Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

I was talking with a friend whose daughters both attend a gifted school and I asked for the requirements for admittance and she said they need a score of 130 or above.

This made me wonder: if you didn't know your IQ as a child, do you think it may have held you back? Or if you knew it, did it help you? What if you found out as an adult that your IQ was considered gifted but your parents never told you? Do you view yourself differently now? Feel cheated or hold yourself with more confidence?

Fire away!

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

This is not exactly about IQ specifically but I know several people who clearly displayed some talents as children and now they feel that their parents did not encourage those talents.

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

Ds is over 130 (I'm sure his brother is as well). Iq is genetic but Back when we were kids, there weren't many programs. Nowadays, it's different. More programs to cater to children's Individual needs.

Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

My brother was a mess up. It is what it is. Because I was his little sister the school passed on my scores without looking at them. It wasn't until an English Teacher took notice that I exhibited behavior and traits different from my classmates, that she recommended me for GT/AP testing.

Yes, it made a difference. My scores skyrocketed once I found a place I felt 'normal'. I felt challanged. I felt free to ask the 'real' questions to hear 'real' answers. Its hard to describe.

I was very resentful that they'd taken this from me, but while I had it I enjoyed it to its fullest. I made some bad choices in college that has nothing to directly do with grades, but affected my grades none the less and left. 16years later I attempted to go back to school at NCC. Ironically I still test off the charts even with that much time and distance from any formal education. Not ironically, I still refuse Honors type English classes. Instead I prefer accelerated science and math courses.

I'm never happier than arguing a mathematical formula or scientific theory. Listening to and trying to understand something generally ignored is facinating to me.

I hope AJ inherited some of that passion from me. I know my husband also was placed very high in his HS career (altho some of you may say that's not hard in Hempstead). He went on to get a college degree. I did not.

Perhaps thats why I push those crafts so much. We sit and talk and I show her things on the computer, I research facts and think things through and let her watch and help through a process. Steps, levels and explanations. This week is P and we've researched Penquins, pigs and pirates and puppets, plays and plays with pigs, penquins, and pirates. The alligator project was lots of National Geographic stuff. Next week is O and I know we'll be researching 'orange' owls.

I push math on her too. Even at 4 I play the take away game. You have 3 pennies, how many? and she'll count, I take one and how many do you have, she'll count, I take both and give you what I have, how many do you have. How many do you need to make 2? If I want one three how many do I need? What if you want one, how many do I have left. Back and forth through and through.

We do science projects of simple adding to things to make another, texture changes, water to ice to steam, to water. Then we've tried to understand the water cycle and how the water in a lake becomes clouds then it gets so heavy it rains back onto the lake, grass and trees then it goes back up again. Are the clouds 'wet' yes they are. but the water so teeny tiny it needs lots of water to make a drop and look how small a single drop is but put a lot together and you get....

I can't say what my IQ is and I don't care. I want her to do better than I in every way. But I want her to WANT it. To enjoy it. I play whatever topic she's into at the moment.

I can say IQ doesnt make your life better or worse. You still have to put in the effort. Smart doesnt preclude you from stupid mistakes LOL


ETA: My parents divorced when I was young but much much later I found out my mother was in all types of honors and gift programs/clubs. Even way back in the 60s in a poor area of San Antonio. which made me feel better as my book smarts felt odd with the rest of my family. LOL

Message edited 10/1/2012 5:33:55 PM.

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

I knew that I was considered to be exceptional when I was young. My parents told me often, the schools told me often. I felt a lot of pressure because of it. Anytime a grade wasn't perfect, I'd feel sick to my stomach as a kid. My parents blamed anything lower than a perfect score on my failure to prepare or study or care adequately. It sucked.

Sometimes I wish that they never were made aware of any potential that I might have above average intelligence. But.. whatever. I am who I am in part because of my experiences. And overall.. I think I'm pretty swell so *shrug*

My older son is highly gifted. He is aware of this fact and participates in the gifted programs at school. He does not know his score, I don't think it's necessary to compare and contrast with other children and I feel like that might happen given the lack of maturity in pre-teens. And the number is irrelevant. I do try to impress on him OFTEN that having innate intelligence is NOT a reason to be lazy or slack off or think he can get one over on anyone.

Message edited 10/1/2012 5:34:40 PM.

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

I was idenitifed as gifted early on. I can say that being classfied as intellectually gifted made a HUGE difference in my life because before then I was bored and miserable in school.

It definitely comes with drawbacks (the pressure etc), but I am SO glad I got to be in gifted programs at school. It improved my life 1000%. I was soo bored. they'd send me up 1-2 grades for enrichment and I was still bored. Other kids and even parents (yes, parents you won't believe how they acted) were jealous of me. School was like 7 hours of torture all day. I wasn't allowed to read if I was done with an assignment before others so I had to just sit there.

I'm SO glad i got to be pulled from that environment. I feel bad for anyone who had to endure that all through school, though there is something to be said for being a big fish in a small pond.

Comprehensive gifted programs are one reason DH and I do not want to leave NYC.

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

this post made me think about how i do not know my IQ and i dont know if i have ever even taken one.

where can you take one? any legit online ones?

Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

No one's gonna say they WEREN'T the best and the brightest LOL

In all seriousness, my parents did the most awesome job of raising three bright, creative, intelligent and passionate daughters. We each had strengths and weaknesses, some better or worse, but my parents did their best to encourage us, challenge us and teach us things the school system didn't or couldn't. IQ scores, to me, to my parents, then or now, mean nothing. I know what I know, what I don't, what I can improve, what I can learn, and a simple number isn't going to change me, nor do I think that it would have made a difference to me growing up.

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

i had my iq tested in first grade and got a good result

and i have not become anything special or amazing

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

I have an issue with IQ testing in general, because it is not entirely predictive of success or ability to learn. Its not the whole picture of a child, and to use that as criteria for "gifted" is problematic to me. I am of an average IQ and I believe that I am an intelligent, successful person. I love to learn and learn easily....I have a major deficit in my working memory, which makes me score lower in an IQ test. However, as an adult, I write down everything or use strategies to memorize things. Because of the modifications I make for myself, I am able to function in the world as well as a person who would test higher than me, kwim?

I know that defenders of general intelligence will say that intelligence is the same throughout someone's life....I just don't agree. I think that people grow, change and adapt to their environments and that an IQ test is really biased towards people who haven't had access to certain environmental factors (such as parents who read to them or speak to them). They are also unfair to people with disabilities. There is a whole section on verbal comprehension-which is tested with verbal responses. What if you are speech delayed or have auditory processing issues? Maybe someone on here who administers IQ tests to children can speak more to this, but I was just at an assessment training about the WISC, and I was really thinking about how certain disabilities would impact performance on an IQ test, but might not actually mean a less intelligent child.

I am more from the multiple intelligence school of thought. We are all gifted!

Message edited 10/1/2012 9:35:00 PM.

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

i was test VERY early for my iq, and was put in gifted programs and had testing on me done from 1st grade on

i took my SATs when i was 12..and scored a 1080

i was lucky because i was put in a group of "high honors" (our school had 4 levels of tracking)..there were 16 of us, and all but 2 went on to get graduate degrees and higher..

i truly think that being recognized early helped me quite a bit in school-they treated us differently than a lot of my peers

dh was in the same program 2 years before me, with a similar story-but he focused on sports (he played pro-baseball for awhile before getting his MBA)

does it guarantee anything? of course not
did we have peers not in our programs who did well? of course we did

however, we both agree that in a large school it helped us in the long term

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

in the end of second grade, all kids in my district are tested. if a child scored above 125, they were placed in a 1 day per week program for "students advanced in learning skills" ... it was a great program, I loved it. It was a very creative outlet with other children in a similar boat. We went on field trips and did special projects.

From that point on, I was in the honors "section" and honors classes in HS.

I think it is important to know if a child is gifted early on. Get the creative juices flowing!

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

Hm that's a really interesting question.

I was always in G&T programs, Honors classes, AP classes, etc....never received lower than an A- in college & grad school....have a rather high IQ.

I think that it did affect me. I was explored to so many different academic options, and I am a creative person and open to learning new subjects. However, I was like that before I ever had any scores assigned to me.

After my freshmen year of college, I took a semester off. Before that, I was someone who had to study an average amount. After that, I never studied for more than a couple of minutes again. Everything just clicked.

I think so many things are a part of who I am...having scores that qualified me to engage in more creative programs and being a naturally creative person are two of them...but also taking that time to realize that an academic education is not the only type of valuable education that exists was so important.

I can't identify my IQ or other test scores as the sole factor that shaped who I am, but I do think it had a decent role.

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

I knew my IQ was higher than most & I was put in special programs for it starting in elementary school. Personally, I think it was a detriment to me.

This is one of the best articles that explain it: How Not to Talk to Your Kids. The inverse power of praise.http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/. While parents never praised me (because I never really worked very hard for the grades I got & had a twin sister who struggled in school), I can see how praise can make someone not try as hard at new things because they are afraid of failure.

There was also an article about the differences in males & females, which also noted the same issue.

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

I don't know. Kind of a toss up. Apparently I tested very high on my IQ test as a child, but only found out when I was in high school. My parents never encouraged me in scholastic endeavors, but both of them working full time and having 5 kids not a lot of attention was paid to things like that. Interestingly enough I DID wind up in all honors classes in high school due to my hard work and aptitude and pursuing things on my own. I also pursued a lot of extra curricular activities, and my parents rarely came to any plays or musicals or competitions. I LOVED being at school because I was good at it. I don't blame my parents at all for this, they did what they had to do with what they had. I DO however wish that my parents, or other figures in my life, had been more encouraging in both my school work and also my pursuit of music. I can't help wondering where I would be sometimes if I had there support or acknowledgement.

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

I took an IQ test in elementary school and as a result of the test I was placed in the G&T program. Before taking part in the G&T program I was board in school. Afterwards it was as if a light bulb went on and I loved school. The one problem for me was that other children treat you differently once you are labeled. Of the kids in my G&T class who are still alive, all went on for additional advanced degrees. Did that translate into great jobs for all, no. I just hope everyone is happy with the life choices they made. I hope the same for all of my classmates regardless of which classes they took.

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

I'll have to ask my mom...

All I know is I was in gifted classes in elementary school and had friends who were not. The gifted classes were called the Eagle classes. Well, my 4th grade teacher (who I HATED) referred to the non-gifted classes as the turkeys This stuck with me and I never understood why my teacher would be that insensitive.

That experience taught me a valuable lesson. It's not good enough to have loads of intelligence. What does it prove? You go a lot further in the world by being a GOOD person and a decent human being who contributes positive things to the world.

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

Posted by gina409

i had my iq tested in first grade and got a good result

and i have not become anything special or amazing

Message edited 10/2/2012 6:20:33 AM.

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

My child tested high in 3rd grade, and entered the gifted program. I can say it truly gave him a different perspective on school. He HATED going before, he was bored, he was constantly getting in trouble for talking. I also had hesitations because I struggled to get him to read, to follow through, to get to the detail when he was writing. What I've learned through him working through the gifted program is that these are all "normal" traits of gifted children. Their brains process different, they need coping mechanisms for focusing (and not thinking about the next thing, the next idea), the need to learn how to follow through and part of this comes from being challenged differently, they need to learn how to find the detail, document it and then debate/defend it (not off the cuff). I also learned that children that are labeled gifted tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves to perfect at the area that is not their strongest, instead of leaning on the area that is their strongest. So where I thought my son was all math and science, he was focusing on this because it was not the easiest for him and he was not getting the highest grade/ the best project score. Where is talent tested was in verbal writing/reading/interpretting. He was putting all sorts of pressure (and not from my husband or I) on doing/being the best. The program he is in helped him to let go a little bit and know that he did not have to perfect at everything. That was a major change for us.

For my child the IQ number was not so important to us, it was the understanding, wonderful teacher who recognized these struggles and turned him from hating/fighting school to not being able to get enough.

Our school btw does NOT just go by IQ scores, I know there is teacher recommendations, other test scores, and even talking to some students who they believe fit the gifted model.

BTW - I always tell my son that just because he is in a "gifted" program, does NOT make him smart. Learning, listening and doing the right thing is the true measure -- to me anyway.

Message edited 10/2/2012 8:26:42 AM.

Re: Do you think your IQ score can change your life?

My opinion is that having a high IQ is great but if you are not willing to put the work into schooling and then into your career it doesn't matter what your IQ is.

I feel that so long as someone is of average intelligence and has the desire to work for it they will be as successful as they desire.

School never came easy to my brother. He was not the smartest kid in the class or in honors. He ALWAYS had a desire to succeed and do his personal best. He worked his ass off from as early as I can remember all through college and then law school.

My brother did not have the best SAT score but went to a good college with the combo of his grades, extracurricular etc. He went on to go to one of the top law schools (bc he worked his ass off in college and after preparing for the LSATS), he passed the bar on his first try (with a high score) and now owns his own law firm and is VERY successful.

It is not because he has the the highest IQ, he was smart enough and with hard work he made himself a success.

Many of his friends who were in honors classes never attended college (nothing wrong with that at all just pointing it out for the sake of the argument) and are not successful as adults.

So do I think IQ matters in the grand scheme of life? no, not really. What matters is your parents expectations and most importantly your own.

For what it is worth I was an honor student, school came easy to me so this isnt a biased opinion