Keeping Score

IQ Redeux

Well, after reading a comment by a reader, I decided to see if the Emode IQ Test was indeed rigged (it's not, but it is heavily weighted to score a 129, though, since literally everyone [all 4 people including me] who's gotten back to me on it has scored a 129). I randomly answered questions, and mainly tried to make sure I was providing the wrong answers for the vast majority of the questions, and occasionally I'd make sure to get a question or two right.

What happened is that I scored an 86.

I checked another site's IQ test results, and they had the following to say about IQ test scores:

100 = Average
120 = Level typically required to complete undergraduate degree
140 = Definitely genius status
150 = Less than 1/2 of 1% of people who complete IQ tests achieve this score or higher.

So, if we can assume that a score of 100 is a High School Graduate's level of education (average), then I think it's safe to assume that an IQ of 86 would qualify someone for, say, a person who didn't even pass the 8th grade. This being the case, I'd like to know how Emode thinks that someone who didn't even finish High School with an IQ of 86 qualifies for the following:

We compared your answers with others who have taken the test, and according to the sorts of questions you got correct, we can tell your Intellectual Type is a Word Warrior.

Looking at the score, I can only assume that by Word Warrior they mean someone who has to fight to find the right words, such as those found in the complex sentence, "See Jane run."

The first thing we can tell you about that is you are equipped with a verbal arsenal that enables you to understand complex issues and communicate on a particularly high level. But that's just scratching the surface.

If by "enables you to understand complex issues and communicate on a particularly high level" they really mean "allowing you to successfully Biggie-Size your Wendy's order at the drive through," or if by "scratching the surface," they mean "you're some sort of freakish idiot savant who can repeat the entire unabridged Merriam-Webster dictionary and nothing else while you drool into your breakfast cereal," I'd take some credence in that assertation.

But as it stands, I feel somewhat intellectually violated for allowing myself to take mental purchase in Emode's "conclusion" that I was a "Visionary Philosopher."