What Does My IQ Score Mean?

I feel that my college days was when I was at the peak of my intellect and studious achievements. It was probably the sharpest I've ever been. Back in my college days at 1997 through 2000 I tested my IQ and took the Mensa IQ each year. In 1998 I scored 127, in 1999 I scored 126, and in 2000 I scored 127. So what does this mean?

What is Mensa?
Mensa is the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardized, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. In order to become a member of Mensa, you need to achieve an IQ score of 132 or higher.

What is the origin of Mensa?
Roland Berrill and Dr. Lance Ware founded Mensa in 1946 in England. According to American Mensa, Ltd., the Latin word mensa has several meanings: "mind," "table" and "month." Mensa was created to serve as a round-table society for highly intelligent people to meet on a monthly basis.

How is IQ measured?
Standardized IQ tests are given and scored by trained administrators. The score represents how you compare to your peer group in:

    language
    reasoning abilities
    processing speed
    visual-spatial processing
    memory
    math

If you have a high IQ score, it means your reasoning and problem-solving abilities are better than average and may signal intellectual potential.

An IQ of 70 or below may indicate limited intellectual functioning. However, IQ alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Testing of social, practical, and conceptual skills is needed to make that kind of determination.

What are the typical IQ score ranges?
IQ scale        Interpretation of IQ score            % of population
121-130        Gifted                                         6.4%
111-120        Above average intelligence        15.7%
90-110          Average intelligence                   51.6%
80-89            Below average intelligence        15.7%

I was good at everything I did but I was not an over achiever. I didn't strive to be at the top of the class, nor did I want to be. Instead, I was more focused on being very social and was super passionate about being around the people important to me. Martial Arts, girls, friends, sports, and partying were higher on my priority list than proving I could get better grades than my peers.

I'm in my 40's now and of course there are days where I feel dull, and can't remember certain things that should be easy to recall. That's when caffeine is my saviour. My preferred caffeinated beverage is Rockstar Zero, and Rockstar Thermo-X which is the sugar-free energy drink that comes in a myriad of different flavors. If don't have access to those, I usually go with a home-brewed Keurig K-Cup Tim Horton's Original coffee with cream and sugar.

Am I still smart? I'd like to think so but I know for sure that I've lost much of what I learned back in my school days. Alot of what we were taught in school was not even really practical, and only the practical things that we use regularly are what makes us wise in our current state.

Am I ever going to use Calculus to find derivatives in things?...NOPE! Am I going to try to calculate Moles and Titrations when combining Hydrogen molecules, with Oxygen molecules?...I don't work in a lab. Do I need to know if 320 Kbps or 192 Kbps is better for MP3 or AC3 audio-streaming?...well yes. Can I still, trip take-down an opponent and crush their wind-pipe in three moves?...also yes.

We take only the knowledge of what we need based on what we do in day-to-day life. That's not to say that some of what I learned in school was a complete waste. Rather, education in general is an exercise to test the potential of anyone's abilities, so that one's self can carry that knowledge into whatever direction life takes them.