are you as smart as you look? or when did you realise you're not as smart as you thought?

does anyone know their IQ? does this make you feel better that you have an official declaration of 'proof' of your own smartness? sometimes i'd like to know my IQ which would at least provide some foundation for confidence purposes at least

I have done several IQ tests, and the scores have varied by 47 points across them. Since that is about the difference between the average and being able to join alleged club for geniuses Mensa, it say something about the use of such tests. I score exceptionally well on these things (the two extremes I referred to were 163 and 210), but it's not much of a guide. To take a local example, if Mark S were to tell me that he'd done IQ tests and his numbers were lower, I am still smart enough to know that he is out of my league intellectually.

I guess I was the cleverest kid in junior school, and one of the cleverest in secondary school, but I've known most of my friends for over 20 years now, and I view a couple of them as cleverer than me. I think I've had a reasonable view of where I rank intellectually or a long time.

As for am I as smart as I look, I don't look smart at all, in either sense.

I'm not sure just how intelligent I am. I know I'm smart - I do very well in school with very little effort, and have a large amount of general knowledge as well as a huge amount of highly technical specific knowledge and great problem solving/design skills - BUT, often I find myself in situations where I just feel like an idiot. Or worse, I find myself in a conversation in which I am saying things with a huge amount of conviction, yet in the back of my mind I'm thinking "what the fuck am I on about here?"

I often wonder whether my friends humour me in my arrogance. I mean, it'd be pretty horrible to tell someone that they don't know what they're talking about, and that they haven't know what they're talking about for quite some time now. I know I'd have a hard time telling my close friends something like that.

IQ tests are just ridiculous. They're only ever a measure of a tiny portion of intelligence, and even then to whittle it down to a single number is ludicrous. I've done a number of IQ tests on the net, and have received really stupid results. (an average of 180 !! I'm many things, but not a genius.) I understand that a 'real' IQ test lasts for several hours, and consists of a much broader testing criterion, but in essence they're still written tests, and there's only so much to be measured by them.

I have a friend who's parents tested him and his siblings when they were in their early teens. How sick is that? Of course, they didn't tell them what their scores were, only that "you all scored between x and y." These same parents I've overheard having conversations with friends along the lines of which of their children is more intelligent, which more talented, etc.

Aaaanyway, I haven't had a long time to really get to know myself, as I'm only 19. I know that I'm intelligent to a point, but I'm still continually suprised at both my ignorance and intelligence at different times.

I don't really argue about tastes, someone can come up with an eloquent point laden thoughtful criticism of a book, film, song that I like, but it still doesn't alter the fact that I like it. Perhaps, I should rack my brains and come up with a counter arguement, but often I don't think it is worth it.

IQ tests are unreliable I feel. As they calculate intelligence to be a number, they diregard wisdom, and creativity.

Oh, and I don't really think I am clever.

i know i'm essentially bright, but it seldom matters. I probably look thicker than I am as i have droopy eyes.

i dont look smart, and i often dont feel smart or intelligent and i also lose my place in the middle of an argument if i get sidetracked. i dont know my iq, but i wouldnt mind i spose just out of interest.
i think it is pride blueski, and self-confidence too and i can also wonder why i started something when someone whose opinion i respect jumps in and blows my argument away.
BUT, i also secretly know i am smarter than i look, and have my own areas i am 'gifted' in (for lack of a better word) so i do tend to open my mouth and race away on some things regardless of what other people say or think.
i just try not to place so much importance on 'being smart' as it certainly isnt the pre-requisite for a happy life and shouldnt be used as a means to make anyone feel superior to others. there are different versions of smart too, ie: street-wise, intellectual, technical etc. so there may always be someone brighter or duller than you.
for what it means i have found your posts to be pretty cool :-)
laugh away at mine if you like, i make some very silly blunders and my trippy head zooms all over the place so i have had to get over my pride and just enjoy.

I'm not smart. I just know big words. ;-)

Donna makes a good point about areas of ability and knowledge. There are various areas where I'm very strong, such as maths and certain sorts of gaming (Minesweeper, say) and comic books, but no one is equally brilliant in all areas. I obviously try to keep a bit quiet about areas where I am hopeless, but there is no shortage of them. Even the blunt instrument of the IQ test has three categories: verbal, numerical, spatial; I am weakest in verbal and strongest in numerical. Different tests balane these areas differently.

hey martin what can you get on minesweeper expert?

I am quite bright at mathematically based stuff, and a reasonable problem solver (hence geek job), otherwise can be v.dense indeed. Used to think I was very clever indeed when I was a kid, maybe even was, but no more.

I am stupid by any criteria. I am an idiot. I am mentally subnormal. I should be bred out.

You are a positive genius when compared to me.

Maybe we should do a suicide pact.

I used to be very clever but you have to exercise it and I'm too lazy to read regularly (still the best way of doing it) so my mind has got flabby. I am good at getting people to think I'm clever, though.

I guess I'd consider myself clever in conversation or articulate to a point which can have the effect of some people thinking I'm cleverer than I am. I am a total moron when it comes to anything mechanical or spatial. I mean pumping a fucking tire or something, I can do it, but I had to ask how. I shouldn't even confess that.

Two people have come up to me at work this morning and said "You're clever, can you help me with....". They are obv mentalists and I am obv an illusionist, as I know how pedestrian I am. I think I am quite good at *appearing* to be clever without deliberately trying, but really I am tremendously dull.
At school I was always top of everything, but in the big wide world it's all been downhill. I am convinced that whatever intelligence I once had has shrivelled to almost nothing worth having. Soon I will be soup.

I'm good at business strategy. But at the moment I'm trying to work out health and safety regulations re: doorways.

Never quite clever enough.

Minna: 66 seconds is my best. The next fastest I've ever met is our own Tim Hopkins, at I think 82. One website which reckons itself an authority on computer game records, and publishes books of them and all that, has 68 as the best, so I'm certainly very good at it. What this has to do with intelligence is another matter, and the answer is not much at all.