Standard IQ test no longer used by schools for cognitive abilities

When President Trump jokingly — or not — challenged his secretary of state to an IQ test last week, he referenced something that has long since gone out of vogue in the U.S.

In recent years, other tests have emerged to measure students’ abilities including state standardized tests such as the SAT, ACT and AP exams. Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking in fact devalued the important of testing for intelligence quotient, telling the New York Times in 2004: “People who boast about their IQs are losers.”

The internet is covered with tests that claim to measure one’s IQ score, but most state that they are only for entertainment purposes. The standard IQ test is still administered at certified testing areas through Mensa International, an organization comprised of the top two percent of high IQ score holders. Mensa has approximately 134,000 members worldwide with 50,000 from the U.S.

Mensa has reportedly invited Hawking to join the elite organization in the past. Hawking has declined.

IQ-style tests became important when the U.S. entered World War I in order to place soldiers in appropriate job fields and for ranking purposes. The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), a more recent version of that test, is still administered to incoming soldiers.

A popular test now is the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT), according to Stevens Creek Elementary School guidance counselor Libby Hutcheson. On Monday, approximately 150 Steven Creek second graders will take the test.

“The test is a mental ability test to measure a student’s ability to learn,” she said. Hutcheson could not compare the IQ test to CogAT since she has never administered one as it is no longer used in public schools.

While tests like CogAT may have questions that resemble those on an IQ test, it does not issue an official IQ score as previously measured with the Stanford Binet exam which was developed in the early 20th century. The test was graded by dividing a person’s mental age by chronological age multiplied by 100. Those who tested 130 or above were deemed gifted. but has usually consisted of analogies, unscrambling words, identifying missing pieces or numbers.

Trump’s strong opinion about the value of IQ is not new for him. In 2013, he tweeted: “Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest — and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure, it’s not your fault.”