The Mensa test

Mensa IQ test

I took the test yesterday. I signed up for the test couple of weeks ago. It is a culture neutral test with pictures, dots, squares, and triangles that are arranged in different ways. The task is to find the correct pattern in which they are presented. No numbers, no math, no text to read.

I’ve never taken it before. I had to take an IQ test before I joined Microsoft in late 2010. It had picture-tasks and tasks with numbers. I didn’t get the result. They told me that it was OK. It wasn’t that important. 

Now you are wondering how stupid I might be. Why are you even reading this :-) 

You wouldn’t be the only one thinking that I’m stupid. I had quite a few meetings with Managers in my career. I experienced that they all felt like a connection is there and than it’s gone. I was even told that I should not count on taking the Microsoft certifications because I can’t seem to concentrate. I already had two Microsoft certifications. And a Masters degree. What was he thinking - was it magic? Yeah, I’m stupid, I worked at Proactive for three years. When I started at Microsoft, I took a test about SharePoint development and scored 1000 points. Yes, I sad there for an hour or so and answered over 50 questions. I got them all right. Then I took the Administrator test and got almost 1000 points. The next test (Microsoft certification) was again passed with 1000 points. 

So in conclusion, I’m not stupid on paper. Only in person. 

To be honest, I don’t think I’m stupid. I am probably more clever than my Managers. Even if I don’t pass the Mensa test, I might still be more clever than my Managers.

With that in mind, I tried to prepare for the test. I’m not used to looking at pictures, dots and lines that rotate in different directions. After a day or two, it became a fun thing to do. 

I doubled my coffee intake yesterday. Good Italian coffee. I just hoped that the questions had the same form as in the examples, I Googled and used to prepare. They did. I felt prepared. 45 questions with pictures. Only 20 minutes to solve. 

It was an old school test done on paper. We got a notebook with questions and an answering sheet. There was not much text, only the form to write my name and date. It was in German. I learned German on my last year of secondary school. I felt that school wasn’t enough and I took classes in the evening. 

Paper. I know. I almost forgot how to turn the pages :-)

The notebook had size like A4 sheets of paper. Each page was a question with answers. 

The pictures, the lines, dots, rectangles looked huge on a glittering sheet of paper. I could see two questions at the time. I used my iPhone to practice and I was used to look at small pictures. Two questions at the same time were confusing. I covered one of them with the answering sheet. 

After a few questions, my eyes accustomed to the size of the figures and I concentrated on answering the questions and circling the right answer in the answering sheet. If I circled the answer for the wrong question, the time used to figure out the answer would be wasted. I was careful to look at the question number and find it on the answering sheet before I made a circle.

Just before question number 40, the questions became increasingly harder. 

There it was, only a minute left. I turned the page and solved a question number 42. Circled the answer for a question number 43 a second before the time was up.

I have no idea what my score is. I can take the test again in six months if I don’t pass. I’ll remember to print the pictures on A4 sheets of paper so I can practice for the test.

Each correct answer gives a point. 40 points, 40 questions answered correctly give a score of 131, top 2% of population and open for membership in Mensa.