School exams are, generally speakin

School exams are, generally speaking, the first kind of tests we take. They find out how much knowledge we have gained. But do they really show how intelligent we are? After all, isn’t it a fact that some people who are very successful academically don’t have any common sense?
Intelligence is the speed at which we can understand and react to new situations and it is usually tested by logic puzzles. Although scientists are now preparing advanced computer technology that will be able to “read” our brains, for the present tests are still the most popular ways of measuring intelligence.
A person’s IQ is his intelligence as it is measured by a special test. The most common IQ tests are run by Mensa, an organization that was founded in England in 1946. By 1976 it had 1,300 members in Britain. Today there are 44,000 in Britain and 100,000 worldwide, largely the US.
People taking the tests are judged in relation to an average score of 100, and those who score over 148 are entitled to join Mensa. This works out at 2% of the population. Anyone from the age if six can take the tests. All the questions are straightforward and most people can answer them if works out enough time. But that’s the problem – the whole point of the tests is that they’re against the clock.