[gotaquestion]

Back in 1995 I had a moment of massive intellectual insecurity and joined MENSA. There were about 30 of us who took the test. Keep in mind this was before email privacy & hygiene and the mailing list went out to all instead of BCC so we found out that everyone passed. Literally everyone.

I'm suspicious of the MENSA selection criteria. You can even join without taking the test by having an SAT score above a certain value. Dubious.

But then, why would anyone join a High IQ society? I did because I needed proof I was smart, and wanted to be around other smarties (my social circle was nill), but the people were just kinda average and boring.

[burkaman]

> You can even join without taking the test by having an SAT score above a certain value. Dubious.

I'm sure it's true of many IQ tests, but the SAT is notoriously heavily correlated with wealth. Even if you generously assume that the test itself is not biased (which you shouldn't, it was and still is), that means your score is a function of practice and training, not "raw intelligence" if such a thing exists.

[mediaman]

There is no evidence that the SAT is a function of practice and training, and a lot of evidence that training has only a small impact on SAT scores.

See, for example: https://nepc.colorado.edu/sites/default/files/Briggs_Theeffe...

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Benjamin_Domingue/publi...

These controlled studies show an impact of something like 10-35 points from coaching and other prep.

[burkaman]

I didn't really mean SAT-specific coaching or practice tests, I meant more general practice and training as a result of your education. Like if you grew up in a rich neighborhood, on average you probably had better training on SAT-related skills over your 10 years of school, a better environment to practice those skills, etc.