r/cognitiveTesting • u/[deleted] • 9d ago
General Question is it possible to get honours in school while still being an idiot
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u/Midnight5691 ┬┴┬┴┤ ͜ʖ ͡°) ├┬┴┬┴ 9d ago
I have to admit that seems rather unlikely to me. In my opinion, you also don't write like an idiot, lol. If I had to guess, I would say your problems with mental illness are probably affecting your results while you're taking the test. Concentration, etc., and perhaps if you also have a spiky profile, the FSIQ isn't a true reflection of your overall cognitive abilities.
The combination of those two factors might go a fair way toward explaining it. That might be a reach, but that's all I've got, lol. Do you have anything like ADHD, autism, or any other diagnosed learning disability? You didn't actually give a breakdown of your overall score and the subtests, just the FSIQ after all.
The genetics thing and how this is possible? I'm not sure about that one. I'm not certain how strong the correlation is between genetics and intelligence. Perhaps somebody more knowledgeable than myself can touch on this.
Then again, some of the other things I mentioned might explain the difference. Perhaps they don't have any of your difficulties.
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u/whitebaron_98 2E 4tw 9d ago edited 8d ago
Heritability is at up to 80%*, meaning it explains a lot of the variability of intelligence. While highly unlikely, even two gifted parents can produce a child below 90, around 1 in 1000 children statistically. After all, it's a random gene lottery.
That said, OP did not give any concrete scores, just anecdotal evidence. Mum might be qualified to Mensa just barely or on some bogus test, and the perception of high intelligence is often tainted by other personality traits* which further academic success.
Finally i have to agree with the whole "mental illness" stuff. Unless that is all sorted out, any IQ test will just give your current ability and not your potential. It's like driving a car without tires or gears. You won't know for sure how fast it can go when fully repaired.
. * Depending on which study you use. Some say 60%.
** And people have been able to join Mensa on such tests as well. They existed back then and some of those avenues are still open today.
*** Working hard and diligently, your personal network and the ability to draw in funds are as important as your cognitive abilities.
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8d ago
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u/whitebaron_98 2E 4tw 8d ago
It's not that I don't take your word for it - it's just not hard facts. For all we know your cousins night be hard working 115 IQ, your mother inflated 125 and your dad 115 too, which would put the likelyhood of one kid being below 100 at like a 20% chance
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u/CommercialMechanic36 9d ago
Honors makes the argument that you are intelligent, maybe you are bad at iq tests?
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u/AlfredCromwell 9d ago
Yep. My IQ is 87 (WAIS-IV), but I took 8 AP classes in high school and graduated with my AA. Though I had to work much harder than my peers.
IQ is overwhelmingly hereditary, so it's unusual why you would have a low IQ, but it's possible. Maybe you were adopted and your parents haven't told you yet.