Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Finding out your own high IQ as an adult

I recently had an IQ test as my daughter is showing signs of being gifted and I was curious as to how my own experiences in school etc, may be similar (or not).

I have always known that I was "bright" and had estimated myself in the top 10% (iq 120).

Then my result came back quite a deal higher than that. At first I was pleased and that I wasn't crazy for imagining my daughter was gifted and that maybe there was some basis to it.

Then I felt like a fraud because on all the "bright vs gifted" checklists, I always tick the items in the "bright" column. I'm not creative, I don't have any out-there ideas and I have poor general knowledge. I just understand things quickly (on topics I am interested in).

Then as time has gone on, I keep thinking about why I haven't been more successful in life etc. I know that giftedness does not equal success, but I can't help thinking that I have wasted a great opportunity.

Did you find out your own high IQ as an adult and what effect did it have?

Ignore these.

I don't know my IQ and I'm kind of glad I don't. My husband never took an IQ test, so he doesn't know his either. I did qualify for gifted programming based on the test, so it had to be above some bar, but that's all I know.

I think if we knew, it would be tempting to compare ourselves to our kids. Even now, having results for both my children, I find that it's tempting to assign value to these small differences. But really, I've come to think that general giftedness matters, way-out-there PG scores matter, really discordant results matter, and other than that, "gifted" is a squishy result that has less meaning than we want it to. Looking at the individual person and allowing them opportunities to stretch tells us more.

Anyway, a high IQ is no guarantee of anything. Of course, there are some statistical averages, but not everyone will fit there. My husband and I are throwing off the income averages, for instance.

I also think the bright vs. gifted checklists are a bit silly. Some gifted kids are like that and some are not. I know a lot of gifted kids (and my area uses a strict IQ cut-off) and they are really different from each other.

But they look very authoritative.

You can check the checky boxes and come up with an idealized answer.

It's very crisp and clean!

I have no clue what my IQ is, though I do admit I would be interested to know it. My husband is the same. Neither of us are high achievers, - I left school at 16 way back in 1979, and dh never finished college. Having said that - I do consider both us pretty smart. Our son)age 11) - who knows? I've looked at the bright v gifted checklists, and he never really seems to fit the gifted criteria - so I've always been in denial at his giftedness. Maybe we should all get IQ tests, I wonder if we could get a family discount ?

I refuse to be IQ tested because I always tell my husband that my DD gets her intelligence from me. If I were to be IQ tested and it came back normal, or God forbid, low then I would have to acknowledge that she actually gets her intelligence from HIM. Uh uh, not gonna happen.

For a budget-minded adult with idle curiosity to satisfy, there are IQ test books you can buy and self-administer. I did this many years ago, and while the results are not anywhere near as reliable as formal, proctored testing with a trained professional, I still found my results to be within a few points of my DD's more formal score, and within a few points of the result predicted by my (pre-1994, when it was highly correlated with IQ) SAT results.

There is a proliferation of free IQ assessments available on the web, as well. I don't know of any I would consider reliable.

I would say what concerns me about the original post is the feeling of wasting an opportunity. I sometimes worry (and I worry especially for my children) that people tend to think that being gifted should automatically translate to being an executive or some high-powered figure or someone like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates... and where people tend to think that everyone around them are more successful than they are.

I found my old WISC scores just last year - after DS was tested as gifted, and found my last set from high school placing me in gifted - and yes, I have wondered at times that if my disability had been detected immediately instead of when I was 4, if I would have done even better - since I would not have had to spend years remediating for those 4 years (the constant jumps upwards over 3 WISC test during my school years shows the impact my disability had on artificially depressing my IQ score and one report even states that the WISC did not indicate my true potential)... but at the same time, I really don't have any regrets about my past and whether I should have been more successful than I am - because I am happy with my life and with my family, even though I am not a high powered executive or someone with significant influence (politics, education, corporate etc).

For me, it really has no affect on my life - it does not change who I am or how I view myself or my work life - it only helps me explain some quirks (and explains the constant surprise I would get from teachers from elementary through high school when I suddenly hit a sudden major learning curve or did better than they had expected from someone with my disability - but college and onwards, that constant surprise finally went away for the most part). It also warns me to keep an eye on my own children in terms of making sure we are aware of their full capabilities and making sure they are in an environment that can really meet their needs, and not in a place where we are in constant battle with administration.

I have felt this way, too. I see it as an existential depression. Here's a good article about giftedness and existential depression.

The past needs to be processed and lost opportunities need to be acknowledged; but don't get stuck in a fixed mindset. The present and future are still open for the making. Just working towards a few challenging, but achievable goals can help you feel more empowered. Start by thinking about how you can do just a little bit more with the talents and resources you have; for your family, for your community, for yourself. And make sure to think regularly about the progress you've made.

I have tried a ton of IQ tests from casual to being a guinea pig for grad students, because I like the idea of test construction and the whole ball of wax. Based on all of those, I'm pretty confident about where my G level is within the population, plus or minus a couple of standard deviations.

But IQ needs something else whether it is curiosity, grit, or drive to go somewhere "bigger."

Professional/financial results are their own insular thing. Intelligence lives in the day-to-day in the dangerous situations avoided, bargains found, trivial effort in filling out taxes, appreciation of a brilliant book, maintaining many friendships, understanding the new refrigerator's manual, hobbies accumulated, talking to school personnel, nurturing your kid's intelligence and removing barriers to their success, etc.

Don't devalue your abilities with someone else's yardstick.