain why "idiot" savants can be way below average in most mental respects and yet extraordinarily good at certain things.) Also, IQ tests are all about discerning patterns- they don't test for the ability to create new patterns...

Think of IQ like a baseball batting average, which is a great way of ranking hitters. Certainly, it's not the whole story since we also care (sometimes more) about home runs, RBIs and slugging average. Also a batting average tells you nothing about a player's defensive skills and is, of course, N/A for a pitcher :)

This book is good if you want to have a quick and accurate test of your IQ according to standard tests. There is only one test in the book and it is of the classical type. The test is very similar to the 'self-scoring IQ test' that can be purchased separately. Apart from the test with answers, scoring charts and explanations the book contains some basic information about how the brain works in left and right hemisphere divisions as well as some suggestions as how to train your IQ. The book makes a good point out of stating that our society is left-hemisphere oriented and most of the exercises - that are standard/non-original - aim at stimulating the right-hemisphere.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and taking its included I.Q. test. Not only do I now know what my I.Q. currently is, I also know that one test does not indicate intelligence. Munzert is excellent in explaining what the test attempts to measure and gives insight into the development of one's intelligence starting at birth.

Being a father of two young children myself, I found the text very enlightening and look forward to enhancing my children's awareness of their environment as well as working on their standard 'academic studies'.

As an educator, I also enjoyed Munzerts assertions about right-brained individuals being 'judged' less intelligent because they do not think in a way that matches the standard educational system (mostly structured, analytical, and serial as opposed to unstructured and creative.)

Don't buy this edition if you have the 3rd ed., only the cover is changed from the 3rd edition, not even a single word is different (I wasted $6.00 + shipping in buying it). The book is excellent, though it could have used an additional (2nd) or a brand new IQ test in this edition

"Test Your IQ" does everything that it claims to do. It provides a full IQ test, with annotated solutions, and a table that allows you to convert your score in this test to an IQ number. It also provides a discussion of the nature of intelligence; advice on identifying gifted and talented characteristics (including a gifted and talented checklist); and a discussion of left-brain and right-brain characteristics. Munzert does this adequately, and this might suit some readers, but it is not done extremely well.

The biggest down-side of this book is with the questions in the IQ test. Most of the questions are multiple choice questions and in many cases I could see more than one answer that could be "correct" based on different lines of reasoning. Also, there is only one IQ test provided in this book. As I said before, this might be adequate for some, but other IQ test books do exist which provide more than one test. At the same time as purchasing this book, I also purchased Test Your IQ by H.J. Eysenck, which does everything that this book does, but provides eight tests instead of one.

This is not a terrible book. However, there are other books that does what this book does, only better. If you are only going to buy one IQ test book, I'd buy Eysenck's book instead.

IDIOTS v. IDIOTMETERS

Should "Idiots" File a Malpractice Class Action against IQ-test Designers?

© Edip Yuksel, J.D.

Should lawyers file a class action against psychologists for malpractice on behalf of all those who took flawed IQ tests and discovered that they were idiots? Could they make a successful "faulty design" argument and establish mental pain and suffering, loss of self esteem, and loss of confidence in their mental activity? If they could, I bet there are millions of Americans out there eager to take their revenge, including those who were matched by MENSA with partners presumably sharing comparable IQs and then ending up with shared nightmares and divorce. I bet that the IQ Tests have contributed to sales of the Complete Idiot's Guide or Incomplete Imbecile's Guide (is coming soon!) series by convincing millions that they are indeed Idiots and Imbeciles.

I do believe that IQ tests measure some intellectual capabilities of individuals, sure with reasonable margins of error. But, out of curiosity, I have checked several IQ tests and found them riddled with flawed questions. I am not writing this criticism because I got low scores. To the contrary, I have received very high scores on each test I have taken so far (even my zealous religious opponents have conceded my high IQ in their books and articles). Furthermore, I do not claim that it is easy or even possible to design a flawless IQ test, and I am not dreaming or suggesting to design a test to test the test makers either. But I believe that many IQ tests on the market could be improved easily, if only the test designers had subjected them to trials and considered the results. Or they simply could have handed them to lawyers for cross-examination! Even if a lawyer who does not obtain good score on an IQ test, he or she is professionally skilled to smell flaws as long as it is presented as the evidence of an opposing party. (I am not practicing law, but I still feel a duty towards my comrades; they always need clients, especially psychologist ones!).

In this article I will focus only on one published test. I have the third edition of this book Test Your I.Q. by Alfred W. Munzert, Ph.D. (Prentice Hall, 1994). Its new editions are available into the mass market, and it is one of the most popular IQ Test books. The book contains great essays on intelligence; however its 60-question test is tainted with at least NINE flawed questions. This is more than enough to "reduce" an average person to a slow learner or to an idiot.

Peace,
Edip