Interesting facts about intelligence tests

Traditional Games That Can Increase One’s IQ Test Results


Playing games has been a great pastime for both young and old because games are fun and entertaining. But did you know that many traditional games that we have all grown up with are actually good for increasing your IQ test results?

Games are generally played for fun, and the objective is to simply come out as the winner. But win or lose, everyone who participates in games actually enjoy the benefit of not only having fun but also enhancing their mental skills. Most people don’t even realize this because they are caught up in the entertainment factor of it all, but games actually play a significant role in shaping people’s intelligence.

With games such as chess, checkers and backgammon, it’s quite easy to see where the mental aspect comes in but in some other games like hopscotch, jackstones or even hide and seek, it won’t be as easy to see how these can help increase one’s IQ test results. Nevertheless, all these games do contribute to mental growth and development, especially among younger children.

Let’s take jackstones, for instance. All you really have to do is throw the ball and collect the jacks one by one or two by two or whatever, depending on how far along in the game you are. In order to win in this game, you would need good dexterity and excellent hand-eye coordination. The fast, precise movements of your hand are great for developing good visual skills, which is an important component of one’s overall intelligence quotient.

Another IQ-boosting game played often by both children and adults is the game known to most people as Charades, where someone acts out a phrase or a word and the others try to guess what the phrase or word is. Besides being extremely fun, Charades is also an excellent mental exercise because you would really have to think hard in order to act out the words and to guess them as well.

Most sports also help to improve one’s mental skills. Even if the focus is on the physical aspect, there is still a lot of mental skill needed when playing practically any type of sport. This is why you’ll notice that athletes are often faster thinkers than people who life sedentary lifestyles.

But even if you don’t have anyone to play with, you can still increase your IQ with games such as jigsaw puzzles – for improving visual-spatial intelligence, crossword puzzles – for improving verbal intelligence, or Sudoku – for improving mathematical and logical intelligence.

You can also play trivia games on the computer, either online or on your own, but online games is often preferred because you get to interact with other people, hence the opportunity to learn more new things.

Even while watching television, you can still increase your IQ. While watching the game show, Jeopardy, for instance, you probably try to answer along with the contestants but next time, try to answer before the contestants buzz in. This added challenge will train you to think on your toes and will surely lead to better results the next time you take an IQ test. free iq test with instant results

Geniuses That Have Failed Standard Intelligence Tests


What do Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Vincent Van Gogh and John Lennon ( famous people ) have in common? That’s right – they’re all considered to be geniuses in their respective fields. But another thing that they also have in common is that they are all dyslexics and have failed miserably in conventional intelligence tests. If you find that hard to believe, let’s take a look at each of their cases to find out what really happened.

albert einstein intelligence quotient When Albert Einstein was three years old, he was only just beginning to learn how to talk. In school, he had difficulties catching up with the rest of the class in basic subjects like mathematics, reading and spelling. He failed practically all tests of intelligence in school but still grew up to become the most brilliant scientist of our time.

Charles Darwin lagged behind in school, both in academics and extracurricular activities. He stuttered badly and was extremely dyslexic. He was not confident at all and made few friends. Even as an adult, he found it hard to articulate his thoughts on any other subject other than those directly related to his studies.

Vincent Van Gogh, a world-famous painter, was probably just as famous for his art as he was for his mental illness that ultimately led him to suicide. But before his untimely death, Van Gogh produced the best works of art the world has ever seen. At the same time, he performed very poorly on standard intelligence tests other than those that measured visual-spatial intelligence.

Finally, for those that do not personally know John Lennon, he did seem like a very smart man, and he was, although not according to the academic measures of intelligence. He was highly dyslexic, which means it was very difficult for him to use written language, and he would have probably have failed the verbal section of any IQ test. Quite ironically, he is now considered to be one of the greatest song composers of modern time.

What’s quite interesting among dyslexics is that despite their limitations in reading and writing, they are usually bursting with creativity and are able to solve traditionally difficult problems with relative ease simply because they are looking at things from a completely different perspective. Because of their verbal weakness, these people would probably really score very low on traditional IQ tests. However, they may also score quite high in the other sections so there’s really no telling what their overall IQ score is going to look like.

If you think that standard intelligence tests can really tell how smart someone is, then you better think again. There are so many different aspects of intelligence that it can’t be measured by simple tests. A person, especially one with mental impairments like dyslexia, can’t be expected to score well in a traditional IQ test but this doesn’t mean that he is stupid at all.

As you can see from the examples above, even if they have repeatedly failed conventional intelligence tests, these persons are actually some of the most notable geniuses the world has ever known.