Is Your IQ Score Holding You Back in Life?

by Royane Real

Do you know what your IQ score is?  Have you ever wondered what your IQ score really means? Do you think that an IQ score somehow predicts whether or not you will be successful in life? 

Before you start to get too worried about what your IQ score is, it’s important to know what this term means, and it’s also important to know what the IQ test really measures.

IQ tests are used as a way to measure intelligence, and the resulting score on the test is called an IQ score.  The letters “IQ” actually stand for the words “intelligence quotient”.

But do IQ tests really measure intelligence?  Can intelligence really be measured at all? If we know our IQ score, does that number tell us anything important? 

Many critics of IQ tests say that intelligence is something that is far too complicated to be measured.  Some intelligence researchers say the IQ test measures only a small part of what intelligence really is.  They also say that no matter what your IQ score is, you shouldn’t really pay very much attention to that number.

The first version of the IQ test was developed in France about one hundred years ago, and the IQ test has been modernized and changed several times since then.

The most commonly used intelligence test today is sometimes called the Stanford-Binet Intelligence test, but other types of IQ tests are also used.

Educational institutions use various kinds of tests, including IQ tests, to place children into various groupings according to their test results.  IQ test scores are used to sort students according to whether they are considered to be intellectually average, gifted, or challenged.

The IQ tests do this by comparing the scores of the children relative to each other, using various questions that test their understanding of language, vocabulary, and arithmetic,  as well as their ability to think logically.

A person with an IQ score of 100 is considered to be of average intelligence, while a person who scores above 130 is considered to be intellectually gifted.

IQ tests are so common that almost everyone has taken them. People often feel anxiety about knowing their IQ scores, as if having a low IQ means they are lesser human beings and that they are doomed to a life of failure no matter what they do.

People who have an IQ score in the low to average range may feel a sense of shame and embarassment, even inferiority.  They may think there is not much point in trying hard since they don’t believe they have the intellectual ability necessary to succeed.

People who score extremely high on IQ tests often have problems as well.  They may feel socially awkward, as if they don’t fit into regular society.  People with very high IQ scores may feel a huge pressure to succeed yet they may have no idea how to harness their intellectual ability in any practical way.

Some people who score very high on IQ tests feel like they don’t have to try very hard in life because they think they are somehow superior to other people. 

The fact is, an IQ score can predict almost nothing about a person’s future. IQ tests don’t predict which people will succeed in life, and IQ tests don’t even predict which students will do well in school.

Some critics say that IQ tests are really only good for one thing – for predicting which people will do well in IQ tests.

Recently a television documentary visited some of the people who had the highest IQ scores in North America.  Guess what kinds of jobs they were doing, and what kinds of lives these people with high IQ scores were living.  Were they running major corporations or finding the cure for cancer? The answer may surprise you.

One of the men interviewed on this program, a man with an extremely high IQ score in the genius level, works as a mechanic, with a job fixing motorbikes.  His closest friends are members of a biker gang, and he has been in and out of prison many times. 

Another man appearing on this television program has one of the highest IQ scores ever recorded in the United States.  This man earns minimum wage working at a bar as a bouncer, and he makes his home in a small garage.

When we see such examples, it becomes clear that IQ scores do not tell the complete story.  There are still many other factors that go into whether or not a person will be successful in career and in life.

The more that researchers learn about people, the more they realize that there are many factors that determine who will be successful, and many of these factors can never be measured. 

So, whatever your IQ score may be, don’t take it too seriously!

This article is by Royane Real, author of “How You Can Be Smarter – Use Your Brain to Learn Faster, Remember Better, and Be More Creative” Sign up for the free newsletter filled with life improving tips.