r/mensa

Congratulations.

You scored high enough on a test

that cost you sixty bucks

to prove you’re smarter

than most of the people

who kept their sixty bucks.

Now, for the low annual fee of $107,

you may join the club

and receive:

A card that says you are smart,

Access to a newsletter no one reads and the quiet satisfaction of knowing

that lesser minds cannot afford

to confirm their mediocrity

quite so officially

There are no secret handshakes.

No shared research grants.

No actual problems solved.

Just the warm glow

of having paid good money

to be told what you already suspected

about yourself.

Remember:

True intelligence is recognizing

that the smartest move

might have been

keeping the sixty bucks

and the hundred-and-seven

and simply going about your day

without a laminated reminder

that you once outscored a roomful of strangers

on a timed puzzle booklet.

But where’s the status in that?

Welcome to Mensa.

Please tip your proctor on the way out.

Intelligence is free.

Membership is not.

I jus circled dem letters n dey was write. 185.3 IQ,suck it

Asking on behalf of my younger cousin, who is 16 (about to start A-Levels) with an IQ of ~160 (I believe), I don’t see her a ton but we text pretty often, so I know her well. I figured this could be a good place to look for some help

My cousin is quite clever and ambitious but not so good at school. She scores well (mostly As and a few Bs) but we all believe could do a lot better. I think most of this is down to a lack of focus and drive, combined with a hard time doing difficult things. She has almost no problem grasping concepts, picking up things very quickly in and outside of school, but struggles immensely to do things such as revision and homework, which is reflected in her grades.

I’m a little confused because she can work very hard when related to her interests. She moves through obsessions and is currently very obsessed with figure skating. She can recite facts and figures about it for hours, and has spent many hours working on related projects , and I think it might actually be hindering her school work a bit? She described it as being “the only thing I could think about” during various points, especially during exam season. She tried to use it as motivation during exam season to revise but she gave in a little too easily.

As school ramps up, we all (her included) are a little worried about her ability to adapt to the new demands academically and the self directed environment of sixth form. I was just wondering if anyone or their children/family had similar issues of being very knowledgeable on certain subjects (in this case figure skating, general trivia etc.) and very able but struggling to do the work. I think it’s quite distressing for her as she can see her friends and classmates able to do the self-directed work while she struggles. So yeah, if anyone has any advice lmk, I can ask her if you have any questions (although she is a very slow replier so no guarantees she’ll answer me)

Is anyone in the Triple Nine Society who can give a comparison and contrast to MENSA?

Does any of you experience the impostor syndrome in your field of work?

Less than a year ago I landed on a job which I was a perfect match for. They wanted to hire somebody exactly with my expertese and experience. It's a high paying job in my field, also it has a lot of extra benefits and I'm working fully from home. I have to note that probably thanks to my high IQ, in previous jobs, and even back in school I constantly experienced the problem that I finished all of my tasks fast so I had to ask more and more tasks just to not get bored.

At my current job I do all of my tasks with just 2-3 hours of work daily. And because I work fully from home nobody's there to notice that I'm not working. I still asked more task at few times, but my manager assured me that if there's more, he will inform me.

Despite all of these, I experience impostor syndrome more and more because I feel like I'm not doing enough and I'm simly not capable to understand what I have to do.

I love this job, but this feeling leaves a sour taste in my mouth. And I feel a growing anxiety about when will my manager tell me that I'm not doing enough and my performance is not enough.

Does any of you experienced similar feelings? If yes, how do you evercome that?

Curious what people here are actually building with AI beyond the usual ChatGPT/content-generation stuff.

Has anyone made something (a tool, an automation, an agent, a coding project, whatever) that's genuinely useful in your day-to-day? Not looking for hype, just real stuff: what you built, what it does, what you used to build it.

Especially interested in anything that saved real time, made money, or replaced a task you used to do by hand. Did it actually work as well as you hoped, or was it more trouble than it was worth?

I have a co-worker that I’ve known for sometime who always amazed me on his processing speed with interpreting data. We are both chemists at a pharma company. I out of the blue asked him if he’s in Mensa. He said he was and got in because of his SAT’s. He decided to quit because it was a waste of money. Anyhow, I just wanted to drop in here to understand if your processing speed is a common trait that separates Mensans apart from the general population? I can usually get the answers as my co-worker, but I do need to read things a few times to eventually get the answer. I watch his eyes move and I am in amazement watching how fast he is absorbing the data with a first scan of the information. It’s very impressive and makes me jealous! Anyhow have a good day all of you!

Many people view IQ tests as an absolute measurement of intelligence, but I believe they are fundamentally flawed as a standalone metric for several reasons

High Fluctuation: Test performance is heavily influenced by temporary physical and mental states, such as sleep quality, stress levels, fatigue, and general mood. A person's score can easily fluctuate by 10 to 15 points from one day to another.

Narrow Scope: Popular tests (like Mensa) measure almost exclusively fluid intelligence via matrix reasoning. They completely ignore other critical components of cognition, such as working memory, verbal reasoning, processing speed, and spatial awareness.

Practice Effect: Repeating these types of tests trains your brain to recognize recurring patterns. You learn the "rules of the game," which inflates your score over time without actually increasing your underlying general intelligence.
For a test to yield truly accurate and meaningful results, it would need to be conducted over multiple days using a wide variety of comprehensive, multi-dimensional battery tests to account for daily variables and cognitive breadth. Single-session geometric tests simply do not tell the whole story.

Note: For context, my tested IQ is 135+. This is not a case of sour grapes or a blind complaint because of a low score. However, despite scoring high, I refuse to share this number as a true representation of my intellect. Given the clear limitations of these tests, ignoring these facts just to show off would be hypocritical.

I have conversations with people, and they start looking things up using AI tools. They'll parrot what AI says and then treat it like it is gospel.

AI isn't always correct, and AI doesn't have the context of the questions.

It's exhausting to explain to people that just because AI told them something, it doesn't make it right. And then, when they are caught being wrong, they blow it off with "Well, AI told me this was right," as if they have ZERO responsibility for what they say.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any more exhausting to talk to people...

I took the admission test today, and got an email a few minutes ago saying I qualified to join. I just joined! Hi, fellow Mensans!

I know some stranger may come across this post later and think, “Who even cares buddy?”

I’ve had mixed feelings about taking the admission test for a very long time. Growing up, I was constantly alienated for my intelligence, whether that be through idealization or people thinking I was weird. Experiences around my mother instilled insecurity around my intellect. I’m a grown adult now, and I no longer feel as strongly about those experiences as I did in the past.

Despite those negative experiences, I’ve always been complimented for my mind. So, I naturally began to wonder what it’d be like to test for Mensa. I like challenging myself.

At the same time, I never really felt like Mensa was a worthwhile group to join (sorry). I didn’t really see the perks. That being said, I think I’ve been dishonest to myself about not having anything to prove myself.

This felt like something I needed to do for myself, and I’m glad I did. I feel relieved that I no longer feel like I have to prove something to myself, as weird as that may seem to others.

The test was very hard ! I was quite surprised how difficult it was.

I often read in this subreddit people who are sad because they don't have an IQ of 2 SD. Many Mensans, me included, tell them or think they shouldn't worry, an extremely high IQ is not that great. When I read those postings I also think I feel in a similar way, but not regarding giftedness, rather wealth. Like when very wealthy people say money isn't so important. I wonder if I'm feeling exactly the same way as all those posters who are feeling sad because they cannot join Mensa.

To all those here who are or were a Mensa member, or to all those with a proven IQ>130 (no internet experiments): would you exchange iq points for money? Wealth against giftedness? Let's say an amount of X for every iq point you'd be ready to give in exchange?

Of course my question is not addressed to all those who are already gifted AND filthy rich.

I know it's an extremely hypothetical question, but I've been thinking a lot about it since I've been reading so many posts from people who wish they could join Mensa. Too often I thought: better rich than super intelligent.

Before all of you comment, yes, I achieved an average IQ of above 138 in an in person Aptitude/ IQ test using the Wechsler scale, I was forced to do it, not out of choice.

What I’ve realised after spending some time in this sub and Mensa in general, is that it’s just a circle jerk of people thinking they are somehow above the average person because of an exam they took. Most of you have awful written reasoning, seem pretty disconnected from how the average human ticks and how the world works. I’m by no means saying I’m a genius either. I don’t think any human is.

However, Mensa and this sub specifically is just filled with a constant ramble of looking down upon others and then sucking eachother off about how smart you all think you are. 95% of you seem absolutely insufferable to be around.

I pity anyone who is just … the fact people pay money to be part of this circle jerk club proves everything I need to know 🤣

since you fellas are all super smart and stuff i thought well i thought that maybe some of you fellas could help out summun like me. see, ever since i was, well, ever since i can recall, i aint been the brightest. mumma tried hard as mumma could to teach me a-rith-ma-tick but i werent able to grasp as simple as too pus too. now that aint mean im useless, dammnit i can sew the fields just fine and when the cow needs milkin my name the first to be called on. but now that don't mean bein stupid ain't hard. it's hard as can be. i was wonderin well, how do you get to be all smart and stuff?

Curios what some of you all enjoy doing in your free time?