Nelsonians outshine the rest of NZ

Submitted by dement on Mon, 2003-06-30 21:00

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Comments

Submitted by limegreen on Tue, 2003-07-01 04:09.

I'm just intrigued at how much the results have changed from last night.

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Submitted by tclak on Tue, 2003-07-01 13:59.

//participation from viewers nationwide through mobile phone text messages and the Internet.
//The dimmest people participating appeared to be Chatham Islanders

I wonder how many people bother with cellphones in the Chatham Islands?

Maybe this was a test to see which city in NZ is the most middle-class and bored.

Submitted by Aka on Tue, 2003-07-01 14:35.

I'm interested to know if anyone did the test and found that their rating differed much from previous test results?

Submitted by Heather on Tue, 2003-07-01 15:05.

Those averages seem awfully low, don't they? Still not sure if it's a reflection of the test or the audience.

...and while I'm at it, since when did "why shouldn't you stare at people" have anything to do with IQ anyway? ...and I don't think I've ever seen an IQ test that required you to know BEDMAS. What were they thinking?? Suffrage year? Greek architecture???

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Submitted by Joe on Tue, 2003-07-01 15:09.

Primary school kids know BEDMAS

Submitted by noizyboy on Tue, 2003-07-01 15:11.

what the hell is BEDMAS?

Submitted by Vietnow on Tue, 2003-07-01 15:14.

BEDMAS sounds awfully familiar

Submitted by noizyboy on Tue, 2003-07-01 15:18.

brackets, [something], division, multiplication, addition, subtraction?

am I on the right track?

Submitted by noizyboy on Tue, 2003-07-01 15:20.

I didn't see it, only seeing about a minute of it when I went to watch Give it a Whirl and was horrifed to find this thing on instead. Sounds like some of it was more of a trivia quiz than an actual IQ test. Limegreen - your thoughts?

Submitted by Heather on Tue, 2003-07-01 15:24.

Regardless of how elementary BEDMAS (E=exponent) is, I doubt whether or not you remember learning it and that you're supposed to use it has very much to do with your IQ. I spent half an hour second-guessing those two questions, just because I wasn't sure if *they'd* use the correct operator precedents, as did both my flatmates, and my mum who is, like, really really smart.

It's those bloody smug little mensa wallies, I tells ya! They're not interested in IQ - they're just interested in seeing how many people they can catch out.

Submitted by Joanna on Tue, 2003-07-01 15:32.

Okay, so I did the test, and I wondered if I should use "The Rules" in the maths section (122 and I can't remember how to spell arthimatic) but I didn't and I was wrong. It was interesting though. I think people SHOULD be judged on social graces for how smart they are, but not for how intelligent they are, because there's a vast world of difference between the two. I can't remember my original point. Maybe it was just to brag about my score, which really isn't anything to be proud of. The idea for the "test the nation" came from a Dutch company, and I believe it was also the Dutch who came up with Big Brother (it might have even been the same company) so I wouldn't use it as a real test of anything valid except how to hook the viewer against their will.

Submitted by limegreen on Wed, 2003-07-02 00:00.

Bit late replying (been fixing a friend's car for most of the afternoon).

It was more or less an IQ test, rather than a trivia quiz. There are a few issues relating to it's administration, which make it a bit suspect. Having the questions read out, and incidental music, while answering them under time pressure is not helpful. Also, the somewhat social aspect of it probably explains why the average was a little below 100.

The approach to test construction was also a little interesting. There are measures of social and emotional intelligence (as well as other random 'intelligences'), but they're not usually included in IQ tests. The test also tried to discriminate across a wide range of scores (80-150). To do these they included some questions which probabably are genuinely challenging enough to require a very high IQ to pass. However, as each question was weighted the same, you could get easy questions wrong and get the hard ones right for the same score. The test administered would be like giving a bunch of people a school C maths exam, with a few questions from a 3rd year university calculus exam thrown in.

Aka: I'm interested to know if anyone did the test and found that their rating differed much from previous test results?

Most people I talked to found their results discrepant.

Thus, it was kind of fun, but a bit dubious.

Submitted by Lucifer_Sam on Wed, 2003-07-02 00:41.

//Regardless of how elementary BEDMAS (E=exponent) is,

heather dont believe what the concentration camp guards/secondary school teachers brainwash you with......these folk oughta be building "socialism in the ricefields" for 12-15 hours per day 7 days a week 365/66 days per year. regardless of weather.

i learn my own way, and thats through mastery not imperialist learning techniques.

Submitted by carl on Wed, 2003-07-02 01:22.

b is all you need. edmas is for beginners.

Submitted by Prozaco on Tue, 2003-07-01 15:34.

// Mr Matheson watched the programme but didn't take the test himself. "I went to sleep," he said.

haha!

Submitted by Lucifer_Sam on Wed, 2003-07-02 00:42.

i dont give a danm about this, i tested 110 in a previous test 3 1/2 years ago......i test myself every 10 years.

Submitted by Jon Jr. on Tue, 2003-07-01 20:13.

the average IQ is 100 so on "average" "we" are actually a a shade below the average
and how can you compare nelson average IQ with auckland??? because of the lesser number of people in nelson the results will be a lot less accurate, compared to auckland whos population will in all likelihood average itself out, and what was the point of this???
was the only way to send in results by txt message, cause im one of one million people who don't have a cell phone???
don't take this as being a snarky and shit, it sounded like it was good fun for the people who did it. its just from my angle it seems a little pointless
anyone else got a different veiw point on it???

Submitted by Megaccino on Tue, 2003-07-01 20:26.

It could be done on paper or via the website for live-ness. I too think it's pointless & doesn't reflect the nation, only bored, sad people would bother doing it (sorry, in a bitchy mood. saddos. >:-P) Also, families cheat & work together, it's not as if several people can sit around on the computer doing it at the same time.

Submitted by limegreen on Wed, 2003-07-02 00:05.

//how can you compare nelson average IQ with auckland???

if the sampling was good quality, then in fact, you don't need that many people (say 50 from each place) to do a comparison. That of course assumes that the sample was random and representative. The sampling for the program was not of good quality, so the comparison is a bit dubious. I would expect that Nelson and Auckland differ systematically on a large number of variables, so I wouldn't be surprised if there *is* a true IQ difference between Auckland and Nelson, but this show won't tap it. For example, Nelson probably has a greater proportion of retirees, but less immigrants than Auckland. Older people would do better on language measures, whereas immigrants would possibly do better on logic/mathematical reasoning (which incidentally highlights some of the flaws and problems with the measurement of IQ).

The End.

Submitted by Escy on Thu, 2003-07-03 04:29.

Maybe New Zealand is better at creating doers than thinkers.

Submitted by prisonsex on Thu, 2003-07-03 15:33.

i got 346 for bursary....

Submitted by chronickiwi on Thu, 2003-07-03 18:35.

I find it funny that teachers were below the average set at 100. Maybe there should be no pay rises to those that can not get 100 in an IQ test haha.

IQ tests mean nothing as someones IQ can be rather different from test to test.