Special Report: What Do IQ Tests and the SAT Measure, and Where Does EQ Fit In?

Written by Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach


I was telling a therapistrepparttar other day about someone’s score onrepparttar 130443 SAT. “Oh,” he said, waving his hand in dismissal, “THAT thing. It doesn’t measure a THING.”

Let’s setrepparttar 130444 record state. What he meant was – (1) It doesn’t measure anything he cared about, or (2) It doesn’t measure anything that need slowrepparttar 130445 person down. But it definitely measures SOMETHING, and if you’rerepparttar 130446 HR person reviewing test scores, orrepparttar 130447 coach reviewing assessments, orrepparttar 130448 taker looking at your own results, orrepparttar 130449 college admission officer, it’s important to know what a test or assessment DOES measure.

The SAT – Scholastic Aptitude Test – measures aptitude for college work and SAT scores have been shown to correlate with success as a college freshman (only). It consists of tests in Verbal Ability and Mathematical Reasoning.

To refresh your memory, go here http://www.the-big-test.com ests/index.htm - and take some ofrepparttar 130450 sample tests. What’s your first reaction? For me,repparttar 130451 Sentence Completions are fun. Then I came to Critical Reading Questions and suddenly felt a need to make a sandwich. Then camerepparttar 130452 “if one train leavesrepparttar 130453 station at 4 p.m. heading east at 5 mph…” and preparing a 6-course meal seemed more imperative.

I think it measures your ability to withstand torture. The test lasts 3 hours and requires incredible concentration. 3 hours, after all, is an eternity to a high school student. It may measure more inrepparttar 130454 testing, than inrepparttar 130455 knowledge, if you know what I mean. You have to sit down and read carefully something that’s irrelevant, just because it’s required. And manyrepparttar 130456 college students feel that way about freshman year in college!

It’s also an endurance test. It gets harder as you go along, because your brain gets more tired.

BRIEF HISTORY

The SAT has been called “the 50-year-old system that determinesrepparttar 130457 course of Americans’ lives.” This sort of college admission testing began in 1901, but it didn’t really kick in untilrepparttar 130458 U. Cal. System adopted it in 1960.

Is it biased? It’s been dubbedrepparttar 130459 “Survey of Affluent Teenagers,” andrepparttar 130460 debate rages, but you might be interested to know that a homeless teenager in California, who had been completely home-schooled, just scored a perfect 800/800 onrepparttar 130461 SAT: ( http://www.thekcrachannel.com/news/574672/detail.html )

It’s believed to have gotten easier overrepparttar 130462 years; howeverrepparttar 130463 nation’s high school class of 2003 achievedrepparttar 130464 highest score onrepparttar 130465 math section since 1967.

ABOUT THE ARTS …

According to The College Entrance Examination Board, “students ofrepparttar 130466 arts continue to outperform their non-arts peers onrepparttar 130467 SAT.” [Source: http://www.menc.org/information/advocate/sat.html ]. In 2002, “SAT takers with coursework/experience in music performance scored 57 points higher onrepparttar 130468 verbal and 41 points higher onrepparttar 130469 math than students without.” This is one reasonrepparttar 130470 arts are encouraged in The EQ Foundation Course©.

Does it relate to anything else in life? Not unless you think focus, perseverance, and being willing (and able) to do something mental that’s hard and unpleasant in order to earn a delayed reward do.

Sorepparttar 130471 optimal word there is “aptitude.” “Aptitude” according to m-w.com means inclination, tendency; a natural ability; a capacity for learning; or a general suitability. In this case, one’s general suitability for college, and that it has been statistically proven to do.

IQ

Now what does it mean if someone has “a high IQ”? It stands for Intelligence Quotient and means they did well on an Intelligence Test. The IQ test was invented in 1905, by a French psychologist, Alfred Binet. As you know, for a test to have any “validity” (to mean something beyond speculation) it needs to have been tested on a lot of people (a large “sample”), andrepparttar 130472 IQ test really got a rush during World War I when Robert Yerkes, a Harvard professor, realizing a captive audience when he saw one, got permission fromrepparttar 130473 US army to IQ test nearly 2,000,000 recruits.

Most ofrepparttar 130474 abilities measured by an IQ test tend to level off around age 16. (Some say they’re fixed at birth.) The test measures such things as factual knowledge, short-term memory, abstract reasoning and visual-spatial abilities.

“Intelligence is always measured relative to a particular culture,” says PsychologicalTesting.com. “’Culture-free’ tests of intelligence do not exist.” A few examples: ·Havingrepparttar 130475 bodily-kinesthetic intelligence to be able to throw a boomerang accurately is of no practical value if you live in Germany in 2004. ·Having what it takes to land a plane is of no consequence unless you should happen to become a pilot.

·Being able to predict where oil might be is essential if you’re a geologist inrepparttar 130476 oil industry, but not if you’re a chef. What do they predict? Academic success, school grades, and, according to one source, about 6% of job success. IQ also correlates with some “social outcomes”, according to Linda S. Gottfredson, author of “The General Intelligence Factor.” For a graph, go here: http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/~reingold/courses/intelligence/cache/1198gottfredbox2.html . To read a summary, go here: http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/~reingold/courses/intelligence/cache/1198gottfred.html .

Is this “intelligence”? It’s a form of intelligence, but we have hundreds of different mental “abilities,” and an IQ test measures only a few.

Your “score” is based on an average. An IQ of 100 is higher than 50% ofrepparttar 130477 people takingrepparttar 130478 test. An IQ of 130 is higher than 95% ofrepparttar 130479 people takingrepparttar 130480 test.

The Wechsler IQ tests are generally considered to berepparttar 130481 best available measure and are preferred byrepparttar 130482 Social Security Administration. http://www.wvu.edu/~law/clinic/docs/margiqss.pdf . Incidentally, someone is considered “presumptively disabled onrepparttar 130483 basis of mental impairments,” if their IQ is 59 or less, and an individual with an IQ of 70 “has a 50-50 chance of mastering elementary school curriculum, and will have a hard time functioning independently without considerable social support.” (Source: The General Intelligence Factor,” Linda S. Gottfredson).

Faithless

Written by Sue Dyson


Aside from how difficult it is to sayrepparttar word, what does being faithless have to do with being successful? Isn't it important to HAVE faith?

Absolutely, faith is important.

It is equally important to be able to let go of a previously conceived notion of ourselves, in order to make room for greater abundance.

I first discovered this term, faithless, in Oriah Mountain Dreamer's book, "The Invitation". In it she says "Those who can be faithless -- who can bearrepparttar 130440 responsibility of breaking an agreement with someone whenrepparttar 130441 alternative is to betray themselves -- are trustworthy". Stand in your own truth.

Let go of your belief in something if it's worn out it's purpose.

That something can be our relationships with other people. It can be our work up until now. A habit. It can simply be a 'way' you've always done something.

If we are committed to living in our truth, living an authentic life, inevitably things will change and we will need to break our previously made agreements with ourselves and others. This doesn't necessarily mean an ending of relationships. It may however, simply mean a renegotiation. The creation of a new dance.

Joseph Campbell's quote explains this beautifully, "We must be willing to get rid ofrepparttar 130442 life we've planned, so as to haverepparttar 130443 life that is waiting for us."

It takes close examination of your life, always keeping your awareness sharp and asking, "does this serve my higher purpose?"

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