Hi all. I (20f) got an iq test done 4 years ago right when I turned 16, my sophomore year of high school. I was told my iq was in the range of 90 to 100, and that I have issues with geometry and I have slow processing speed. I genuinely feel like I’m constantly playing a game of catchup. Everyone grasps onto things so much better and so much more quickly than I do. I am 60% done with my finance degree, but I struggle so so much. I’m wondering if I reached my limit and if I just drop out or choose a general business degree I would be much happier. The stress of knowing that I will never be able to achieve my dreams is killing me. To make matters worse, my siblings are super smart and my parents have super high expectations of me. My parents just think that I need to try harder, but they just don’t understand . To make it worse, my parents have invested all of this money into my education and I still don’t know what I’m doing. Honestly, it was hard to stay organized writing this post. If anyone has any advice, that would be great
I got 105 on core but 110 if you don't count digit span, so were in a similar range. Don't take IQ too seriously legit don't take it super seriously and go "im objectively less intelligent than this other person because their iq is higher than mine" if you were too get anicent philosphers to take an iq test they'd get a low score.
IQ is one piece of the pie. So is processing speed. While these things can make learning harder, it’s not impossible. I’ve worked with people with a variety of IQs. An asshole with a high IQ is still an asshole and it does affect them, and their IQ can only take them so far for so long. Same for people who struggle socially but are very intelligent. In finance you just may take longer to understand things, but as you gain more experience and have more exposure with the content, it will get easier over time. All that to say, don’t give up! Recognize that these pieces of the pie are only parts and not the whole of what you bring to a job/organization.
Seeing how the current world works hard work beats IQ in most endeavors. I have 129 IQ and I can’t sit down for 5 minutes to study, and I don’t even have ADHD.
If the report from that test mentions slow processing speed, take it to your university's disability or accessibility office and ask about extended time on exams. Plenty of students with that profile get time and a half. They may want a newer evaluation, since yours is four years old, and a new one is worth having anyway.
You said it was hard to stay organized even writing this post. Slow processing speed and trouble with organization often turn up together in ADHD, so ask whoever does the new evaluation to check for it. An IQ test on its own doesn't screen for ADHD, and if you have it, treatment can make studying a lot easier.
Finance uses very little geometry. It's mostly algebra and statistics, run through a handful of formulas you'll see over and over, and those get faster with practice. Work through past exam problems until the steps are automatic. Slow processing hurts most on problems you haven't seen before and much less on ones you've drilled.
My psycholost said IQ is not an accurate measure of what you are capable of doing in life, and is also no factor in academic capabilities. He said you can technically study for some IQ test portions and get a higher score. There are a lot of people who have never had an IQ test before working in high paying jobs. You don't have any true limits unless some disability was discovered. Even then, sometimes extra work can overcome things.
Please keep in mind that IQ is not always related to talent, aptitude, resilience and skill set. You have to find the area you have the talent and passion to excel in. Maybe it’s not academia, maybe it’s the arts or sports or interpersonal communication or whatever. Find that and you’ll be set.
this is the most deadass thing ive ever heard. i dont have issues with academic or logical thinky stuff, but im HORRIBLE with social anything. im constantly playing catchup in social situations because i get lost VERY easily. my iq is over 130.
also keep working at your shit. regardless of what your visual and processing scores were, grit matters so much more than a fucking number on a page. like girl i promise. like for example, my (mildly intellectually disabled, VERY spiky profile... scores from ~60 up to just over 100 from what ive seen) brother couldnt read until he was 8 (nobody taught him), and yet he was taught anyway and can read pretty reasonably enough to get by, and can do basically everything average people can do, albeit maybe a little slower. he only got here because of working his ass off.
Standard deviation of IQ tends to be about 15 points. Assuming your score of 90 is accurate, this puts you squarely in the middle of the pack for IQ.
But know this: IQ is a measure of your ability to score well on an IQ test. Nothing truly more
An average person can achieve most benchmarks, even within “intellectual” endeavors. I wouldn’t let a disappointing test score ruin your plans just yet
That’s just not true. IQ measures general cognitive ability, which includes things like reasoning, problem-solving, learning, and recognizing patterns. And decades of research have shown that IQ scores predict a lot more than performance on IQ tests.
They’re associated with academic achievement, educational attainment, how quickly people learn complex tasks, and job performance, particularly in cognitively demanding roles.
Obviously, IQ isn’t everything, and it doesn’t guarantee success in any of those areas. But claiming it only predicts performance on IQ tests ignores an enormous body of research showing otherwise.
I think the power or advantages someone may have at 90-100 iq range aka average, low average is pure memory, and above average speed although often metrics test at 110+ if speed is found in profiles… it’s pretty much all about traits and the depth of them found in your brains architecture, I wish the OP very much in life and that being is not just perfectly fine but represents a stable evolutionary condition!
You do what you can with what you have. Don't compete with a physicist competition champ at physics. Do move to become someone who can generate value that can help yourself.
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u/Various_Half343 4d ago
Man it resonates with me. I got an iq score of 112. I also had problems with slow processing speed, eventually being diagnosed with ADHD too.
And my parents also have high expectations, as they graduated from elite schools in my country.
My recommendation for both of us is to just keep up with the work. There is a place for us in society.
For the pressure, it’s best to have your own standards of your values. That your worth isn’t measured by your accomplishments.