IQ

I took an interesting and fun IQ test yesterday. (Link found via Rilana.) I scored a 133, which apparently puts me in the top 3% of the population (info here). I generally score somewhere in the mid-130s when I take IQ tests, but I don't feel all that smart. Sure, I know IQ tests are inaccurate. If you do enough puzzles and brainteasers, you can easily raise your score, and I do love a good puzzle. So, I won't go around claiming I'm a genius or anything. Hmmm... I wonder if Mensa is accepting new members? (Blah! It turns out that Mensa requires one to be in the top 2%, which is an IQ score of approximately 135. *sigh*)

I have some issues regarding my intelligence though. I don't like to let people know how smart I really am. I'm very observant, yet I will often pretend I didn't hear or see something or didn't understand what was said, mostly to make the other person feel better. I also learned pretty quickly in school that no one likes the smart kids, especially when they are not too bad looking. And there are some jobs I wouldn't have got hired for, because the manager would have likely thought that I would be bored (which I always am). After so many years of covering up what I really know, it is hard now to remember that I really am smart. And, well, it is a little scary too. Because, if people know that I am intelligent, maybe they will expect more from me.

Oh yeah, I am apparently a Visionary Philosopher according to the IQ test. The test says: "This means you are highly intelligent and have a powerful mix of skills and insight that can be applied in a variety of different ways. Like Plato, your exceptional math and verbal skills make you very adept at explaining things to others — and at anticipating and predicting patterns." Uh, is that a nice way of saying I have trouble focusing on one subject and I can bullshit my way through just about anything?