I'm looking for something like a training programme to prepare for the
mensa entry test. Preferably a free one!

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Request for Question Clarification by rainbow-ga on 11 Feb 2005 16:33 PST

Hi yips,

Let me know if these tests suit your needs:

http://www.mensa.org/workout.php

http://www.mensa.org.uk/mensa/puzzles/wk4995q.html

http://www.mensa.org.uk/superbrain/index.html

http://www.mensa.org.uk/mensa/global/resource.html#Mensa_IQ_Tests_And_Puzzles


Although not free, there is also the Mensa Home Test:

"...The Mensa Home Test is a practice booklet which you can complete
in the privacy of your own home and return to us for marking. The Home
Test does not give an accurate IQ score, as it is not conducted under
the same strictly controlled conditions and is not as comprehensive as
the Supervised Mensa IQ Test. However, the results will give a good
indication of how you might expect to perform in the Supervised Mensa
IQ Test..."

http://www.mensa.org.uk/mensa/joining.html#Mensa_Home_Test

Waiting to hear your views.

Best wishes,
Rainbow

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Clarification of Question by yips-ga on 12 Feb 2005 10:10 PST

Thanks rainbow that's perfect! if you could find a specific "guide
to...." that would be great, if not these sites will suffice, thanks.

Hi yips,

I'm glad you are pleased with the links I provided in my clarification. 

Here are a few more sites that may help you:

TVNZ - Test the Nation: The Mental Gym 
http://www.testthenation.tvnz.co.nz/story.html?story_mental_gym.inc

2H: IQ Tests
http://www.2h.com/iq-tests.html


A comprehensive directory to all kinds of online tests:
Psychology Online 
http://inst.santafe.cc.fl.us/~mwehr/PersonalityTestsOnline.html


I wasn't able to locate a so-called "guide to" preparing or training
yourself to take the Mensa test. I did, however, locate this which may
interest you:

University of Sussex: Psychometric Tests
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/cdec/psycho_tests.php


I hope this is helpful. If you have any questions regarding my answer
please don't hesitate to ask before rating it.

Best of luck,
Rainbow

goos answer...fast time...thanks

yips,

I am a former Mensa test proctor. I administered tests to groups of
applicants in the early 1980s, and I do not believe the Mensa testing
procedure has changed significantly since then.

I wholeheartedly endorse the suggestions made by my colleague,
rainbow. I believe the links posted above will provide you with
excellent sample questions that will help you to prepare for the
official tests. In point of fact, however, no preparation is required.
These are intelligence tests, not tests of your knowledge, so you
don't need to "cram" for them.

The best advice I can give you is to be well-rested on the day of the
test, with perhaps a small amount of caffeine as the only psychoactive
drug in your system. Good luck!

Out of interest, PF and others, isn't "test preparation" beats the
whole meaning of being a Mensa member? After all, Mensa members are
required to be as witty as my colleague here, and not to be parrots,
who learned how to solve a specific problem or to recite solutions.

Preparing to take a test that measures your IQ?  How do you prepare
for an eye examination?  How do you prepare to take your temperature? 
I would suggest preparing the same way.

Archae0pteryx

Pinkfreud, I should have known.

BTW, I was once the chair of a national committee and spoke at several gatherings.

I do question the point of studying for an IQ test though. If someone
doesn't qualify based on their SATs or some earlier test, then
preparation probably won't do much good and, besides, how happy would
you be as a Mensa member who didn't really qualify or who only
squeaked in?

I?m not being an intellectual snob, Mensans cover the spectrum from
drop out ditch diggers to Ph.Ds and famous actresses, but if you have
to struggle to get in, what?s the point? You probably won?t feel any
real fellowship with the other members.


I knew there used to be one member in the NYC area who obviously
didn't qualify and never fit in - it turned out that some misguided
"shrink" faked her qualifications saying that it was good for her ego
to be a member.

I wonder just how many researchers are members or former members?

siliconsamurai, you too?  Pink has mentioned the fact before--in fact,
it turns out that she and I were at the same AG once, although there's
no way of knowing if we met there or not.

In answer to your question, my guess would be "lots," counting
customers as well as researchers.  There's something about GA, I
believe, that attracts some of the same types.  (Did you ever happen
to see an article about GA in your LG newsletter?)  I see evidence of
many of the same kinds of treasure-trove attic minds that I encounter
in M circles and also much humor of a very familiar variety.  Pink is
one of the most distinguished exemplars of both.

Archae0pteryx

archae0pteryx

No, I spotted Answers on my own. After years in the club my lady and I
had both dropped out of mensa when we left washington because both the
LGs near us are virtually dead. I can't even raise a LocSec or anyone
else via e-mail but was able to learn there are no events within 90 or
so miles of us and apparently little interest in having us host
anything either.

We plan to move in a few years and are now exploring some new LG to
join when we re-UP our memberships.

Now I'm wondering if the Web is killing off Mensa because it provides
the same sort of gathering places.

siliconsamurai,

Sorry, I guess I leapt to the erroneous conclusion that you were a
Silicon *Valley* samurai.  The LG newsletter here did have an article.
 Were you in DC or Wash. State?  Where are you now?  All US cities
have active chapters, and of course there are the AGs and RGs and
international gatherings.

I'm sure the Web is not killing off Mensa.  It does not provide any
real gathering places, just virtual contacts like this.  The in-person
socializing of Mensa is just as lively as ever, and the Web has added
things like e-lists and discussion sites, including some unofficial
ones (such as M-Salon), that make it possible for more people than
ever to participate.  The publications are suffering a bit, not from
Web competition (most local groups have a website as well as a print
newsletter now) but by underfunding from AMC.  If anything is killing
off Mensa, its the politics inside and the overreaching arm of the
national office and not any outside influence.  In my opinion.

Archae0pteryx

archae (bird man?) It was DC (I freelance a column for a well-known
(very well known) newspaper company based there (guess the name of one
and you'll have it on the first go).

Now we're in the middle of west central PA - I know a certain
groundhog personally! Believe me, there is nothing Mensa-related
within 90 miles and when I lived here before I was never able to start
up anything either.

Pittsburgh G keeps dying and reviving, the newsletter isn't called the
Phoenix for nothing from the looks of the calendar it's not doing well
right now.

Last LG I attended was so boring that after driving 110 miles to
attend I turned around and drove back to the ranch that night.

Don't mention AGs to me! I met my lady at one in Louisville a LONG time ago!

Just kidding, we've been together quite a while. Even went through the
disaster once held in N.J. College dorm, CHEAP college dorm, not even
doors on the bath rooms and they expected us to be happy to stay at
the AG! The Louisville AG was in a top hotel.

I'm actually siliconsamurai because I was given that column name back
at the birth of PCs when I wrote a game column, then again later for
another column.

Samurai is, of course, a Free-Lance.

If I used some of my newer column names as a handle here too many
people would know who I am.

RE National, Know Ralph R? former president and his former lady
Elissa? (now big in national membership) Back when he was in office I
was chair of the data processing committee and insisted they get it
out of New York where it was sort of held hostage by the staff.

It looks as if Louisville is a wampeter for GA folks. I was at the
Louisville AG in 1981, and I believe Tryx once mentioned having been
there, too.

Who knows? We may have shared a crowded elevator. Or witnessed the
famous Peabody duck march together.

pink - I probably hit on you mercelessly (presuming you're female).

Actually met my lady about 30 seconds after arriving and never left
her side, moved her to my place a few months later dragging her from
Chicago to the wilds of central-PA.

I only went to the Louisville AG because I was writing for two
magazines in the area. (anybody remember the Tandy Color Computer?)
Never forgave them either. (GRIN)

Louisville, probably the best AG ever, certainly the best one I ever attended.

Was it 81? or 80?

1981, Galt House.  AG history here:

http://amyx.org/mensa/history/aghistory.htm

In those years I never missed an AG.  I was in NJ too, and it was
unusual, but I didn't think it was a disaster.  But damn, it was hot. 
And yes, I saw the Peabody ducks, too, and the tea bags in Boston.

Yes, I know RR and the then-national staff, MS, SS, RL, et al.  I also
have Bulletins for the past 3 decades.

Tryx
(An archaeopteryx is a weird old bird--prehistoric, extinct)

Thanks for the link Arche - actually I do know what the name means.

Galt house it was, 81? OK, just the old brain cells wearing out,
should probably ask for a retest or apply for densa?

Did you make 86 in NYC? Got to spend some time with Asimov there.

"Think of my as your father. I incest!"

NJ, glad you had a better time than we did. Yep, it was sweating hot
also and I remember being up at 2 am wandering around the campus with
the then head of Canadian Mensa trying to talk down some jerk who
tried the wrong acid.

One reason I was upset was because I was hoping to have a fun time a
few days before I was scheduled to spend several weeks in a hospital
in Pittsburgh for some serious problems.

That, and the fact that the people running it were real, REAL jerks,
censoring my posters and such.

RR's an old friend and fellow physicist I knew from Pittsburgh.

Prepare! You <i>can</i> increase IQ. It may not be a test of
knowledge, but it is a test of how well your brain is functioning
<i>at that moment</i>. There are certainly things you can do to
function better while taking the test.
In addition to coffee, you can effectively increase your intelligence
quotient by sitting up straight, breathing deeply, and closing your
mouth. Prove this to yourself. Do some math problems in your head
while slouching, breathing shallowly and with your mouth hanging open.
Then try again with good posture, breathing,and with your mouth
closed. If you want more simple techniques to effectively increase
your IQ, visit <a href="http://www.increasebrainpower.com/increaseiq.html>http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com/increaseiq.html</a>

Jeez, you guys are bringing back some memories! Louisville Mensa was
the first local group I belonged to, and it was extremely active. The
gatherings (sorry I wasn't there in 80 or 81 for the AG referred to!)
were memorable, a diverse and fascinating bunch, and I quickly became
very active. I proctored there, as well.

I have been associated with a couple other local groups as I've moved
around the country in the last 20 years, but still nothing compares to
the Kentuckiana bunch. <sigh>

Thanks for the trip back down memory lane, gang.

The incomparable Harper, still missed.

My first AG was L'ville in 1973.

A~