r/cognitiveTesting

I've had this thought ever since I first saw how IQ tests were scored but wanted to make this post here.

The main argument I've seen for why VCI is a "good index" is that it doesn't just measure your knowledge base but also implicitly measures your verbal reasoning/comprehension ability; the idea is that your verbal intelligence impacts your efficiency at picking up words and deeply understanding their meanings, and vocabulary tests are just a proxy for it. However, this argument seems to have its provenance in literature from multiple decades back, which makes me question how well it actually holds up today (and likewise with the analogous argument being made for general knowledge tests.)

Particularly, the effectiveness of vocabulary/GK tests as proxies for verbal reasoning/comprehension ability should be inversely related to the variance of the population's exposure to vocabulary and information (hence why VCI tests are considered invalid for non-native speakers); and I would argue that in the US, this variance has been significantly increased in the last few decades due to the decline of educational and cultural homogeneity, through two mechanisms:

1. Changes in the education system (general dumbing down + increased specialization): in general, the American public education system has become significantly less rigorous in the past decades for a variety of reasons. In the past students were expected to study a certain "western canon" of literature, philosophy, and art, but nowadays that's entirely been done away with; with regards to general knowledge, even very basic things like geography and spelling are now totally absent from many schools. Moreover, the hypercompetitive nature of college admissions, job search, etc has made it so that students are incentivized to focus on maxxing out a niche very early on (enabled by the internet providing greater accessibility to academic resources), so nowadays you have people publishing research and founding startups in high school but almost no one actually pursuing a rigorous, well-rounded liberal arts education as was the standard in the past.
2. The internet, and demographic shift: the US became remarkably culturally homogenous in the postwar period / latter half of the 1900s, with people generally consuming the same media, literature, entertainment, etc. However, due to the internet and social media, people nowadays are much more self-segregated and not only consume different media/entertainment but even are essentially living in completely different realities. I've seen a ton on discourse on Twitter from adults working with adolescents about how ridiculously culturally illiterate young people are nowadays. Not to mention, demographics: the US went from 90% white / 10% black not too long ago to less than 60% white currently (and <50% among younger generations), which naturally yields a decrease in cultural homogeneity, especially due to the tendency of minorities to establish their own "subcultures" through ethnic enclaves.

Tldr: I highly question the validity of vocabulary and general knowledge to be valid indicators of IQ in the modern day US, due to the remarkable decline in educational and cultural homogeneity, which in turn has led to massive variance in exposure to vocabulary and knowledge.

What are your thoughts on this?

(Finally, inb4 the accusations of cope: VCI is my highest subtest, so no I am not coping.)

I am 20(M), i have always been questioned my intelligence for long time.

i have always struggled with studies, it's not like i am bad at academics, i actually topped in my high school in my class, it's just that i need too much hardwork to achieve acadmic success.

i came across this sub, and got to know about mensa Norway, mensa Denmark, mensa sweden iq tests. many people said that these are some best tests available online.

i gave the mensa Norway and got 118 for first time.

gave mensa Norway again and got 133 second time.

and then gave mensa Denmark online, and got 126

then gave mensa sweden online and got like 126 again.

now i am scared that if later tests i gave got improved by practice effects. and i am totally confused right now that what range i should consider for my iq ?

i am gonna have offline professional mensa iq test and WAIS IV test 6 months later. i hope it will clear everything.

but are these online mensa results inflated or deflated heavily? i wanna know your take on this and judgement based on your experience

the timed tests make me confused i get 121 in timed but in untimed test i feel comfortable and i can get 130_140+

What should i belive

And i have seemy hard sensory defects

From cool stuff like fighter pilot or espionage to mundane stuff.

What about high paying jobs without degrees but as merit based as possible?

And yes of course G and IQ isn't everything.

I'm struggling. I've completely failed at environmental science, botany, computer science, and now business. Mostly because of abysmal math skills. I was going to get tested for dyscalculia eventually, but it was expensive and insurance didn't cover it. I did other cognitive testing back in 2024, including the WAIS, and my highest score was a 120 on the VRI. My WMI was 89. Total score was 104 with GAI at 106. I always got As in English literature, writing, philosophy, history, and art. Math was straight Fs and Ds all the time. Programming was impossible for me, too...I had to give up going into web dev. Trying to find a path.

Has anyone done military testing ASVAB and know their AFQT score as well as their true IQ score. If so, list your GT score as well. I’d like to see real world connections

Hi! I just took the CORE test over the past couple days, but am a little confused at the resulting FSIQ and am wondering how it’s calculated. It’s a lot higher than many of the individual indexes, only below one of them, and is above all the other composite scores by a bit. As a STEM college student I also wasn’t sure if the more quantitative tests might be less accurate given I’ve done tons of work with numbers in general before, though didn’t really do anything special here. Quite curious, thanks!

Ive seen people say ur low iq if u loved rao music or are a gangster which i think its not true there are geniuses who listen to rap probably and are gangsters