MENSA tests

[pitstopbunny]

Back in September I was invited by MENSA to sit one of their tests. I lost my bottle and never attended. Has anyone here sat one of their tests? How scary was it and what was the set up etc? If I can summon the courage, I may go in Jan next year and sit it!

[woofgang]

why?

[Drusilla]

I did exactly the same thing. If I remember rightly, I took one of their home tests and was then invited to sit an invigilated test. I didn't so much chicken out as ask myself, why? What possible use would such a membership give me if I managed to scrape in and would I have the courage/arrogance to mention it in conversation if I did. -brief pause-Ok, I admit it! I was quite happy with my score on the home test and scared I wouldn't achieve the same result under pressure. The more I've written here, the more I've realised I did chicken out.

[RabbiCohen]

The idea of belonging to MENSA is one big con. All they do is extract money for the privilige of pretending how clever you are. I learned my lesson with the Institute of Advanced Motorists who would accept anyone who was prepared to pay.

[MsBadely]

If people in Mensa are that clever then how come they can't think of anything better to spend the membership fee on?

[MrPahoehoe]

I'm in the same situation: I've been asked to go back and do an invigilated test. If I get the same score I'll be asked to join.

I agree that the whole idea of Mensa does seem slightly silly, but in the year since graduating uni I haven't been able to get a job and only 1 interview, despite a good degree result. I do have pretty rubbish A-level results though. The last two jobs I have gone for, I have put on my CV, that I am in the process of joining the Mensa society and have been asked for interview in both cases. So it seems to have helped me.

[MangoPete]

I joined Mensa twenty years ago. My boss at work was in it and I liked her so thought it would b a good thing to do.
It may well have changed
I was in it a year/ I am a practical guy and if people want to be up thier own sphyncters thats fine only I don't do that.
If they are so coll to be in why do they keep advertising. There are many who could be in it who aren't
Why hasn't anyone from mensa responded to your question Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Loosehead]

It's amazing how many people love to slag off things they are too dim to understand so I thought I'd pitch in for the Mensans on AB

The test is the same format as the one you do at home, unless you are illiterate then there is another test, you can take that one anyway if you prefer. The difference is that the rules are stric where as at home people can be "kind" to themeseleves unsually with time. If you pass at home you'll pass the invigulated test.

Rabbi being in mensa is not the same as the IAM they only except you if you pass the test it's not about money. It's not a con you don't have to join. It's just like any other aclub you may join get get out what you want. I'm also in my local Rugby club and other clubs. Yes it's an annual subscription but Just because you can't, won't or cannot comprehend it, It's no reason to slag off the existing members, you jave no idea what we get out of our annual subs. Mrs Badely again demonstrates why she should never bother to test.

Drusilla, If you where honest when you did the home test and you reached a level that said would be high enough then do the real test, you will pass.

[MsBadely]

Loosehead again demonstrates how to crawl up one's own @rse.

Thanks for the special mention though.

[Scarlett]

I personally would not anybody seriously who was in Mensa. All it means is you have more money than sense! Fancy having to have a piece of paper to prove your are intelligent. Besides, it is only a certain type of intelligence. The most socially inept man I ever met had phd.

Intelligence could be intuition/sensitivity/giving good advice/being good at spelling or maths/knowing loads of general knowledge/having a degree/not having a degree but being able to educate your children etc etc. Everyone is intelligent in different ways. MENSA just shows that your brain likes puzzles. It in no way relates, in my opinion, to actual useful intelligence!

[Gef]

Agree with Scarlett. Perhaps they all meet up now and then and congratulate themselves on being clever.

[pitstopbunny]

Thank you all for the advice...I know I am intelligent and from reading the messages I have realised that...

1. I will not be wasting my money!

2. So called intelligent people are either taking the p**s or need to have some serious spelling lessons!

Thank you to all the genuine ones!

[lady_p_gold]

Well ... I too have been in Mensa for over thirty years and they have many activities and meetings and I enjoy the magazine. There is no 'feeling' superior and I enjoy the special interest groups. I have never met anyone as you are describing and perhaps some of you might have preconceived ideas about the membership, which I am not quite sure how you can have formed without ever having met anyone who is in it ?? Would you voice negative opinions about another group of people without further evidence? Just a thought. Hopefully I am not as you have described. I also enjoy all the puzzles in the magazine and that is another reason why I continue to subscribe.

[joko]

I know a few...shall we say...eejits...who are quite convinced they are in the top 2 percent of the population because they passed the test - at home...and swore blind they didn't cheat.

The idea is to convince people they are clever by giving them a great mark for the home test - thereby encouraging them to pay �40-odd for the supervised test, because they think they will surely pass if they are that clever...Some pass, some don't, mensa get paid either way. Mensa tests are just puzzles.

[El D]

I have no doubt I could join if I wanted however the idea is rather distasteful to me - it implies that you are going to have more in common with these people, and perhaps be able to converse on a level that you feel you cannot with the general public, simply because you have taken a rather flawed and subjective test. I find the principle behind it troublesome.

As to the job interviews - I have spoken to a couple of Mensans and they both leave it off their cv as it brings negative attachments.

[MangoPete]

Glad that got a response from a couple of people who ALSO were in MENSA.

Glad pitstopbunny, in my opinion you chose with your heart and mind in tune with each other, for what is intelligence without reason.
Love and compasion are far more important

If I have not love I am a clanging cymbal ...et al

Yes it is good to be able to interact and spar with those of equal or higher IQ's, and depending where you live it can be refreshing to associate with similar people if you don't meet them in your day to day life

I feel intelligence, as our lives, are a gift and we have a duty to use our gifts wisely and with a sharing heart.

There are things far more important than MENSA just imagine if all that brain power was focused on helping others who grow the coffee we drink in the morning or the children in China who made the things we buy in ASDA.

Could I suggest spending your money , if not already spent, on famine relief in Niger or trying to stop child prostitution in Brasil or Asia , or buying livestock for widows and orphans or saving hundreds of lives by providing money on a regular basis to build safe water supplies in the fourth world. such as Kenya ( where I work and yes we pay all our own expenses and 100% of all donations go to the people and communities we work with)
Sometimes in the West we forget how unimportant we are, how some people dont have the affordances we take for granted. They spend all their time trying to stop their famillies from dying
Use what you have to make a difference, the greatest gift is the gift of life,it can cost as little as �10
Four lives or a MENSA subscription .... hmmm now thats a hard one

may my heart always be open to little
birds who are the secrets of living
whatever they sing is better than to know
and if men should not hear them men are old

[lady_p_gold]

Well I do feel a bit hard done by with your comments, I don't see it as any different than a golf club or any social way of meeting, I like puzzles and quizzes (which is now I found my way onto this site originally !) and therefore I enjoy the company of others who like the same. I believe it is a non-profit making organisation. All of the comments about the money involved I do not quite understand the subscription is not much - and I do other things for my favourite charities and do not feel I have to apologise for belonging to it anymore than those of you who wish to rent videos for entertainment etc. one could say why not send that to Africa etc. etc. I am sure we all waste money in the West but we can still be aware of it and do all we can in our own ways to help less fortunate countries.

[david small]

Not very scary at all. They need the money so do not be too surprised at the quality of the applicants

[lady_p_gold]

The money I believe is only to cover the cost of the tests which are held in London and obviously require the use of invigilators and the room etc. etc. I think I am on a losing wicket here, but still cannot quite fathom the amount of hostility !!!

[joko]

I was asked for �30 to take the supervised test - 10 years ago! God knows what it is now!

I did the home test out of curiosity because it was free, and although I am no dunce, and i did the test rigidly, I don't believe I am in the top 1 percent of the country for brains - as the results stated!!

they wanted my head to swell and to tempt me to pay...and I confess i did consider it.

the tests are done all over the country and if i remember correctly this one was booked in a back room in a library.

a guy I know did one and said it is one person watching like a school exam, in a little room. he failed spectacularly, but he'd been excited to think he may be clever ( we got onto the topic because he actually thought he was a member of mensa, simply through the home test! he hadn't even taken the supervised one until i told him he had to if he wanted to be in mensa! thats how much brains he had!) he later claimed to have not been trying, as he wasn't that bothered - �30 not to be bothered!! i think not - he just felt stupid.

having said that if you're into this kind of thing - go for it - its just a club as you say...my only problem is the clearly fake home test designed to draw people in, who clearly are not that clever and fail the test miserably.

I have heard it can be quite a fun club but it really is just puzzles - it is not a real test of intelligence.