I underwent a real IQ test when I was young, and so I can say that this estimation significantly overshoots my actual score. But that’s because it factors in test-taking as a skill (one that I’m good at).
Then again, I’m also a little shocked that the table on that site puts an SAT score of 1420 at the 99.9th percentile. At my high school there were, to my knowledge, at least 10 people with that high of a score (and that’s only those I knew of), not to mention one perfect score. This is out of ~700 people. Does that mean my school was, on average, at the 90th percentile of intelligence? Or just at the 90th percentile of studying hard (much more likely I think).
If you’re in the median age band for Less Wrong, you misread the estimator. The “SAT to IQ” table is for the pre-1995 SAT, which had much more rarefied heights. The “SAT I to IQ” table is for the 1995-2005 SAT.
And of course, there are also SAT prep services which offer guarantees of raising your score by such and such an amount (my mother thought I ought to try working for one, given my own SAT scores and the high pay, but I don’t want to join the Dark Side and work in favor of more inequality of education by income,) and these services are almost certainly not raising their recipients’ IQs.
I’ve never taken an IQ test, so when I was responded to the survey I considered estimating my IQ based on my SAT and GRE scores. The result, according to the site torekp linked to, is surprisingly high (150+). I think I’m smart, but not that smart. Anyone have any idea if these estimators should be trusted at all?
My IQ according to the estimator would put me in the 99.995th percentile, but it seems to me that at least 5% of my friends and acquaintances are at least as smart as me. Part of this is probably selection bias, but I doubt that could account for it completely. I don’t move in particularly exalted circles.
EDIT: If you had asked me to estimate my IQ before I consulted the website, I would have said 135. I’d probably still say that, actually. I’m guessing the GRE-to-IQ conversion is useless above some ceiling.
FYI, if you’re in the median age band for Less Wrong, you misread the estimator—I know, because I made the same mistake. Clicking “SAT to IQ” on the left shows a table for the test prior to a re-centering in 1995, whereas “SAT I to IQ” shows the table for tests given between 1995 and 2005. The latter’s top end is much less exceptional.
GRE quantitative scores are not useful for high-IQ estimates because 6% of people get perfect scores.
A perfect GRE verbal score is roughly the 99.8th percentile, as can be inferred from the charts in this pdf: http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/994994.pdf It shows that the percent of people with a perfect scores varies between less than 0.1% and 1.5%, depending on field, but it is usually 0.1% or 0.2%. (The 1.5% field was philosophy.) Because many non-native English speakers take the test, it’s likely that one ought to adjust that percentile a bit lower.
That’s among people applying to grad school, which is a higher-IQ group than the general population, but not by so much that 99.8th percentile among grad school applicants correlates to the 99.996th percentile among the general population, as that site (http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/GREIQ.aspx) claims. That would be impossible assuming more than one in fifty people in the applies to grad school.
If we attribute a perfect GRE score to the 99.8th percentile, then looking up that percentile on the chart on the same page, we get an IQ score >142 for 1600 on the GRE.
I’ve only got the one data point, but my tested IQ is within a couple points of what that site predicts from my SAT score. I took the tests almost a decade apart, though, so this could be coincidental; scores for both tests aren’t that stable over that kind of timeframe, I don’t think.
My (limited) background knowledge is that SATs, GREs, etc. are designed for people near the average, and give imprecise results for the highest IQs. You’re probably in that range the tests aren’t very good for.
Are we encouraged to estimate IQ from SAT tests and the like? That’s what I did. That could reduce the excluded-middle bias that Gedusa mentions.
I underwent a real IQ test when I was young, and so I can say that this estimation significantly overshoots my actual score. But that’s because it factors in test-taking as a skill (one that I’m good at). Then again, I’m also a little shocked that the table on that site puts an SAT score of 1420 at the 99.9th percentile. At my high school there were, to my knowledge, at least 10 people with that high of a score (and that’s only those I knew of), not to mention one perfect score. This is out of ~700 people. Does that mean my school was, on average, at the 90th percentile of intelligence? Or just at the 90th percentile of studying hard (much more likely I think).
If you’re in the median age band for Less Wrong, you misread the estimator. The “SAT to IQ” table is for the pre-1995 SAT, which had much more rarefied heights. The “SAT I to IQ” table is for the 1995-2005 SAT.
(I did the same thing.)
You are quite right. My scores correlate much better now; I retract my confusion.
And of course, there are also SAT prep services which offer guarantees of raising your score by such and such an amount (my mother thought I ought to try working for one, given my own SAT scores and the high pay, but I don’t want to join the Dark Side and work in favor of more inequality of education by income,) and these services are almost certainly not raising their recipients’ IQs.
I didn’t think of that—given that a huge chuck here have probably taken such tests, if Yvain allowed such an estimation, it would be very helpful.
Yes! That’s what I was thinking of :)
I’ve never taken an IQ test, so when I was responded to the survey I considered estimating my IQ based on my SAT and GRE scores. The result, according to the site torekp linked to, is surprisingly high (150+). I think I’m smart, but not that smart. Anyone have any idea if these estimators should be trusted at all?
What is your evidence?
I am not trying to convince you either way, but in my experience people aren’t very good at estimating their own IQ.
My IQ according to the estimator would put me in the 99.995th percentile, but it seems to me that at least 5% of my friends and acquaintances are at least as smart as me. Part of this is probably selection bias, but I doubt that could account for it completely. I don’t move in particularly exalted circles.
EDIT: If you had asked me to estimate my IQ before I consulted the website, I would have said 135. I’d probably still say that, actually. I’m guessing the GRE-to-IQ conversion is useless above some ceiling.
FYI, if you’re in the median age band for Less Wrong, you misread the estimator—I know, because I made the same mistake. Clicking “SAT to IQ” on the left shows a table for the test prior to a re-centering in 1995, whereas “SAT I to IQ” shows the table for tests given between 1995 and 2005. The latter’s top end is much less exceptional.
GRE quantitative scores are not useful for high-IQ estimates because 6% of people get perfect scores.
A perfect GRE verbal score is roughly the 99.8th percentile, as can be inferred from the charts in this pdf: http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/994994.pdf It shows that the percent of people with a perfect scores varies between less than 0.1% and 1.5%, depending on field, but it is usually 0.1% or 0.2%. (The 1.5% field was philosophy.) Because many non-native English speakers take the test, it’s likely that one ought to adjust that percentile a bit lower.
That’s among people applying to grad school, which is a higher-IQ group than the general population, but not by so much that 99.8th percentile among grad school applicants correlates to the 99.996th percentile among the general population, as that site (http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/GREIQ.aspx) claims. That would be impossible assuming more than one in fifty people in the applies to grad school.
If we attribute a perfect GRE score to the 99.8th percentile, then looking up that percentile on the chart on the same page, we get an IQ score >142 for 1600 on the GRE.
That link should probably point to this (without the dot at the end).
thanks
I’ve only got the one data point, but my tested IQ is within a couple points of what that site predicts from my SAT score. I took the tests almost a decade apart, though, so this could be coincidental; scores for both tests aren’t that stable over that kind of timeframe, I don’t think.
My (limited) background knowledge is that SATs, GREs, etc. are designed for people near the average, and give imprecise results for the highest IQs. You’re probably in that range the tests aren’t very good for.
I wouldn’t trust it. My GRE estimated IQ by that is wildly higher than my professionally measured IQ.
Also check out:
The scores are highly correlated. One must assume those charts are from a reliable source. So… yes?
Does the correlation remain if you conditionalize on, say, having an IQ higher than 130?
Well, not with that attitude.