Surf the Internet long enough and you'll come across a pop-up ad offering an intelligence, or IQ, test.

There are a variety of IQ tests online. Some test academic knowledge. Others are topical, such as an emotional intelligence test or a trivia IQ test.

But aside from qualifying people to join Mensa, a society for bright people, what are authentic intelligence tests used for?

An intelligence test isn't necessarily going to indicate whether someone is a genius, a good leader, or good with relationships, experts say.

But the tests do have some practical uses. School psychologists use intelligence tests to help identify learning disabilities for children and some employers and branches of the military use them to screen potential employees and enlistees.

Tailoring education to students

School systems such as Washington County Public Schools use intelligence tests to help determine whether a child needs special education assistance.

Washington County uses two tests - the fourth edition of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, also known as WISC-IV, as well as a Woodcock-Johnson achievement test - to help identify students who might need special education assistance, says Mike Markoe, director of student services and special education for the school system.

WISC assesses the test taker's intelligence; the Woodcock-Johnson test measures how the test taker applies their knowledge to problems in math, English and other academic subjects. If a student scores significantly higher on the intelligence test than on the achievement test, that indicates there is something preventing the child from applying knowledge the way he or she should, Markoe says.

There might be a learning disability interfering with the child's potential, he says.

The school system does not use intelligence tests to determine if a child is talented and gifted or, as the school system now refers to such children, advanced-level learners, says Betsy Donohoe, supervisor of advanced programs.

The Maryland State Department of Education does not see the labels gifted and talented as limited to those with intellectual promise or ability, Donohoe says.

Advanced-level learners are defined by having a capacity for high performance intellectually, artistically or creatively, or having an unusual leadership capacity when compared to their peers, Donohoe says.

Bruce Bracken, a professor of education with The College of William & Mary, once worked as a school psychologist and has written intelligence, personality and language tests. He says intelligence tests also are used to help determine whether a child is developing at a normal rate, whether a person would benefit from psychotherapy and whether a person is smart enough for a paticular job, usually upper-management positions. Some employers also use personality tests to screen hires.

Subtests

One benefit of taking an authentic intelligence test versus a random online test is the large number of subtests an intelligence test can cover, says Andrew Carson, senior project director for the Stanford-Binet intelligence test published by Riverside Publishing.

These subtests can help target a problem a person is having when trying to learn or work, Carson says.

A student's results on the WISC-IV and Woodcock-Johnson subtests help school officials determine what assistance a student needs, Markoe says.

The fourth edition of the Wechsler intelligence test uses 10 core subtests and five optional subtests to evaluate verbal reasoning, working memory (such as short-term memory), perceptual reasoning and processing speed, says Lawrence Weiss, vice president of psychological assessment products for Harcourt Assessment Inc. Harcourt publishes the WISC tests.

For instance, subtests about vocabulary, similarities and comprehension, as well as optional subtests about information and word reasoning, are used to gauge verbal reasoning.

The fourth edition of WISC was revised to help assess natural intelligence, Weiss says.

Tests for adults

In addition to intelligence tests that help identify whether an adult has a learning disability, there are intelligence tests used by some employers and by the military, experts say.

They aren't usually called intelligence tests, says Linda S. Gottfredson.

Gottfredson is an education professor at University of Delaware who has written widely about fairness in testing and relevance of intelligence in different domains of life such as schools, jobs and health.

The military uses the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), which Gottfredson says helps determine how well a recruit learns and what kind of military jobs they could do. While military officials like to refer to it as an aptitude test, it mostly measures intelligence, she says.

Terry Howell, senior content manager for Military.com, insists ASVAB is more of an aptitude test. Military.com is a private Web site that keeps military members, family members and retirees informed about benefits.

ASVAB is used to determine if someone is eligible to enlist. Military officials use the test taker's score to determine the person's career options, Howell says.

Smart for its own sake

And then there is Mensa.

In forming Mensa, the founders were trying to create a society of the most intelligent people, says Frank Lawlis, supervisory psychologist for Mensa.

That required an objective measure, he says.

The only qualification for membership is having a score - on an approved and properly supervised intelligence test - that is in the top 2 percent of test takers, Lawlis says. Mensa's Web site notes that many IQ tests are not valid for people younger than 16.

Mensa is a society of bright people whose objective is to enjoy one another's company and participate in social and cultural activities, according to www.mensa.org. The society aims to be nonpolitical and "free from all racial or religious distinctions."

Mensa does not permit scores from online IQ tests, Lawlis says.

The upside of the online tests, which are easier to access, is that they remind people that it's fun to learn about yourself, Carson says.

Some people just aren't good test-takers and most intelligence tests are measuring the normal range of intelligence, Lawlis says.

Is it good to be smart?

Weiss says being a genius, to him, means more than having a high IQ. Being a genius means having a passion about a particular area that goes beyond just learning about it and that the person quickly is able to surpass what teachers can provide and find his or her own way.

Gottfredson hasn't found a study yet that indicates how intelligence matters in everyday life. What she's concluded so far is that intelligence makes the most difference when someone is doing an instrumental task alone, such as a doctor helping a patient or an engineer working on a project.

People do tend to find spouses similar to them in intelligence, she says. She hasn't found much literature about intelligence's relationship to, well, relationships.

"It matters perhaps least in the emotional realm," Gottfredson says.

Sample intelligence test oral questions

Information

1. How many wings does a bird have?

2. How many nickels make a dime?

3. What is steam made of?

4. Who wrote "Tom Sawyer"?

5. What is pepper?

Comprehension

1. What should you do if you see someone forget his book when he leaves a restaurant?

2. What is the advantage of keeping money in a bank?

3. Why is copper often used in electrical wires?

Arithmetic

1. Sam had three pieces of candy and Joe gave him four more. How many pieces of candy did Sam have altogether?

2. Three women divided 18 golf balls equally among themselves. How many golf balls did each person receive?

3. If two buttons cost 15 cents, what will be the cost of a dozen buttons?

Similarities

1. In what way are a lion and a tiger alike?

2. In what way are a saw and a hammer alike?

3. In what way are an hour and a week alike?

4. In what way are a circle and a triangle alike?

Vocabulary

This test consists simply of asking, "What is a _______?" or "What does ________ mean?" The words cover a wide range of difficulty.

Problems similar to those in the "Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children." Courtesy of Harcourt Assessment Inc. Answers below.

Answers:

Information

1. Two.

2. Two.

3. Water.

4. Mark Twain (pen name for Samuel Clemens)

5. A spice. (Editor's note: It also is a plant and a warm-up exercise for baseball players.)

Comprehension

1. Run after him to give him the book.

2. To keep the money safe and generate interest.

3. The metal is a good conductor.

Arithmetic

1. Seven.

2. Six.

3. 90 cents.

Similarities

1. Both are large cats, have four legs, are carnivores and are mammals.

2. Both are tools.

3. Both are measurements of time.

4. Both are geometric shapes.

Matrix Reasoning: Star No. 5 (same size, color and positioning).

###

About Us Home > Press Releases > Top