Challenging IQ Tests

Rating:
Summary: Great Content
Review: I have been always reading books by russel,as he is the editor of the mensa puzzle magazines.I have bought a lot of his books,like Picture Puzzles ect.and I find it a great way to while away your time.One last good thing is that as your IQ can decrease by 30 points after 3 weeks of mental idlness, this is a great way to maintain it.Russel has certainly kept his standard

Rating:
Summary: NOT IQ Tests
Review: The questions are indeed challenging mental exercises but make a better puzzle book than a set of IQ tests. Both the title and what is advertised on the cover are notoriously misleading. The cover reads, "Calculate Your IQ in One Hour." However, not halfway into the brief introduction, the authors acknowledge that the tests are not standardized and therefore an IQ score will NOT be given. Instead we are presented with cateqories for each range of scores. A total of 8-9 correct answers out of 20 is considered "average", followed by 10-11 designated "good", 12-13 is labeled "very good", etc. The authors present no equivalence between these scores and ranges of IQ scores, leaving the reader to wonder whether "average" pertains to the general population or the Mensa elite. Also, successfully answering many questions rely too much on the reader's vocabulary instead of reasoning powers which IQ tests are supposed to measure. For example, unless you're a student of church architecture, you're not likely to know that a "reredos" is a decorated wall in a church and no amount of intelligence can help you if you don't know the definition. So while I tested well on reasoning questions, my score was often shot down by unfamiliar words. This sort of frusteration has been voiced by several reviewers of other books by Carter and Russell. In sum, the book contains some excellent exercises as practice IQ test questions but will not give you an IQ score. It's probably fair to say that doing well on these tests may indicate future success on standard IQ tests but don't lose sleep over a mediocre score...

Rating:
Summary: NOT IQ Tests
Review: The questions are indeed challenging mental exercises but make a better puzzle book than a set of IQ tests. Both the title and what is advertised on the cover are notoriously misleading. The cover reads, "Calculate Your IQ in One Hour." However, not halfway into the brief introduction, the authors acknowledge that the tests are not standardized and therefore an IQ score will NOT be given. Instead we are presented with cateqories for each range of scores. A total of 8-9 correct answers out of 20 is considered "average", followed by 10-11 designated "good", 12-13 is labeled "very good", etc. The authors present no equivalence between these scores and ranges of IQ scores, leaving the reader to wonder whether "average" pertains to the general population or the Mensa elite. Also, successfully answering many questions rely too much on the reader's vocabulary instead of reasoning powers which IQ tests are supposed to measure. For example, unless you're a student of church architecture, you're not likely to know that a "reredos" is a decorated wall in a church and no amount of intelligence can help you if you don't know the definition. So while I tested well on reasoning questions, my score was often shot down by unfamiliar words. This sort of frusteration has been voiced by several reviewers of other books by Carter and Russell. In sum, the book contains some excellent exercises as practice IQ test questions but will not give you an IQ score. It's probably fair to say that doing well on these tests may indicate future success on standard IQ tests but don't lose sleep over a mediocre score...