Hypothetical question...

So let's say there was this 10-year-old who took an IQ test for adults, and got a score of, say, 120. Would that mean that this kid had an IQ of 120, or that it's higher than this because they took an advanced test?
Don't worry, I'm not ten. :lol: And I've never taken an IQ test. I was just wondering.

The IQ measures your intelligence. The person won't get extra points for being young, it just means he or she is smarter than most kids.

I'm pretty sure you'd be taking a test designed for your age anyhow.

The tests are designed so you will get the same score your entire life. I'm not even sure if they change the tests for adults and kids.
You just get more points on it if you're younger. Your intelligence level doesn't change, so I don't see why you would need a different test.

Say you get 20/20 questions correct, and it takes you 10 minutes or something. You score will be higher than someone with the same number of correct answers who took 30 minutes.
You also get marked up for age. So apply the same thing for age.

As far as I knowing, kids need tests specifically designed for them, and even then, the results aren't really anything to go by. The IQ test was made with adults in mind.

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Originally Posted by Wikipedia on IQ and age

IQ can change to some degree over the course of childhood.[36] However, in one longitudinal study, the mean IQ scores of tests at ages 17 and 18 were correlated at r=.86 with the mean scores of tests at ages 5, 6 and 7 and at r=.96 with the mean scores of tests at ages 11, 12 and 13.[37]
IQ scores for children are relative to children of a similar age. That is, a child of a certain age does not do as well on the tests as an older child or an adult with the same IQ. But relative to persons of a similar age, or other adults in the case of adults, they do equally well if the IQ scores are the same.[37]
For decades, it has been reported in practitioners' handbooks and textbooks on IQ testing that IQ declines with age after the beginning of adulthood. However, later researchers pointed out that this phenomenon is related to the Flynn effect and is in part a cohort effect rather than a true aging effect.
There have been a variety of studies of IQ and aging since the norming of the first Wechsler Intelligence Scale drew attention to IQ differences in different age groups of adults. Current consensus is that fluid intelligence generally declines with age after early adulthood, while crystallized intelligence remains intact. Both cohort effects (the birth year of the test-takers) and practice effects (test-takers taking the same form of IQ test more than once) must be controlled for to gain accurate data. It is unclear whether any lifestyle intervention can preserve fluid intelligence into older ages.[38]
The peak of capacity for both fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence occurs at age 26. This is followed by a slow decline.

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What I gather from this is that you need an IQ over 200, in order to understand the results of a kid taking an IQ test.

I think the basic idea is that IQ compares your intelligence to that of others. An IQ of 100 means average intelligence, etcetera. For children, I would imagine that the IQ test simply uses other children to establish the mean; that way it makes sense that a child who scores 120 will keep scoring roughly 120 through their life; if you are in the top whatever percent as a child, you'll stay in the top whatever percent as an adult. Of course, there are variations, but IQ is supposed to stay about constant throughout your life.

Without a heavily moderated standardized IQ test (ie Mensa) an IQ test means that your actual IQ is within about 50 points of what you scored.

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Originally Posted by Marvo

As far as I knowing, kids need tests specifically designed for them, and even then, the results aren't really anything to go by. The IQ test was made with adults in mind.

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Actually I think it was designed for kids at school, to see which ones should be excelled to higher classes etc.

It wouldn't really make sense to give adults a harder test. Since it isn't based on knowledge, it's based on intelligence. I don't know what crystallised and fluid intelligence are though and I'll look it up later maybe.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marvo

What I gather from this is that you need an IQ over 200, in order to understand the results of a kid taking an IQ test.

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Haha :lol:

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Originally Posted by tommo

Actually I think it was designed for kids at school, to see which ones should be excelled to higher classes etc.

It wouldn't really make sense to give adults a harder test. Since it isn't based on knowledge, it's based on intelligence. I don't know what crystallised and fluid intelligence are though and I'll look it up later maybe.


Haha :lol:

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I didn't mean a necessarily harder test, just different. But apparently that isn't quite true.

Some of these tests are not really... accurate, or im just really smart xD
Im kidding but seriously, when i was 14 i scored 154 on an iq test online.