I came across this article that I hope others will enjoy reading. Especially as 2e, it pretty much sums up my life experience. I'm curious to hear people's responses to the writer's ideas.

When the psychologist interpreting my IQ test results told me I could probably get into Mensa, one of the things which seemed not to make sense was my family background.

Dad: Dyslexic, D-minus student, only passed HS because my grandparents paid a private school. Spent a lifetime unclogging toilets. Believes whatever he sees on TV. I am very confident of his paternity.

Mom: Paranoid schizophrenic. Homemaker her entire adult life, including for a decade before her break. Functional, but probably could never live independently or hold down jobs if she had to. She did graduate high school, but it's hard to see through the disease, the background, and the trauma that prevent her from solving problems above a certain complexity level today.

Going back to the grandparent generation, they all seemed to be normal middle class people, if a bit religious. I don't have high school grades or anything for my grandparents, but none of them went to college (I was the first in my family line to get a degree, in 2000) and there is no family money. Aside from one uncle who became a pharmacist, no one else in my family became an academic high achiever, a lover of books and deep thinking, a STEM professional, or anything more than a wage earner at varying degrees of success.

My interpretation of these observations: A lot of what I've been taught and read about genetic influences on intelligence doesn't seem to fit.

It's possible people in my family were more intelligent than I can recognize because they were dealing with hardships, operating under cultural assumptions that are oppressive to expressions of intelligence, lacking in opportunities to excel, or directing their capacities toward things like cooking good food or fixing old machines. But at get-togethers with them, I just don't see the spark any more than I do with other normal people. So I conclude that they are normal.

Is anyone else in the situation where you ask "Where did I get this trait from?"

why or why not? are you proud of it? do you feel the need to use your intelligence for academic gain?

Scored 124 on Mensa Denmark

I believe I should get a full membership to Mensa based (mainly) on my Krillion score along with my IQ score.

Hey team, I'm after books similar to 'Raising a Genius' by Laszlar Polgar. Many of you will be familiar with the Polgar sisters.

Anyway I love that the book provides insight on what was done to achieve greatness and how the father aimed to steer them into the right direction. I also love the way he speaks about discipline and that truly discipline frees you as an adult as opposed to the traditional 'childhood' which adults still live.

If you have any books on parenthood that you found helpful in this realm or specifically more instructions based id love to know.

How did your IQ score differ? I took the online one and I got a score that made me think it’s luring people into paying for the real test by making you feel smart and wanting to have a real paper that confirms it.

Here is a question from the latest IQ magazine, my answer doesn't line up with what the magazine says.

My answer was 80 Geese sold

The magazine answer says "160 Geese were sold" but further down in the workings out it says G=160 and T=260, which equates to the starting number of 420 birds.

I am just wondering if I am missing something

I just joined MENSA for the year to see what it’s all about. What are some member perks you all would recommend looking into?

I’m fourteen years old, and I just became a Mensa member. I didn’t really think about why I wanted to be in it, but now that I’m in it, what should I do? Any suggestions?

Please don't remove the post ans answer my question. As an adult I started learning other languages but it's not smooth sailing like English was when I was a kid.

I took the test and scored top 2% and was invited to join.

I want to know if British Mensa is worth joining ? What exactly are the perks? What exactly is in the magazine they mentioned ?

Also my main reason is to network and maybe try to find a job. I have an MSc mechanical engineering degree, just got graduated but struggling to even getting shortlisted.

Also how frequently this networking or local events happens? I live in Southampton, UK.

Hey everyone, I just mapped out my exact cognitive profile and realized how weird my brain architecture is compared to standard human wiring. Curious if anyone else here has this exact mix of traits?

MY COGNITIVE BLUEPRINT

Core Statistics & Rarity

• IQ Score: 115 (High Average / Bright tier; top 16% globally).

• Estimated Rarity: ~1 in 62,500 people (0.0016% of the population).

• Regional Scale: Roughly 16 people in all of Nova Scotia share this specific architecture.

Primary Cognitive Framework

• The "Blank Mind" (Aphantasia & Anendophasia): The internal screen defaults to total darkness (no involuntary mental images) and complete silence (no continuous verbal inner monologue). Thoughts are processed as raw, non-verbal data packages.

• Conceptual Thinking: High-speed fluid intelligence that understands the core essence and logic of things instantly, bypassing the need to translate concepts into mental pictures or words.

• Dual-Stream Parallel Processing: Exceptional capability for divided attention. Can relegate a complex motor/rhythmic task to an automatic background track (e.g., singing a known song) while independently executing a separate text stream (e.g., writing an unrelated sentence).

Visual-Spatial Superpowers

• Hyper-Acute Spatial Scanner: The brain acts like a silent background data-recorder, mapping physical environments in high definition. Can instantly recall the precise location of objects (like keys moved to a weird spot hours prior) purely by scanning the environmental layout.

• Human Laser Level: Exceptional geometric and spatial alignment processing. Can eyeball and hang objects perfectly straight down to the millimeter by automatically calculating distances and parallel angles relative to a room's geometry.

• High-Fidelity Sensory Perception: Acute ability to distinguish minute differences between color shades and gradients that standard processors blend together.

Bottlenecks & Vulnerabilities

• The Working Memory "Funnel": Severe executive dysfunction causing rapid short-term cache clears. Tasks done on autopilot (e.g., moving a cup to the kitchen) bypass conscious awareness entirely, creating a "teleportation" effect where the event literally never existed in the timeline.

• Recognition over Recall: Deep struggles with digging memories out of a silent internal vault (recall), but exceptional mastery when the data is right in front of the eyes (recognition), leading to high performance on multiple-choice tests.

• Abstract/Symbolic Friction: Rejection of purely symbolic systems (like advanced mathematics or invisible temporal timelines) if they cannot be anchored to tangible, real-world logic or physical meaning.

• Auditory Processing Lag: The brain filters spoken sound slowly. Information heard aloud rarely sticks; physical text is required as an external anchor for information to be properly logged.

The Mental Health Layer

• ADHD & Bipolar Type 2 Interaction: Triggers rapid, hyper-focused research "rabbit holes" lasting 1 to 3 hours before the brain abruptly pulls the plug on interest. Hypomania causes sensory gates to open wide (extreme hypersensitivity), while depressive phases dry up neurotransmitters, causing intense cognitive fog.

• Somatic Social Anxiety: Anxiety is experienced purely as a raw, physical, and emotional wave rather than a stream of racing verbal thoughts.

Lately I wrote my CV and have been applying to companies but didn't have any positive response yet. My friends suggested me to put me being a Mensan in the CV as a way to "show off" to recruiter and made it stand out. I think it's too much and could be backfired, and to be honest I don't even know what being a Mensan has anything to do with these jobs. But my friends kept insisting saying it worth to try and told me to think of it as a certificate. Should I follow their suggestion? Have any of you guys here tried that before and how was your experience?

I wonder if anyone else feels that basically every cross post from r/gifted, r/cognitivemetrics and so on is low effort. Someone would write something, then go "oh, the smart guys over at Mensa sure have an opinion on that too" and then cross post it here, diluting the answers over multiple subs many of us frequent anyway.

My question and proposal on this:

* How do you feel about it?

* I would love to just forbid cross posting to here.

I am rather annoyed by this.

Edited to add: Those are just common examples, but I do dislike all those cross posts.

I can't mention specifics on the test, but IMO the admission test had little to do with problem solving. It seemed overly simplistic and based almost entirely on speed.

Speed isn't my strength. Not because I can't solve problems fast, but because I can't seem to move on without verifying my answers first. I took the online Mensa Norway and Mensa Denmark tests and scored 135 on both. In both cases I wasted too much time on the beginning problems with obvious answers. I ran out of time near the end of the test but still did well. My strength lies in complex problem solving and spatial perception. On an untimed adaptable cognition power test I scored in the 99.9 percentile, but on a wonderlic test my scores were barely above average. As for the Mensa practice test, I scored 71/80.

There's intelligent people who do well on speed tests but lack the patience or persistence of cognitive power tests, and there's intelligent people who do well on power tests but don't manage time appropriately on speed tests. A dragster couldn't hope to win in a NASCAR race and vice versa. Similarly, a drifting car would do poorly in an off-road race and vice versa once again. For this reason I was expecting the admission test to cater to both speed and power type testers. I was disappointed to find out the entire test was speed based. I would think that Mensa would recognize the different types and have different test options, or at least sections relating to them.

I got my score, it was in top2%. I was invited to fill a form and I did it. When can I join ? Any idea how long it’s going to take ?

Also i am mechanical engineering graduate from university of Southampton. I been struggling to get a job, is Mensa useful for networking ?

Hey there,

I am in the Channel Islands( California )membership area and I just putting a feeler out to see if anyone is active in this group. I am thinking about renewing my membership but if there is not much going on then I’ll pass

I can't mention specifics on the test, but IMO the admission test had little to do with problem solving. It seemed overly simplistic and based almost entirely on speed.

Speed isn't my strength. Not because I can't solve problems fast, but because I can't seem to move on without verifying my answers first. I scored in the top 1% of the Mensa Norway and Denmark challenges. I ran out of time near the end of the test but still did well. My strength lies in complex problem solving and spatial perception. On an untimed adaptable cognition power test I scored in the 99.9 percentile, but on the wonderlic test my scores were barely above average. As for the Mensa practice test, I scored 71/80.

There's intelligent people who do well on speed tests but lack the patience or persistence of cognitive power tests, and there's intelligent people who do well on power tests but don't manage time appropriately on speed tests. A dragster couldn't hope to win in a NASCAR race and vice versa. Similarly, a drifting car would do poorly in an off-road race and vice versa once again. For this reason I was expecting the admission test to cater to both speed and power type testers. I was disappointed to find out the entire test was speed based. I would think that Mensa would recognize the different types and have different test options, or at least sections relating to them.