It seems a lot are coming to the defense of IQ tests so I thought I'd throw in my perspective having taken these tests 6 times over the years (WAIS and Raven's)

It seems a lot are coming to the defense of IQ tests so I thought I'd throw in my perspective having taken these tests 6 times over the years (WAIS and Raven's) for my diagnosis of ADHD (these tests cost thousands of dollars and are usually reviewed by psychologists). An IQ score itself is an average of subtest scores that measure various abilities related to intelligence. So you could have some really high scores for certain abilities (e.g. executive functioning - ability to plan ahead) and some really low scores (e.g. spatial reasoning - understanding three dimensional space) and come out as average. Or you could have a really low score in a certain ability while having average scores in others and come out as below average. Additionally, some test scores can change based on whether they're timed or not. So you could have certain abilities that are above average, but when timed, come out as average or below. Notably, IQ tests DO NOT test for creativity nor emotional intelligence. The problem with judging others by their IQ score is that you throw away their strengths by looking at a single score. Some of my abilities are above average and that could be useful to society. I certainly think creativity, emotional intelligence and other abilities IQ tests neglect are relevant to society as well. For me, my IQ has ranged anywhere from 87 to 117 and this may be due to ADHD. The instability of the score doesn't give me much faith in its usefulness, nor has my intelligence seemed to affect my career as a software engineer (I've had plenty of success in my decade long career). It has however reliably demonstrated I have ADHD for schools and health insurance purposes, and that's really its primary usefulness.