What is IQ?

It is not easy to define intelligence, because of the different forms in which it exists and is manifested. Intelligence can be described as the skills, necessary to face the requirements and challenges which one is daily confronted with. It sounds very simple, but in fact a lot is hidden behind this.
According to Webster’s Dictionary, "intelligence is a capacity to perceive and comprehend meaning, information, news". Nowadays a new, more complex and extensive concept of intelligence has been developed, and the definition can be simply expressed as: Intelligence is the ability to solve complex problems in changing circumstances.

And what is IQ (or Intelligence Quotient) then? An artificially created number, serving as a measure of intelligence? Is it possible that these two letters contain a deeper meaning?
This definition was first mentioned by a French psychologist Alfred Binet in the beginning of the 20th century (more about his investigations see History of IQ) and was calculated for children as follows:

IQ = Mental Age/Age X 100 %

But intelligence changes with age and this ratio is not valid for adults. For them, the IQ-value is the number, indicating their “place” in the range of population (according to the Gauss normal distribution curve (see the figure below):

If the average score is 100, then, according to the curve, 68.2% of people have IQ between 85 and 115, only 0.2% have a very low intelligence with an IQ of less than 55, and a very small group of them - 0.2% have an extremely high IQ of more than 145.

You will probably recognize some members of this group: the IQ-score of Bill Gates is 160, of Sharon Stone - 150, and of Hillary Clinton as well as of Madonna - 140. What do you think - are you as smart?

History of IQ

The first studies on this subject in psychology, philosophy and medical physiology are known to have been conducted at the end of the 19th century. Scientists of that time used some mathematical and verbal tests (the solving of more or less complicated problems in a short space of time). One of them was a British scientist Sir Francis Galton, who believed in the inheritance of intelligence as one of the mental features, as well as physical features. Some time later a French psychologist Alfred Binet (1857 – 1911) who is said to be the “father” of the universally known the IQ (Intelligence Quotient), was exploring human mental capabilities. He studied two groups of children – normal students and so-called “backward” children, and found out that the children from the first group could perform certain tasks while the children from the second group could not. Furthermore Binet calculated the “normal” abilities of students of different ages and formulated the concept of “mental age” along with physical (or chronological) age and the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) as follows:

IQ = Mental age/Age x 100%

This ratio can be explained by a simple example. When a girl of 10 has an intellectual level equal to that of an 11 year old, she has an IQ of 110 (11/10 x 100). If a boy of 9 has the same intellectual level as that girl, his IQ will be 122 (11/9 x 100).

Then 100% should be a normal IQ. However this formula is not valid in the case of adults. As the scientist discovered after comparing the intelligence of children and young people from different age groups, the intelligence level increases together with age till a certain point and reaches its highest peak at 26 years of age. Afterwards the IQ-value slowly goes down (see Figure):

Model IQ test

With this test you are about to learn the types of questions that you can expect from an IQ Test. Please take your time. It is much more important to understand the questions than to answer them quickly. Have fun!

Let’s start with the IQ Test

The following tasks require you to analyse alphanumeric patterns built according to certain rules.

Question 1: Please enter the missing figure: 3 , 5, 8, 13, 21,

Question 2: Please enter the missing figure: 4, 5, 8, 17, 44,

Question 3: Please enter the missing figure: 3, 4, 8, 17, 33,

Question 4: Please enter the missing figure: 11, 9, 7, 5, 3,

Question 5: Please enter the missing figure: 3, 6, 18, 72, 360,

Question 6: Please enter the missing figure: 30, 29, 27, 26, 24, 23, 21, 20,

Question 7: Please enter the missing character: A, D, G, J,

Question 8: Please enter the missing character: D, G, K, N, R,

Question 9: Please enter the missing character: B, C, E, H, L,

Word Plays

Question 25:	Question 26:	Question 27:	Question 28:
a	a	a	a
b	b	c	b
d	c	d	c
e	d	e	d