Kansas teen perfect on SAT, ACT

[cruscott35]

College GPA, salary, and management stats are HORRIBLE indicators of intelligence.

College GPA??? Come on, the same cats who don't try in high school or give a shit could do the same thing in college, ANY GPA has no merit on actual intelligence. A smart guy could fuck around, a dumb guy could study his ass off and they still both make a 3.2, who's smarter?

Salary??? There are very smart people working jobs everywhere who don't make shit. What about doctors in Cambodia, doing 'feel good' medicine or something like that?

Management positions? Right, because promotions are ENTIRELY merit based on not based on ass kissing or more prominately race/sex issues.

I think standardized testing is the only real indicator of actual intelligence, outside of actually talking with someone to gage their brain power, everything else is skewed by effort, race, sex, desires, etc.

[Fool]

Yeah, standardized tests aren't effected by "effort" nor "desires", nor are they ethnically, socially, and economically biased. Not to mention the effect that things like poor pressure management, knowing proper test taking strategy, or having a "learning disability" like dislexia has on a timed test.

[Unibomber]

I think standardized testing is the only real indicator of actual intelligence, outside of actually talking with someone to gage their brain power, everything else is skewed by effort, race, sex, desires, etc.

Fuck that shit.

I score extremely poorly on standardized tests but I was a high school valedictorian myself. I took the new SAT twice and my math score went DOWN. That's not supposed to happen.

Standardized tests are a fucking joke and are no measure of true intelligence.

[Uncle Mxy]

College GPA, salary, and management stats are HORRIBLE indicators of intelligence.

Right, but the standarized college admissions tests aren't IQ tests. They'd probably look more like the ASVAB if they were. Of course, since colleges aren't really looking just for "intelligence", it doesn't matter. They're mostly looking for "the brightest and best", where brilliance is as much about being "shiny" as anything. They want a student body with some pretty specific characteristics to establish themselves as successful institutions. Some of those characteristics are about balance, diversity, etc., but most of it boils down to money.

College GPA??? Come on, the same cats who don't try in high school or give a shit could do the same thing in college, ANY GPA has no merit on actual intelligence. A smart guy could fuck around, a dumb guy could study his ass off and they still both make a 3.2, who's smarter?

Try looking exclusive so you can charge more money if your GPAs aren't high.

Salary??? There are very smart people working jobs everywhere who don't make shit. What about doctors in Cambodia, doing 'feel good' medicine or something like that?

Management positions? Right, because promotions are ENTIRELY merit based on not based on ass kissing or more prominately race/sex issues.

Try getting endowments and $ if your graduates are poorly positioned within industry. You did know that a good way to be well-positioned involved having parents with money, right?

I think standardized testing is the only real indicator of actual intelligence, outside of actually talking with someone to gage their brain power, everything else is skewed by effort, race, sex, desires, etc.

Hell, just defining "actual intelligence" is hard enough, let alone trying to define an indicator for it. There's seriously smart people whose intelligence isn't bounded or well-expressed by Scantron bubbles and multiple-choice timed tests.

Speaking of the ASVAB and IQ tests...

I took the ASVAB in high school on an hour's notice to avoid doing a dumb presentation I wasn't ready for due to procrastination and lack of sleep. (I hate public speaking on stuff that I don't have a passion for.) I scored 99th percentile in everything but the automotive part, and had military recruiters pestering the shit out of me for the next 5 years. I had postal mail every day for a year (the first day fotally filled the mailbox -- my parents were freaked), phone calls, requests to visit me at my school, etc. There seemed to be no "do not call" list they all used, and it must've cost our guv'mint hundreds of $ trying to recruit me after I'd already said "go away" to every branch.

As for IQ tests, long ago, I was desperate for work and found what I thought was a great gig (though in hindsight it was an Office Space). As part of their interviews, they required a 30-question "logic" test, which I thought was cool. Between that and some awesome interviews, I felt great about my prospects. They were hot to hire, and I was surprised when I never heard back. I called them and was astonished to hear I wouldn't get the job because my perfect test score "indicated to HR" that I'd be bored and want to leave in 6 months!

[cruscott35]

ASVAB was really easy, I ABACADBA'd the last two sections and still scored in the 90th percentile, lucky for them, they didn't have to recruit me, I went to take it after I figured I'd be joining anyway. Unlucky for me, my high ASVAB score steered me out of the Air Force, because they don't take stupid people in the Air Force, so, someone with a high score doesn't impress them nearly as much and they offer no 'special' programs, and into the Navy.

I remember talking with the recruiter before I joined and he asked, "What do you like do?" I said write, and he told me about the JO rate, since changed to MC, which was journalism. What I didn't know is how great their advancement numbers are and how short on JO's/MC's are, but I took the ASVAB and the guy said "I HAD to be a nuke." Needless to say, that job sucked, the only saving grace was a year and a half of school, so no going to a ship right away, but I hated that job so bad I told the doctors I was depressed to get out of that field. Now, I'm going to be banking on that schooling and the security clearance to get a job in six months. Never bite the hand that feeds ya.

[Uncle Mxy]

A DoD TS+ or DoE clearance and being trainable is enough to get you a great deal in many U.S. geographies (though not metro Detroit, unfortunately). It's sadly amusing how the guv'mint hasn't figured out supply and demand. Spend a little less on processing the security clearances, then spend a ton more out of the back-end in delays and inflated pay for scarce resources. There's also an uprise in "bogus" security credentials (the one I've seen most is "must be a U.S. citizen with passport") where the goal seems to have less to do with real security than politicizing against offshore employees. Joy.

If I were 18 years old today, I'd rather have a TS clearance than test scores.

[cruscott35]

That's what I'm hoping for, although, I'm still nervous about it.