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IQ tests have been popular for years, but until the internet came along, they haven’t really exploded. However — is the test still important? What can be gleaned from its results? We went around to every big IQ site on the internet, and tracked down the 5 best things that come from taking the test.

#5: Thanks to the internet, the tests are way better.

The number of actual persons going online to take the test is quite high, and so the standards being used to measure the tests have also been risen. Instead of pumping out tests from the academy, suitable only for a very small amount of people, the test-creators are now using the entire world (thanks to the internet) for their subjects.

Because of this, the tests have really become great. Now there are contemporary tests that actually hold your interest — they’ll give you a true sense of how you did on the test, something that just didn’t happen in the pre-internet era.

#4: No more boring results — now IQ tests are truly comparative.

The internet has really improved this part too: just like all those test-makers who have fixed up their tests, the results generated are no longer old-fashioned either.

The results you can get online today are truly phenomenal — we can compare ourselves with our friends like we never could before. Check what your results are like when it comes to your age group, or maybe by where you live, and see a great amount of other cool detail, too.

#3: Forget those brain-trainers, this is way better.

Although they look like a fun diversion, any of those pricey brain-training games just keep track of little tasks that you do, and aren’t really a measure of part of your intelligence.

An IQ test is an actual test, designed to measure the exertion of your intelligence on a series of interesting, challenging questions. It then harnesses the power of the internet to give you results in real-time, against thousands of others who have come before you. Brain-training for kids, this is not.

#2: There’s nothing like a little positive self-reinforcement.

What’s the greatest thing about keeping track of your own IQ? It’s seeing it there in front of your own eyes, plotted out on a nice clear chart. It’s been shown that these kind of things can give us positive reinforcement, that seeing the results of our tests on a clear grid like this help us do better in the future.

#1: Nationalism can be fun again when it’s just a harmless IQ test.

There’s nothing better than this — take a look at how the other folks from your home country are scoring, and rank your results against theirs! There’s nothing more fun than seeing how well you’re stacking up.

Not only do you get a fun comparison with other countries (which nation is the smartest?), but the next time you’re talking to a friend, you can mention that your IQ results are well above the national average. It’s all the fun of cool statistics, without any of the boring stuff!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 12th, 2009 at 2:27 am and is filed under Hobbies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.