u/MNF_ISZO

I recently got my Mensa test result back and scored 91.

To be honest, the result hit me harder than I expected. Mainly because I’ve always felt that my thinking style, my interest in complex topics, and the way I process things didn’t really align with an under-average result.

For context: I would describe myself as a lifelong underachiever. School never really worked for me. Very early on, I felt disconnected from the pace and structure of the classroom. Instead of feeling challenged, I often felt misplaced, bored, or misunderstood.

Over the years, people tried different explanations: ADHD, hearing issues, lack of focus, special education, and so on. But I never really felt that any of those explanations captured the full picture.

After this test result, I honestly don’t know what to believe anymore.

What I noticed during the test is something that has followed me for years: as soon as I feel evaluated, observed, or judged, a large part of my mental capacity seems to shift away from the actual task into self-monitoring.

Instead of just solving the problem, my brain starts running parallel processes like:

• “What does this result say about me?”
• “What if I fail?”
• “How am I being perceived right now?”
• "I cannot afford to mess this up."

Outside of formal evaluation settings, I usually have much better access to my thinking and don’t feel this same level of self-monitoring or mental shutdown.

So I’m genuinely curious about your experiences and opinions:

How strongly do you think performance anxiety, expectation pressure, self-monitoring, or fear of failure can realistically affect IQ test performance?

Not in the sense of “making excuses,” but from a structural/cognitive perspective.

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who experienced a strong mismatch between:

• their perceived cognitive depth in everyday life,
• long-term underachievement,
• and their performance in formal testing environments.