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Rating: 
Summary: Do not buy this 'Loser' book, period.
Review: As to the criticism of there being many culturally biases (or more accurately, culturally loaded) questions, I think this criticism as it applies to this book is not a legitimate one. However, there are MANY other problems with this book and the writers as well as the publishers SHOULD be ashamed of putting their names on the cover. There is very little in this book other than the tests and what is supposed to be a scoring matrix. There are two pages in the beginning that is haphazard and unrelated nonsense that seems to have been written by someone who was on a jag and riding a rough subway ride at the time. Such paragraph long topics such as what crossword puzzles are, and who invented the rules of what we now recognize as probability, etc. That's right, these paragraphs are there and unrelated to each other and also do not relate to anything else in the book. The last such paragraph explains that mensa does not recognize these tests as legitimate IQ tests, and then we are off to the races, as it were. The answer section to the first test has no weight for each question. I suppose we can assume that they are each worth one point each. The other test answers however do tell us how to weight each question (how many points for that question, even if it's just taken to be one point.) Here's the real kicker that prompted me to write this rebuke. The last section called 'Comprehensive Supertests' is comprised of two tests. Number 1 test is comprised of three questions and the Number 2 test is comprised of 12 questions. 'Long-story-short, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GRADE THESE TESTS OR THIS SECTION. The other sections has shown that the ceilings for the tests in each section is exceded on the scoring matrix. This is all well and good as long as we can make sense of the weight of each questions and can 'add-up' our score. In the 'supertest' section, the scoring matrix does not work if we give each question one score point, and since we can assume that this section has the ceiling exceeded as the other three sections did, yet we do not know how to weigh each question, THEN THIS WHOLE SECTION IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SCORE. It seems that the authors Norman Sullivan and Philip J. Carter earn a failing grade in their attempt at an IQ test book. Save your money for people who earn it.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: Ditto on the previous reviewer's sentiments.. how the first reviewer ever wound up reviewing this book I'll never know or want to. Remember, IQ scores are not a measure of your current functioning, but rather your potential to achieve in certain areas. Knowing your weaknesses (for example, spelling, where the first reviewer falls short)will enable you to develop strategies for overcoming. Knowing your strengths will also allow you to develop and pursue realistic goals in the areas that you can succeed.
Rating:
Summary: WHY?
Review: life is too short to read how to score well on an i q test, isn't the whole point of onwe of those to guage how smart a person is, not to teach them to cheat in order to look better on paper. i know people in the genius range, that are pretty dumb, and vice versa, don't get your scooby doo's in a bunch over a single test, there is more to life, thank you
Rating:
Summary: This is a cool book!!
Review: Please buy this book. This is a very fun and good to know how smart you are. I tested myself and I turned out to be 154 as my IQ. I didn't even know I was that smart. Please get this book it is COOL!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Title is misleading.
Review: The biggest single advantage to this book is the fact that it immerses the reader in logic problems that exercise the brain. By training you to keep an agile and open mind, and to search for the unexpected, just the simple act of completing these exams will have the effect of significantly increasing your IQ score on tests. Why only 3 stars? Because this book falls short in the critical areas of proofreading, question selection, and printing. There are a number of questions in which either part of the answer set - or even part of the question - are missing, either due to poor proofreading or slapdash setup at the printing stage. As a result, on any given test it is likely that you will encounter one - or more - unanswerable questions. This makes scoring of the test problematical at best. Further, I take issue with the inclusion of geographical questions on IQ tests. One of the great debates in testing IQ is separating 'essential' knowledge from 'peripheral' knowledge. For example, if the test is written in English, then you must be able to read English in order to complete the exam. That is essential knowledge. On the other end of the scale is what I term 'Trivia'; unlikely, generally useless scraps of knowledge that only ever really have application in a trivia contest. If you happen to know the 3rd largest city in Texas, for example, then you can answer such a question immediately; if you do not, then no amount of raw intelligence will help you. While there aren't a lot of 'trivia' questions in this book, there are a few; and I believe there should be none. I was also surprised to find crossword puzzles (and various other types of complex word puzzles) on the IQ tests. While a good argument might be made for their inclusion, I am not aware of any 'official' IQ tests that use such puzzles. This is because IQ tests seek to measure 'raw intelligence' - whatever that is - and as such must avoid questions with which the test taker might have a developed skill at solving. Ideally, each question would be a fresh new challenge to every test taker. While this is unlikely, it is very likely that a large number of test takers will have encountered complex word puzzles before; and that is a strong reason for NOT including them on 'official' IQ tests. This, in turn, means that there is not likely to be a great correlation between scores achieved on tests in this book, and scores achieved on standard IQ tests. In fairness, the author makes no such explicit claim, although the title of the book might lead you to believe that you're getting a collection of standardised IQ tests. That is not the case. I was also disappointed in question selection; a disappointingly large number of questions have multiple reasonable answers, but only one 'correct' response. For example: in the following set, which one does not belong? A: CAT B: DOG C: BIRD D: RABBIT E: ELK The 'correct' answer is E - ELK - on the basis that the first 4 are household pets. But many people choose C: BIRD as it is the only animal listed that can fly; and I chose D: RABBIT as the only animal listed that used a letter twice. I should note that this exact question does NOT appear in this book; I stole it from a MENSA warmup exam, which goes to prove that even the large lads stumble. However, this book does contain numerous examples of this type of situation. Much more attention to question selection would have helped remedy this situation. To sum up: Some of the questions are unanswerable due to reproduction issues eliminating part of the question. Some questions relate to 'Trivia', not questions that test your mental flexibility and strength. There are a larger quantity of complex word questions then are found on standard IQ tests. And there are some questions to which multiple reasonable responses can be made. The bottom line? Don't imagine for one instant that your score on these tests correlates to that of a standardized IQ test; it doesn't. And don't think that you're buying a set of standardized IQ tests; you're not. But if you want a random collection of questions that will help you to stretch and build your mental muscles, and you're prepared to accept with good humour the 10% - 15% of questions that cannot be properly responded to, then this book is not a bad buy. It could be much better; but it's not a total loss. As an intellectual exercise tool - as opposed to a measurement tool - it's not bad at all.
Rating: 
Summary: A nice collection, but some serious problems
Review: The biggest single advantage to this book is the fact that it immerses the reader in logic problems that exercise the brain. By training you to keep an agile and open mind, and to search for the unexpected, just the simple act of completing these exams will have the effect of significantly increasing your IQ score on tests. Why only 3 stars? Because this book falls short in the critical areas of proofreading, question selection, and printing. There are a number of questions in which either part of the answer set - or even part of the question - are missing, either due to poor proofreading or slapdash setup at the printing stage. As a result, on any given test it is likely that you will encounter one - or more - unanswerable questions. This makes scoring of the test problematical at best. Further, I take issue with the inclusion of geographical questions on IQ tests. One of the great debates in testing IQ is separating 'essential' knowledge from 'peripheral' knowledge. For example, if the test is written in English, then you must be able to read English in order to complete the exam. That is essential knowledge. On the other end of the scale is what I term 'Trivia'; unlikely, generally useless scraps of knowledge that only ever really have application in a trivia contest. If you happen to know the 3rd largest city in Texas, for example, then you can answer such a question immediately; if you do not, then no amount of raw intelligence will help you. While there aren't a lot of 'trivia' questions in this book, there are a few; and I believe there should be none. I was also surprised to find crossword puzzles (and various other types of complex word puzzles) on the IQ tests. While a good argument might be made for their inclusion, I am not aware of any 'official' IQ tests that use such puzzles. This is because IQ tests seek to measure 'raw intelligence' - whatever that is - and as such must avoid questions with which the test taker might have a developed skill at solving. Ideally, each question would be a fresh new challenge to every test taker. While this is unlikely, it is very likely that a large number of test takers will have encountered complex word puzzles before; and that is a strong reason for NOT including them on 'official' IQ tests. This, in turn, means that there is not likely to be a great correlation between scores achieved on tests in this book, and scores achieved on standard IQ tests. In fairness, the author makes no such explicit claim, although the title of the book might lead you to believe that you're getting a collection of standardised IQ tests. That is not the case. I was also disappointed in question selection; a disappointingly large number of questions have multiple reasonable answers, but only one 'correct' response. For example: in the following set, which one does not belong? A: CAT B: DOG C: BIRD D: RABBIT E: ELK The 'correct' answer is E - ELK - on the basis that the first 4 are household pets. But many people choose C: BIRD as it is the only animal listed that can fly; and I chose D: RABBIT as the only animal listed that used a letter twice. I should note that this exact question does NOT appear in this book; I stole it from a MENSA warmup exam, which goes to prove that even the large lads stumble. However, this book does contain numerous examples of this type of situation. Much more attention to question selection would have helped remedy this situation. To sum up: Some of the questions are unanswerable due to reproduction issues eliminating part of the question. Some questions relate to 'Trivia', not questions that test your mental flexibility and strength. There are a larger quantity of complex word questions then are found on standard IQ tests. And there are some questions to which multiple reasonable responses can be made. The bottom line? Don't imagine for one instant that your score on these tests correlates to that of a standardized IQ test; it doesn't. And don't think that you're buying a set of standardized IQ tests; you're not. But if you want a random collection of questions that will help you to stretch and build your mental muscles, and you're prepared to accept with good humour the 10% - 15% of questions that cannot be properly responded to, then this book is not a bad buy. It could be much better; but it's not a total loss. As an intellectual exercise tool - as opposed to a measurement tool - it's not bad at all.
Rating:
Summary: Just relax.
Review: The previous reviewer didn't actually read the book; she was just feeling upset about IQ tests in general. So I thought I should offset the negative review.
Rating:
Summary: Title is misleading.
Review: This book's title is misleading. It should be titled something like "The Big Book of Brain Teasers". It should NOT have the words "IQ Tests" in its title. If you want an accurate assessment of your IQ, look elsewhere. Here's why: 1) It contains too many culture-specific questions. A valid IQ test (i.e., one that "accurately" measures one's intelligence quotient) should contain few, if any, culture-specific questions. This book contains a lot of them. 2) It also contains too many questions that have multiple "correct" answers. Once again, in a properly constructed IQ test, for each question there will be one, and ONLY one, correct answer. This book contains numerous questions that could be answered "correctly" in more than one way. In short, if you enjoy solving puzzles, etc., for fun, then you MIGHT enjoy this book (I say "might" because you may very well end up being frustrated by the multitude of questions which could be answered "correctly" a number of ways), but if you're looking for a properly constructed IQ test that will give you an accurate measurement of your intelligence, you'll likely be disappointed. I sure was.
Rating:
Summary: Title is misleading.
Review: This book's title is misleading. It should be titled something like "The Big Book of Brain Teasers". It should NOT have the words "IQ Tests" in its title. If you want an accurate assessment of your IQ, look elsewhere. Here's why: 1) It contains too many culture-specific questions. A valid IQ test (i.e., one that "accurately" measures one's intelligence quotient) should contain few, if any, culture-specific questions. This book contains a lot of them. 2) It also contains too many questions that have multiple "correct" answers. Once again, in a properly constructed IQ test, for each question there will be one, and ONLY one, correct answer. This book contains numerous questions that could be answered "correctly" in more than one way. In short, if you enjoy solving puzzles, etc., for fun, then you MIGHT enjoy this book (I say "might" because you may very well end up being frustrated by the multitude of questions which could be answered "correctly" a number of ways), but if you're looking for a properly constructed IQ test that will give you an accurate measurement of your intelligence, you'll likely be disappointed. I sure was.
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