After falling asleep from being too tired, and watching a few too many episodes of Altered Carbon, I decided to take an IQ test online because they were doing it on the Howard Stern show.

I stumbled across this test. It takes about 15 minutes to complete. Here was my result:

I could really use some affirmation that everyone doesn’t get this score.

Have I ever thought of myself as brilliant? No. Flat out. No. No fucking chance.

I never tested into enrichment. My SAT scores were 1,150 or so out of 1,600. I got into one honors history class and literally would cheat on every exam by copying off of Jane Bloomgarden. I was by far the dumbest kid in the class. Even in college I didn’t earn great marks. 3. something GPA. So when I saw this random internet test describing my intelligence as “brilliant”, I knew it had to be wrong.

It begs the question though, what is intelligence? It’s quite possible on questions I didn’t know what the answer was, and I either put “I don’t know” or I guessed correctly, it would up my results. I also think I answered the questions quickly which I know helps on these types of tests. Nevertheless, being able to do identify some patterns in numbers and letters is hardly a useful skill. Show me how to sell a product or give a speech in front of a thousand people and you have my attention. Telling me what number comes next is bush league.

I will complete this post by saying that I’m far more intelligent now than I’ve been at any point in my life. I spend more time reading for leisure and learning skills that I actually want to learn whereas in formal education it was info that I never cared for. Can that actually make me smarter? I don’t know. You tell me.