![Why IQ Tests Are Bad Math](https://cdn.magzter.com/1357655529/1692798885/articles/FPB5qobr81692862806756/IQ-tests-Emotional-maturity-Common-sense-Musical-kinesthetic-skills.jpg)
So how do IQ tests work, and what makes their methodology so shaky?
How We Measure IQ // "IQs are computed by percentiles. IQs tend to form a normal distribution. And so you compute how people compare to each other," explains Robert Sternberg, PhD, a professor of psychology at Cornell University. Most IQ tests have subscores, he says. These could be for verbal performance, math performance, or other skills. The total score is a weighted average of the subscores. On tests like the SAT and the ACT, the subscores are weighted equally.
"A lot of proprietary tests don't go into a lot of detail about their scoring because that's something they've copyrighted," says Elizabeth Dworak, PhD, a research assistant professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University.
This story is from the September - October 2023 edition of Popular Mechanics US.
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This story is from the September - October 2023 edition of Popular Mechanics US.
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