Tests – Do they really tell you anything about yourself?

The other day I stumbled across an IQ test online – some link from another website. Anyway, I was curious to see what the results would be. Nothing surprising – I have an above average IQ. But who says so? How can they really determine a person's intelligence from a few random questions? And what does it matter? It seems like a judgement call to me. Does it really make me smarter (or more superior) to the next guy just because they asked me questions which I happened to know the answer?

I've watched the Who Wants to be a Millionaire show a few times and sometimes I wonder where they get the questions and more so where do they get some of those contestants? I find I struggle with what appears to be easy questions for some and the ones I find easy many people use up all their lifelines on. I think what makes one person "smarter" than the next is experience. You could spend your whole life with your nose in books and still not really know anything.

I'm one of those people who has always done well at school – I got top marks and was the valedictorian at my college graduation – but I wouldn't consider myself smarter than the next guy. However I do think I have more understanding than most because of my life experiences. When I finished high school I decided not to go to University, mainly because I knew my family couldn't afford it and because I figured that in the time it would take me to get a University degree I could work my way up to the same level in a business. What compelled me to go back to school at the age that most people were graduating was the desire for new experiences.

I’d become bored with my mundane existence. Working 8 hours a day just to make it to the weekend and then starting all over again. Where’s the fun and challenge in that? I can’t handle the ordinary and predictable. Although when life gets busy and crazy I do long for something more manageable.

Now that I am a mother I know that my life will never be ordinary or predictable again. I feel that it’s the people in your life that make you smarter. Facing challenges and having new experiences is what sets us apart from each other. The differences are things we should cherish and embrace. Tests seem to have an underlying theme – trying to get people to be the same. I don’t believe many people would be satisfied with their results. It is a comparison of you to a standard set by an establishment. And who sets these standards? Those that think they are smarter than you.

I don’t agree with the results of these tests but they do make for a good laugh. Check them out . . . if you can handle the results. http://web.tickle.com/tests/