October 18th, 2003: MENSA National Testing Day

[LynneSin]

http://us.mensa.org/events/postntd_listing.php

American Mensa's National Testing Day will be held on Saturday, October 18, 2003. Local groups across the country will administer the Mensa Admissions Test on National Testing Day.

Anyone who scores in the top two percent on the Mensa Admissions Test will be invited to join Mensa. The test is open to any person age 14 and older. The test fee is $30 and a photo ID is required.

<more>

BTW, if you are wondering if you should try out, my local paper had a mini-Mensa quiz. I got 11/11 - maybe I'll splurge on the $30 and see if I can qualify.

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2003/10/16delmensalooking.html

[phillybri]

1. I'll take "Events in which Freepers Never Participate" for $1000, Alex....

:evilgrin:

[trotsky]

2. Not crazy about Mensa

I got in as a teenager based on my standardized test scores. Maybe it's because I was technically still a kid, but every meeting/gathering I attended the people there were mainly in two different categories: 1) Stuck-up and 2) Weird. And I mean weird in the "OK, I'm going to walk away slowly from you now" sense. Not the nerdy sense, because I'm weird that way.:crazy:

Plus, the group doesn't really stand for or do anything. I know that's because its charter is just to form a group of intelligent people. But c'mon, at least try to do something for the common good? Put that intelligence to use?

I let my membership lapse in college and have thought about renewing once in a while but I just can't do it.

[LynneSin]

3. I don't know if I'd want to be a member of Mensa...

I'd just like to see if I could actually pass the test and be asked to be a member.

I can't tell you how much grief my freaking 'intelligence' has given me in my lifetime. They tested me back in 3rd grade and put me into gifted programs because of how high I tested. Geez, they might as well stapled a giant size to my forehead saying "Please beat me up because I'm smarter than you are" sign.

Don't get me wrong, my high IQ does not make me "smarter". I can figure out tricky math problems and other useless IQ questions, but I wish I had less IQ and a little more common sense (Heck, I wish Bush had both). I've even spent 2 years in therapy dealing with my inability to cope with my IQ.

So I'm not sure I want to be a Mensa person. Last thing I want to do is hang out with more people like me - UGH!. But secretly, I'd like to take the test and see how I do.

[trotsky]

7. LOL

I know exactly what you mean, LynneSin. That same sign was stapled on my forehead too. Even the Phys Ed teacher hated me and made sure to berate me every chance she got - and that was in ELEMENTARY school! I'd also trade a few points for a some more common sense as well.

Go ahead and take the test, and then turn them down. You'll feel good about yourself TWICE. :)

[quispquake]

15. How come I don't think your conversation with LynneSin...

...would ever appear on Free Republic :)

pp23

[trotsky]

17. Heheh

Because it would be more like this:

"Uhh 'member that funny-lookin' smart kid we always beat up?"

"Ugh, maybe that was Lynne?"

"Ya, that's it. I bet she's a dumb DEMONcRAT now. Ha ha ha!"

"We are so smart. S-M-R-T. I mean, S-M-A-R-T."

[supernova]

4. 10/11

I missed the thing about the match in the coffee. :D

[LynneSin]

5. I figured he had something in the coffee

and that one about Roy's father's uncle, etc....

I said it was Roy's brother....which technically is the same thing - so I counted that one as a 'yes'.

[ant]

9. huh?

How is being Roy's brother technically the same as being Roy himself, especially when you were told it's an ONLY first cousin? Catching that is part of the question.

[supernova]

13. Not Roy's brother but

his father's brother. The way you work these problems is start with the one nearest the object you are trying to decipher, then work your way out to the farthest. Works the same with question #1, about 1/2 of 1/4th of....

[ant]

14. Yes

I know how to work the problem - I got it right ;) (these are the kinds of questions I lived for on the GRE; I suck at verbal) - I'm just confused about why answering "roy's brother" means you're "technically" right.

[Guaranteed]

19. I said the coffee wasn't hot anymore.

That's a legitimate answer. Marked it right.

[ant]

6. heh

"Mensa" is spanish slang for "retard."

Anyway, I got three wrong on their little quiz, but I have a few issues:

First, #7:
A patron of the diner called the waitress over and complained that there was a used match in his coffee. The waitress took his cup away and returned forthwith, saying, "Here's a fresh cup." The man tasted the coffee, slammed his fist on the table and declared: "All you did was take out the match!" How did he know?

I hate these puzzles because I can never understand why the answer given is the "right" one. Honestly, the first thing *I* thought was, "he's a crossdresser and his lipstick is still on the cup," but maybe that's just 'cause I went to see Eddie Izzard in NYC last weekend. Since this isn't a "true" story there can be no "right" answer - any plausible explanation will do.

I also had issues with #10:
10. Counting from zero, what's the first number that contains the letter "a"?

They say the answer is one-thousand; I say it's "one-hundred and one." (Hey, at least I didn't say "a hundred and one")

I couldn't figure out the last one, either, but hats off to the test writer 'cause it's a good one. When I read the answer I had a funny "D'oh!" moment.

[supernova]

10. #10 - no ifs, buts, or ands

It is one thousand and not one hundred and one because classically you do not say "and" in multiple numbers. The correct name of 101 is one hundred one. This year, 2003 is pronnounced two thousand three.

[ant]

12. yes, I know that's the rule

But I disagree with it. :)

[GOPisEvil]

11. Correct English is "one hundred one". The "and" is technically incorrect.

Mensa! ;-) Just kidding.

[Cat Atomic]

16. Pbbt. I dunno. It still had cream and sugar in it?

But who's to say he doesn't take his coffee black? So... hmph.

[populistmom]

8. My dad was in MENSA for awhile

He stopped going because he was the exciting party guy of the group. Now if you know my dad and his level of uptight nerdiness, that's saying a lot about this group.
Personally, I don't think I'd qualify (not that I ever had the desire). I was tagged as gifted as a kid ("Sarah is not living up to her potential as expressed by her high scores on standardized, biased testing"), but IQ wise I tend to be more high-normal (like the 125-135 range) which isn't up to MENSA standards anyway. Plus, in areas related to logic and symbolism, I do very poorly. I'm more of a right brained, intuative type thinker.

Sarah

[Bridget Burke]

18. I lost a lot of respect for Mensa

When they held their convention in Houston. In July.

I live in Houston & believe it has good points (although I would have picked San Antonio). But not in JULY!!!

Their reason: hotel rates were low. Of course, you eejits--nobody with any brains wants to visit Houston in July.

[5thGenDemocrat]

20. My mom was a longtime MENSA member

She always said I should test out and see what happened -- but I have a problem with any organization whose basic premise is "we're smarter than you are." I DO have a high IQ (I took both mathematics and English in third grade while I was in first grade), but, Gawd, I remember how much I hated being treated as someone special because of said intelligence.
My dad was very smart too -- but he had about the same attitude on the topic as I do.
John
Who still managed to flunk ninth grade -- though it took my skipping 51 straight days of school to do it. Then I graduated GED in November of my junior year and went straight into the Army -- proving, I guess, that one can have a high IQ and still be dumb as a stick.