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I'd love to know if this is an accurate representation of how difficult Mesna tests are. I've always fancied joining but assumed that I would never qualify and

by KoZeN 16y ago

I'd love to know if this is an accurate representation of how difficult Mesna tests are. I've always fancied joining but assumed that I would never qualify and to be honest, having sat a few IQ tests in my time I would consider that to be an example of a pretty easy quiz.

jm4 16y ago
From an old comment of mine: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=735499 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=735499 The admission test itself is surprisingly simple. There are actually two of them and you only need to pass one. The first test is the Wonderlic and the second is a test designed by Mensa. If you fail both you don't get to reapply. You never learn your score. You're only told whether you passed or failed. The tests contain nothing like those ridiculous Mensa brain teaser books. They're the types of questions that most reasonably intelligent people can answer fairly easily. They're not unlike the questions you see on the online Mensa practice test or one of those tickle.com IQ tests. What makes it difficult is that you've got insane time constraints. You end up with about 12-15 seconds per question. One test is fill in the blank and the other is multiple guess scantron. You basically have to be writing your answer while reading and solving the next problem. The person who proctored my exam said that there's about a 60% failure rate. It probably says more about the people applying than the actual test, but I thought it was interesting.
donohoe 16y ago
I took the test when I was 16 or so. I don't remember those type of questions (not saying there weren't any), but I recall material that covered spatial relations (when this patterned cube is rotated which one of these four could it look like). The big factor was the limited time to answer a large set of question in each sitting.
rue 16y ago
I always thought the test involved probes or electrodes attached to your head to get a reading. I did not go to one.
krf 16y ago
You don't need to take a Mensa test to join Mensa. If you have already done very well on a past GRE, LSAT or other accepted test then you can also qualify. Perhaps your old IQ exam results are already sufficient to join. The Mensa site has details on accepted exams and necessary scores. I got in with my old GRE exam results.

by KoZeN 16y ago

jm4 16y ago

From an old comment of mine: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=735499 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=735499 The admission test itself is surprisingly simple. There are actually two of them and you only need to pass one. The first test is the Wonderlic and the second is a test designed by Mensa. If you fail both you don't get to reapply. You never learn your score. You're only told whether you passed or failed. The tests contain nothing like those ridiculous Mensa brain teaser books. They're the types of questions that most reasonably intelligent people can answer fairly easily. They're not unlike the questions you see on the online Mensa practice test or one of those tickle.com IQ tests. What makes it difficult is that you've got insane time constraints. You end up with about 12-15 seconds per question. One test is fill in the blank and the other is multiple guess scantron. You basically have to be writing your answer while reading and solving the next problem. The person who proctored my exam said that there's about a 60% failure rate. It probably says more about the people applying than the actual test, but I thought it was interesting.

donohoe 16y ago

I took the test when I was 16 or so. I don't remember those type of questions (not saying there weren't any), but I recall material that covered spatial relations (when this patterned cube is rotated which one of these four could it look like). The big factor was the limited time to answer a large set of question in each sitting.

rue 16y ago

I always thought the test involved probes or electrodes attached to your head to get a reading. I did not go to one.

krf 16y ago

You don't need to take a Mensa test to join Mensa. If you have already done very well on a past GRE, LSAT or other accepted test then you can also qualify. Perhaps your old IQ exam results are already sufficient to join. The Mensa site has details on accepted exams and necessary scores. I got in with my old GRE exam results.