How IQ tests changed my life
Some say that intelligence tests don’t really tell anything about people and they are not valid or important.
I agree that they don’t equate many qualities that people have. But I do think they are important.
Why?
Because they changed everything for me.
Pretty much everyone around me thought I was a dummy around the time I had graduated high school. Even I had learned to think like it. It was brought up in the way people talked around me — the small insults were dressed in ways they thought I wouldn’t understand. As an introvert i was never that good at talking or challenging others. Even my friends joked about my intelligence, and I laughed with them because I didn’t want to be rude or petty. And also I didn’t want to run into an argument as I hated conflicts. I still do.
One day I took an IQ test for fun. To my surprise, I scored 140 points. I thought it was a mistake, so I took others. The results remained the same.
”Remarkably gifted” the tests claimed.
That’s when it started to occur to me that I actually may not be an idiot. So, instead of pursuing my career as a professional box wrapper, I started to read for an university exam, for a major that I had just discovered by an accident — and I thought journalism would be the coolest subject on earth to study. Every day after box wrapping work I would go to the library and read the exam books.
A spark of confidence had been planted on me.
The chances to get into journalism were statistically low, as there had been 800 applicants, and only 16 people would be accepted in.
When I got in many were amazed that I got into a university. Me — the quiet blond who never had anything smart to say.
That is why I think IQ tests are important. They could just make someone out there realize that they have potential and that they are not irreversably stupid.
Today as I’m already a lot older and know myself, I don’t need test results to define me. The biggest lesson of all this was that I can be good at something if I just set my head on it and give it my most valuable asset: time. This applies to everyone. I didn’t have natural talent for art or photography, I just fell in love with them and decided to learn more about them every day. What everyone eventually needs is heart and grit.
Have you ever done an IQ test? What did you think after you had done it? Did the result affect you?
I’d love to hear about it so let me know in the comments!
Annamari
2 Comments on “How IQ tests changed my life”
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I felt very happy reading this story. Thank you for sharing it. I believe a lot of what makes us unique is our ability to be rational, think for ourselves, but that’s only a part of it. Intelligence without a lot of our inner senses is of no use or perhaps could be harmful. Your work is testimony that you are more than just high IQ.
TykkääLiked by 1 henkilö
Thank you so much for the nice comment! That’s a great statement too ”Intelligence without our inner senses could be harmful.” I love that.
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