Perhaps if you do well it will make you feel better, but if you don’t do better all it means is that you’ll likely have to work harder at academic things than others. From a practical standpoint it doesn’t mean much. I think that focus and the ability to concentrate are better skills than raw IQ. If you concentrate and focus you can do almost anything, but if you’re a genius who can’t focus all you can do is go on jeopardy.

In my experience with the high IQ community, most members join purely for the sake of companionship, to find others who relate to their way of viewing the world. They usually find that IQ alone is a weak bond, since it measures intellectual potential across a wide spectrum of general mental abilities, like vocabulary and spatial manipulation.

Some people join to compete intellectually and to feel an exultant ego boost when they win. Competition usually comes in the form of catfights and debates, but games are also popular, especially in Mensa (that and chocolate). This competitive bunch is a small minority of the small minority who actively participate in theses societies. However, they are extremely annoying and abrasive in conversation, not unlike talking to a religious fundamentalist.

Overall, however, high IQ societies seem to serve a couple of useful purposes. They allow bright people to feel confident about their brains, which is something that Americans, in particular, disdain. And they allow bright people to socialize, which, as noted here, is a skill that most bright people sorely lack.

An IQ test doesn’t test how book smart you are, just your logic skills and stuff. In fact, I’m pretty sure that the test was developed so no prior knowledge was needed.

I was actually shocked by my score (146) and decided to poke some holes in his massively inflated ego by applying to Triple Nine and proudly brandishing my certificate under his nose. he about passed out.

Mission Accomplished.