danshome Posted May 14, 2002 Share Posted May 14, 2002 IQ isn't about knowing stuff, it's about being about to understand stuff thus a very sensible requirement for a top university (I'm assuming that's what USF is). Hmm... I beg to differ, but unfortunately, that's not at all what IQ is about. A large proportion of modern IQ tests are comprised of general knowledge sections that are specifically about knowledge that an individual possesses (the Longfellow question I mentioned earlier is a good example of this). The remainder of IQ tests supposedly tests mental ability through abstract tests that are designed "to not relate to real world problems but to emulate the sorts of situations in which they occur". What this ends up being is that they don't in fact test whether an individual can comprehend something or whether they can understand it, but rather that they work with abstract concepts. I have also recently finished a study into high achievement and university acceptance which shows that on no level, unless you significantly change the definition of intelligence used by IQ tests, does "intelligence" affect high achievement. If anybody would be interested in reading a copy of it (it's about 50,000 words long all in all), you're more than welcome to. The basic gist of the revelevent section is that a group of high achievers (and control group obviously) were tested on two different scales of intelligence (exam results and an IQ test) and neither of these corrolated significantly with evidence of achievement. Thus to use an IQ test to measure future achievement is seriously misguided.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLapointe Posted May 14, 2002 Share Posted May 14, 2002 An IQ test is one of the factors of getting in to a hard program in a college. Before you can enter into a program they have to have a way to find out if you can be able to understand the meterial. If you are unable to comprehend the meterial how can you pass and complete the program. You can be the smartest person in your class but you may have the ability to understand computer science where you may not have the ability to understand physics. Some of the smartest people can't even get into medical school or if they do get in they can't comprehend the meterial to get very far into med school. That doesn't make that person any less smart than what he/she was before. No matter how smart you are there will always be somthing you will not be able to understand while others you will understand very well. I'm very smart but I am unable to understand accounting logic for CPA courses but I understand physics very well. Does that make me stupid because I don't know the logic of accounting. No...I'm just better at some things than others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danshome Posted May 14, 2002 Share Posted May 14, 2002 Surely that's the point? That IQ tests do not measure competence in accountancy or in medicine. They measure "general intelligence" - a topic as thorny as the tests themselves. There is no reasonable way that IQ can be considered an adequate test of proficiency in any specific subject because that's just not what it was designed for. On top of that, it's questionable whether it can even measure the one thing that it claims to measure, or whether there is anything for them to measure in the first place. I can understand tests into how much you know about a subject in the first place (though these admittedly defeat the point of education - but to establish a base level of interest they are useful) and I will personally encourage any academic centre to form some test estimating how well an individual applies existing knowledge to new situations, since from evidence this seems to be the most important factor in individuals succeeding in their academic careers, as well as tests of motivation and drive. But IQ does not measure any of these - it never purports to and it would certainly be a pretty crappy measure if it was used as such... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danshome Posted May 14, 2002 Share Posted May 14, 2002 Sorry for the exceedingly long sentence in that last post. It won't happen again. Okay, it probably will, but hey.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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