IQ Test Woes
Tyri0n
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02 Jan 2013, 3:30 pm
You guys were right.
I did GREAT on verbal IQ- didn't get one wrong. Also did really really well on digit span - thank you echolalia.
But on short term memory and processing speed.....well....I basically failed.
It was so difficult. I knew it would be hard but I didn't think it would be THAT hard. On symbol search - I only got a page or so in before time was up. The other memory ones....I did horribly, and I would remember the items hours later. That just shows how slow I think.
So, basically, I have a very, very large gap between my VIQ and everything else.
He also re-assessed me for Asperger's, so now I'm re-confirmed ASD.
Yeah your results are pretty typical for Aspergers: high VIQ and low processing speed and working memory (not the same as memory like most people think of it). However, don't let it bother you. That IQ test seems to be specific for autism diagnosis anyway and really nails you for dyspraxia and performance anxiety (when being watched - not sure if there's a term for this or not). I can't do things with my hands quickly no matter how fast I think, whether it involves blocks or symbol search. If you're like me, you may do significantly better on a different, paper-based IQ test that doesn't involve someone standing over you and having to do things with your hands.
It doesn't bother me, especially as my psychologist understands that I'm intelligent (he said I scored gifted on Verbal and that is the best indicator of giftedness/genius). It's nice when someone doesn't just stupidly look at a number.
At first I was worried it wouldn't catch my processing speed issues.....then I was taking the test and thinking "I'm doing super-well on this part!" and then learning that I wasn't.
I'm thinking that I would do great on Raven's matrices if it was untimed. I messed up on the matrix reasoning big time because I was pressured with time (and having him watch me test, as well as turning the page for me). I learned later that that was an untimed part of the test. Grrr.
Weirdly, my favorite part was the block reasoning - but my score was probably low because it took me FOREVER. I can't see the whole picture....I only see sections, so it took me forever to put the WHOLE thing together...and if the blocks didn't sit straight side by side, I couldn't see what I was doing, so I was constantly straightening them.
When I saw the coding part, I thought it was going to be super-easy....but no - he called time way before I was close to finishing, and I had been so absorbed in it that I lost track of time. I'm too methodical to do well on that I guess, thanks to my slow thinking. I guarantee I got all of those that I finished right, but I was slow.
I will quit rambling in a minute. I LOVE to use my hands. But it slows me down too. Something about touching or writing helps me see and comprehend, but because I have to process more sensory stuff, it slows me down at the same time.
I'm glad I took this test. I understand myself so much better.
You might actually do well on Raven's timed also. I did leagues better on that one several years previously. Why do you suppose they give a test to autistics that basically nails you for dyspraxia and social anxiety? Is it on purpose?
EDIT: It is documented that autistics, including aspies, tend to do worse on the Weschler test, which you took, than on the Raven Matrices (where aspies outscore NT's). Aspies have below-average IQ on the Weschler test but above-average IQ on the Raven Matrices test of fluid intelligence. It's interesting that the Raven test does not involve physical blocks or symbol search, and the it only involves a proctor, not someone hanging over you.
http://www.freewebs.com/adiscussion/Sup ... sorder.pdf
04 Jan 2013, 8:22 pm
Regarding the gre...
i just took the verbal reasoning and the 2 analytical writing essays...parts of the practice test on the powerprep software and man it was hard. 30 minutes puts a lot of pressure on you. I didnt know what any of the words on the verbal reasoning section meant and only got 10 out of 20 correct LOL.
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AQ 25
Your Aspie score: 101 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 111 of 200
You seem to have both Aspie and neurotypical traits
Tyri0n
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04 Jan 2013, 8:58 pm
i just took the verbal reasoning and the 2 analytical writing essays...parts of the practice test on the powerprep software and man it was hard. 30 minutes puts a lot of pressure on you. I didnt know what any of the words on the verbal reasoning section meant and only got 10 out of 20 correct LOL.
Yeah, aspies require plenty of practice tests to build up speed and focus. But you will probably see a lot more improvement than most NT's would, since it's processing speed slowing you down, which becomes less and less of an issue the more familiar you get with patterns in the test questions, and within a month or so, it won't seem hard.
01 Feb 2013, 10:44 am
My official IQ is 70. At 58y I am a career NERD.
I have a PhD in plant membrane biophysics and I have published 70 peer-reviewed articles in international journals.
According to the stats I am 2 standard deviations below average and hence about 98% of people are supposed to be smarter than I am. That just about says it all. I know a PhD in chemistry who has an official IQ of 56.
I recommend that no-one should take IQ tests seriously and should resist being given them.
They are a medical procedure and should be understood to be so. Hence, never submit to one without your own written permission or the permission in writing of your parents or guardians.
I had my first IQ test when I was 10. I deliberately threw it because as a poor kid whose parents had little education I had no idea what it was and all I was told was that I would be sent away to a strange school if I did well. Those who were sent away to "opportunity school" were never seen or heard of again. When I got into the University of Sydney (Australia) none of them were there. Maybe they were taken around a corner of a building and shot. I do not know.
By the time I was 12 I knew what an IQ test was and did not like the idea of someone knowing how bright I really was. I threw every IQ test I was ever given.
By my teens I considered them an invasion of privacy. They are.
In Australia IQ was supposed to be confidential school record information but they were an open secret. I know mine was correct because I saw it looking over a teacher's shoulder one day. I even saw a hand written comment "70! You have got to be joking!".
Fortunately I grew up in a country where IQ is not taken very seriously. Unfortunately that is not the case in the US.
What is the piont of IQ tests apart from finding out if someone is good at filling out IQ tests? The excuse is that they are supposed to help in educating a child. What BS. If you do well in an IQ test you are told all the time you are not working hard enough. I rather enjoyed shocking people. I still do because I look as thick as a brick. If you do badly it is treated as fatalistically as a bowl cancer diagnosis and you are left to your fate. IQ is treated as incurable. I have never heard of anyone being "helped" as a result of having a low IQ score. Have you?
Then there are the bad psychological effects on kids. If they are given the information they start ranking themselves against each other and playing "mine is bigger than yours". As with measuremnts of penis size, IQ scores do not correlate very well with performance. One of the things you have to get used to in life is dealing with parents with "gifted" children. As a professional scientist is very hard to tell them that I am not the slightest bit impressed, very few are actually gifted and nearly all burn out in highschool. Many simply seem to lose interest in being intelligent. "Peaked in highschool" is a common expression in Australia.
28 Dec 2015, 9:48 am
IQ tests are a joke. The good news is they can also be improved, particularly for autistic people.
That is the main task of the IQ test developer - create smth that not depends of culture, circumstances an even age. So only one opportunity to improve your brain its train it. How you do it - it's your choice but it possible. You can play special games (https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-stor ... _link&mt=8) or just googling special technique (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_training)
StarTrekker
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28 Dec 2015, 12:37 pm
Actually, the point of the timed subtests is to look for processing difficulties. My untimed math scores were in the 77th percentile, but my timed scores were in the 16th, 19th and 23rd percentiles (for addition, subtraction and multiplication, respectively). The discrepancy between these numbers is what tipped my examiner off to my processing speed problems, even more so than the actual processing speed test, on which I scored in the 43rd percentile.
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28 Dec 2015, 1:33 pm
Actually, the point of the timed subtests is to look for processing difficulties. My untimed math scores were in the 77th percentile, but my timed scores were in the 16th, 19th and 23rd percentiles (for addition, subtraction and multiplication, respectively). The discrepancy between these numbers is what tipped my examiner off to my processing speed problems, even more so than the actual processing speed test, on which I scored in the 43rd percentile.
Agreed. I had similar issues--I'm very good at math, but not good at doing math quickly. I also did very poorly on the portions of the test that were spoken aloud, such as when the psychologist read out a list of numbers for me to memorize, or read a math problem aloud. Poor processing speed and short term memory are a common issue for folks with ASD, and I see a lot of people on the boards who are Above Average or Superior in some areas, and Below Average in others. I was Superior in non-verbal reasoning on the WAIS-IV, High Average in vocabulary, Average in Working Memory, and Low Average in Processing Speed.
All that averaged out to 108 on the WAIS-IV. The strengths were offset by the weaknesses.
Compare that to the Stanford-Binet scores I got when tested at age 10 and age 19: both times I scored in the 130s. It mostly tests written verbal and non-verbal, which I do well in.
I tried out the Raven Progressive Matrices, and got something above a 153 (I didn't feel like paying to find out the results. It tested my strongest area: visual processing.
That's why it's very necessary to look at the breakdown of an IQ test, to see what areas have strengths and weaknesses.
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Diagnosed Bipolar II in 2012, Autism spectrum disorder (moderate) & ADHD in 2015.
