What does IQ mean?

IQ test, which stands for "Intelligence Quotient," is a standard score that tells you how much smarter or less smart than your peers are. The average score for this group is 100. By giving the same test to a huge group of people from all walks of life and then getting the average, the IQ number is found.

For the first time, in 1912, psychologist William Stern used the formula "mental age to chronological age x 100" to show IQ. Let's say someone was 10 years old and thought like a 10-year-old, their IQ would be 100. But if, say, they were 13 years old instead of 10, their IQ would be 130. 

What do IQ tests look like?

A normal IQ test includes several tests that measure intelligence. Such as the ability to recognize patterns, remember things quickly, do math, and think critically. People often get the wrong idea about IQ tests, thinking that they test all the information you've learned over the years. Instead, they test your ability to learn.

The first IQ test was made in the early 1900s. Since then, it has changed a lot. In the same way that they tested people's abilities rather than anything they had learned in the past, their goal has stayed the same, and neither has the way they do it.

The IQ test has been changed many times, but the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is the one that is most often used. This test, which was made in 1955, was different from earlier IQ tests that looked at different mental skills, like verbal, numerical, spatial, and reasoning intelligence. There has been a change to this test, the WAIS-IV since it was first made.

There are 10 subtests and five extra tests in the WAIS-IV. A verbal comprehension scale, a perceptual thinking scale, a working memory scale, and a processing speed scale are the four different types of intelligence that the test measures. Then, a person is tested with a group of friends to get a more accurate score, with two-thirds of the scores being in the normal range, which is between 85 and 115.

What does an IQ test find?

An IQ test measures a range of a person's cognitive skills and gives them a score that is meant to show what they can do and how much potential they have.

Most IQ tests have between 25 and 50 multiple-choice questions and last between one and two hours. It depends on the organization giving the test, but tests can be shorter. For example, tests you can take on social media are often short and don't cover all the necessary topics to correctly measure IQ.

A quick look back at IQ tests

The first IQ tests were made by Paul Broca (1824–1880) and Sir Francis Galton in the late 1800s. They wanted to find a way to make measuring intelligence more consistent.

They thought they could do this by measuring the size of a person's head. The bigger it was, the smarter the person was thought to be. Luckily, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon worked together in the early 1900s to come up with a better way to measure intelligence. So we no longer believe this.

The French government of education hired the scientists. Told them to find a way to tell which of the kids they were testing might be falling behind. Because they weren't as smart as the kids who were just being lazy. As part of their IQ test, the Simon-Binet asked people to use logic to find words that rhyme and name things.

An American psychologist named Lewis Terman went back to the Simon-Binet test and made a much better standard than the original tests. So that the quotient could be measured more accurately. The way to measure, on the other hand, only worked with kids, and the way to figure out the answer was still by multiplying standard numbers.

Another 30 years passed, and "David Wechsler solved the problem of calculating adult IQ by simply comparing performance to the distribution of test scores, which is a normal distribution." Today's IQ tests are used all over the world. They were made possible by his research into how to better score these tests and how to analyze them.