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Who took the Mensa test and FAILED?

 
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I did. And man, it bothers me! I tell myself that I shouldn't be so vain but I can't help it. I guess my ego is more vulnerable than I thought.
Anyone else had this humbling experience?
 
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You can fail it? There's a "passing grade?"
 
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I took it and didn't quite get the score needed to join MENSA if that's what you consider failing.
Doesn't really bother me .. at least now I know what my IQ is and I know I wasn't that far off!!
 
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hell the american MENSA website says I pre-qualify. I took my GMAT's two years ago and have a score greater than the 95th percentile (the qualifying score for MENSA). Does that mean I am in? and in to what? it looks like a complete waste of $25 to me.
-sonny
 
Rosie Vogel
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Michael, yes you can fail it. To be able to join Mensa you have to be in the 98th percentile in one of the three tests they give you; at least that is the way they do it here in Holland.
Sonny, maybe you are right and it is all a complete waste of money. The main reason I wanted to join is that I read somewhere that very intelligent people are often less developed socially. In other words, smart kids (sometimes) grow up to be nerdy outcasts. That article sort of reminded me of myself.
I thought it would be interesting to meet other people who are smart but don't know what to talk about at parties. But maybe I've got the wrong idea and it's a horribly elitist club.
Anyway, like Angela, I got really close so at least I'm kind of smart
 
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what would be the difference if u did ?
 
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Rosie,
Wouldn't you just end up in a room full of really boring people??? None of whom would know how to talk to one another expect about how smart they were??
IQ tests are fun to take but don't put too much store in them; being smart doesn't equate with being a success a in life or anything else for that matter. And smart in what sense? We are all smart about some things and totally dumb about others
 
Michael Ernest
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I once read an article on a Mensa gathering. The do the same things people do at conferences everywhere else. There's speakers, breakout activities, regional meetings, awards, all that jazz. I suppose the key point is, you're meeting with other people who have at least one thing in common with you.
I agree with Jane, being "classified" as intelligent isn't an intrinsic sign of success. People prove time and again that perseverance and a desire to win are more valuable worldly traits. But those peopel aren't always a barrel of laughs either.
In the end, we all would like to meet people we hope we can share something in common with. Even the porn -- er, adult entertainment industry meet at conferences. Why not high IQ's?
 
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I wouldn't get upset. The few people I have met who joined seem like they are a little warped. Both quit mensa soon after joining, and both sited the meetings as boring and elitist.
Its much more fun down here...ignorance is bliss don't you know.
Dan
 
sonny kher
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...not jus social skills, high IQ does not mean you are knowledgeable either. Sometimes, being a good learner and being good at something you do, does not need a high IQ (genius is 1% inspiration and 99% prespiration -remember?). I have some "supposed to be highly intelligent" friends and I hate when they try to outdo each other and sound intellectual. I would rather hang out with a couple of boozos and throw water baloons from the window, than sit through another Shakespeare was making heartfelt pleas for societal reform discussions
 
Michael Ernest
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Edison's point was exactly that: the kinds of "genius" most of us appreciate result from ambition and perseverance, not intellectual power. We all get the lightblub and the phonograph. Even if we know who Stephen Wolram is, though, it's difficult to appreciate the scale of what he's done and can do...unless you're another mathematician.
Intelligence shares a similar vice with creative power: seduction by its own appreciation of itself. When you hear people ascribing notions like 'political reform' to Shakespeare, you see brains at work in spite of common sense. That pseudo-intellectual stuff you're referring to is laziness and vanity, the intellectual power feeding on itself because doing something like gathering information means the brain has to stop....can't have that!
[This message has been edited by Michael Ernest (edited December 31, 2001).]
 
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Hey Jane,
U are 100% right.My two cents are with u.

Kavita
 
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Originally posted by Jane Griscti:
...being smart doesn't equate with being a success a in life or anything else for that matter.


I've known "smart" people that could do all kinds of high math in their heads, spout off obscure quotations, and recite little known facts - but had trouble finding crossing a street with out getting hit by a car.

Actually I used to bartend for a hotel and once the mensa society had a meeting or something of that nature there - the people there were some of the strangest people I have ever seen in my life. I didn't talk to them (wasn't allowed to) but they were weird looking - one guy had a bull whip attached to his belt

Originally posted by Michael Ernest:
[QBEven the porn -- er, adult entertainment industry meet at conferences.[/QB]


Really, can I go to one? Do the different people at the convention have giveaways like other conventions?
Dave
 
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one guy had a bull whip attached to his belt


I went to a Java Convention once and saw a guy with a bull whip attached to his belt, maybe he was the same person.
JK
Mark
[ January 08, 2002: Message edited by: Mark Spritzler ]
[ January 08, 2002: Message edited by: Mark Spritzler ]
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