IQ Test Labs Analysis - Coursework Example

...You can think critically and communicate very effectively and you also can handle most academic challenges. If you think of intelligence as the ability to adapt easily to new situations then you are heading in the right direction” (IQ Test Labs, 1).

One feels that the results were fairly accurate given the diversity of questions provided and the time frame allowed to answer these questions. However, as indicated by Machek (2004), “some critics charge that the current, widely used, IQ tests are not guided by a plausible theory of how the brain operates and do not accurately measure more contemporary ideas of what "intelligence" actually is. Indeed, some feel that an expanded view of intelligence should guide the testing process” (Machek, par. 3). One agrees that more expanded view of intelligence should incorporate other processes to gauge the accurate nature of one’s mental faculties. What is commendable with the results is that they provided a detailed analysis of one’s strengths in terms of identifying that one’s highest score was in verbal skills, followed by general knowledge. One also agrees that the weakness lies in the area of mathematics where the lowest score was generated.

In a way, one feels that the test was biased only in terms of identifying the creative and artistic skills of individuals. According to Benson, “Intelligence testing has also been accused of unfairly stratifying test-takers by race, gender, class and culture; of minimizing the importance of creativity, character and practical know-how; and of propagating the idea that people are born with an unchangeable endowment of intellectual potential that determines their success in life” (Benson, par. 3). However, the same article revealed that most of these concerns were already addressed and that “many of the biases identified by critics of intelligence testing have been reduced, and new tests are available that, unlike traditional intelligence tests, are based on modern theories of brain function, says Alan Kaufman, PhD, a clinical professor of psychology at the Yale School of Medicine” (Benson, par. 5).

These scores would therefore be useful in identifying strengths and weaknesses of persons in the areas identified therein: verbal, mathematics, spatial, logic, pattern recognition, general knowledge, short-term memory, visualization, and classification (IQ Test Labs). It is therefore agreeable to use these scores to compare them with others only insofar as using them as tools for focusing on which areas need improvement. In a sample of people where no available information is known, these types of scores would be beneficial as initial points to screen which persons possess general intelligence skills and abilities in the areas identified therein.