[Lemmo]

(03-06-2013 04:24 PM)Parlay44 Wrote:  

If you spend the first 12 years of your life studying for an IQ test ...guess what? You'll do very well on the IQ test. I doubt she can apply it towards anything in the real world. Change one variable and she's screwed. I went to college with plenty of guys like that. Great book smarts. Shitty lab smarts.

IQ tests are supposed to measure raw cognitive horsepower - you can't study for them (or at least you aren't supposed to be able to).

I'd say IQ tests are good at providing a rough indicator of raw intelligence but that is all. They seem to be fairly crude so I wouldn't put too much weight on +/- 10 points. And these tests seems to measure raw computing ability rather than less tangible qualities like problem solving, logical reasoning and innovation.

But she's obviously a very smart kid. The comparisons to great thinkers seem pointless since none of them actually took IQ tests but I guess it gives the story a better headline.