What Does A Kid's Iq Mean?

School-age children might be tested for intelligence before they graduate high school. This test results in a single number, known as the IQ, being applied to the child. The IQ score can be used for many purposes that might affect the child's self-confidence as well as her academic and professional opportunities.

What an IQ Test Measures

An IQ test is designed not to measure what a child has learned but rather what she is capable of learning. Because it is designed to measure innate ability rather than acquired knowledge, it is difficult, if not impossible, to study for. The IQ test measures abilities such as fluid reasoning, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing, verbal reasoning and memory. Although it is designed to avoid testing knowledge, a certain amount of background knowledge, such as the ability to read, is assumed.

Mental Age vs. Chronological Age

A child's IQ is not determined simply by her raw score on an IQ test. Rather, it is determined by comparing her raw score with the raw score of others her age, as well as children older and younger than her. The score is determined by dividing mental age by chronological age, and multiplying by 100, says Dennis Garlick of the UCLA Department of Psychology. If your child gets the same number of answers right as the average 12-year-old, her mental age is 12. If she is only 10 years old, her IQ would by (12/10) X 100 = 120. If she is 15 years old, her IQ would by (12/15) X 100 = 80. Once a child reaches about 16, a different method of calculating IQ, called the DIQ, is used to take into account the likelihood that her brain has finished maturing.

Uses

IQ tests are designed to provide an objective measure of a person's general intelligence, according to the University of Michigan, in order to remove the subjective bias inherent in evaluations by teachers, parents or employers. IQ scores are used in primary and secondary schools to place children in special education classes or gifted student programs. Some employers, such as the Army, use it to screen candidates. IQ tests are also used to identify learning disabilities such as dyslexia in children with high IQs but low academic performance.

Controversy

The IQ test has been criticized for reducing the broad spectrum of intelligence to a single number and for being an inaccurate predictor of success in adult life. It has also been criticized for missing many important abilities such as social intelligence and musical talent. Critics such as prominent evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould assert that the IQ test is racially biased, and that they encourage racism by providing a scientific-sounding justification.