Just noticed a comment that somebody was hoping to get a 720 gmat with average intelligence. That means an IQ of 100. My guess would be that the poster’s IQ is well over 100, but do you think that has ever happened? 720 gmat and an IQ of 100? @geo scored a 730 with three days review. I would say he/she is pushing 150 especially if he/she hadn’t practiced math in years. I’ve read that U.S. medical students have a median IQ of 120. Would be interesting to see what the median is for lawyers, professional engineers, top 25 MBAs and Charterholders.
I was the score you’re talking about. Now, I have an error that needs to be corrected. My score was 720, not 730 (I just checked, this was a few years back, and I never actually used the result 
).
In any event, the idea that IQ or what not has any relevancy is overrated. I had to take the WISC test when I was a kid, my parents thought I was bright. I scored well, we can say I was approximately in the range the OP suggests. That said, I’ve struggled mightly in school. I lack focus and attention to detail. I really struggled. Attendence issues and all. My undergrad GPA was sub 3. And not just by a little. I failed both Level 1 and Level 2 of the CFA exams. Some superstar genius, hey?
Yes, I said I was average intelligence, which is probably not textbook true with my scores throughout life. But in terms of actual tangible getting stuff done and whatnot? I’m very very average. I’m actually a below average student, at least by finance standards (I think).
I’d honestly rather educators get away from the IQ discussion all together. It sets people up to fail, big time. I was called lazy and unmotivated when that wasn’t really true my whole life because of that test. Yeah, I can score well on these kinds of tests. I also have a good LSAT score (yes, I considered law school, I’m glad I never went, I’d have flunked). Whoop-de-do.
Tests and IQ’s and all that are completely absolutely meaningless in life. I imagine the biggest contributors to society are not 140+ IQ’s.
I think you’ll find high IQ’s well represented in MBA and law school because there is a element of IQ-ish testing in the admissions process. But I think you’ll find an equal amount of high IQs in trival jobs. It doesn’t translate well to the real world.
IQ and income are very strongly correlated. Of course, IQ also has a high correlation with education and wealthy upbringings. It is not surprising that high IQ people, who are likely to attend college and good schools, and whose parents are probably high IQ themselves, will make more money than low or average IQ people. Also, it would be a mistake to assume that IQ is 100% intrinsic. The same person would have different IQ scores after 18 years of life, based on how they were brought up.
I would agree with the statement that passing the CFA exams with an IQ of 100 is very possible given the individual puts in the time.
I’d consider myself about as average as possible in most aspects, including intelligence. I work with truly brilliant people. Having worked with them for years, I can honestly say I’m glad to not be burdened by excess intelligence. I have the ability to focus on what matters, ignore what doesn’t, and act accordingly in a timely manner (I get more done, in less time).
I’m definitely not saying all bright people spend too much time thinking and not enough time doing but it is a trait they seem to share at a higher rate than those with lower IQs.
Now that I head up my department and have the final say on new hires, finding people who will simply get the job done is the most difficult aspect to try to figure out. We can reasonable test a candidate’s mental acuity, writing acumen, and ability to communicate but you never know if they will simply get the job done.
^ Hiring people who actually work, don’t make excuses, and are reliable is a lot harder than it should be.
Finding a good fit for a position is tricky. Intelligence is only one part of it. Its the all round personality of a person. I guess that’s why companies spend a lot of time on psychometric testing these days.
Hiring someone is like a professional sports team drafting an athlete from the NCAA. It’s extremely difficult to know if someone will pan out (Ryan Leaf? Mark Sanchez?). It takes skill and luck for a hiring manager to pick out the best candidate. It’s an entirely different skill than excelling at your own job.
As far as I know, You should have an IQ of 100 and up. And pass the examination.
GMAT is not an IQ test. They might be correlated, but the correlation is quite weak, since by studying hard you can actually improve your scores significantly. On my first official GMAT mock (without any studying done at all) i scored 540. Two months later, after massive studying, i scored 730 on the actual exam, an almost +200 points increase.
^ Yes
I scored a 720, and I’m not anything special.
My theory is a GMAT score of 720 is appx in the top 6%, that may be a score that can be attained by someone with an IQ in that same percentile. But say a person with a top 20% IQ took the exam…If they study their arse off they may join the 700 club which starts at the 10%.
20% IQ is equivalent to 660 (20%). That of course is with hard studying. But with more studying and fine tuning, I think this person will be able to raise his/her score to above 700.
Just my thought.
Anybody can score 700+ on the gmat with the write teacher teaching the “tricks” of the test. There are test mills for this kind of crap and why else do you think the writing section isn’t part of your overall score.
Hey geo, have you found some good tires to go with that horsepower yet?
and plus you can’t fully judge someone fully through interviews
I’ve had reasonable career success. My academic issues prevented me really from pushing into areas where high tested IQ can benefit though. Like I said, its just one measure and not a valuable one for many jobs. But certain things can probably benefit from my skill set. Unfortunately I didn’t have the grades to move in that directly generally, and now my experience is more valuable in other areas in terms of what it means for my bank account. That said I have something on the radar now that may be a jump forward, we will see.
I scored a 700 and have an IQ of roughly 72, so I would imagine that someone with an IQ of 100 could get a 720.
^ You don’t have an IQ of 72 if you’ve passed L1.
IQ tests are jokes – they can be gamed just like any other standardized test. Yes some people are smarter than others, but there’s no reliable intrinic inteligence test out there…