What are things you can do to increase your IQ?

An Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test is an examination of short-term memory, verbal knowledge, spatial visualization, and perceptual speed. Most IQ tests include these four areas of testing and are time restricted. e.g. the test must be completed in a certain amount of time.

A valid IQ test is a representative sample of the population.This sample is then divided by the mean score.

IQ tests are adjusted in such a way as to yield a "bell curve". Each IQ is valid only for a certain IQ range. .About sixty percent of the population scores at 100, which is considered normal.

Because so few people score in the extreme ranges, IQ tests cannot accurately measure very low and very high IQs.

Some studies indicate that women perform better on tests of memory and verbal proficiency, while men perform better on tests of mathematical and spatial ability

The science of intelligence testing is now over one hundred years old. So long a time, in fact, that test subjects (typically high school students in the nineteen fifties) can be retested in order to compare results from fifty years ago to today.

And what has science found? Most people get smarter as they age. Or, perhaps better said, they test higher. In many cases as much as ten points higher, than when they were in their teens.

So perhaps this is the easiest way to raise your intelligence quotient; just grow older.

There can be many reasons for this, but intelligence scientists have a number of conflicting theories on the whys and wherefores.

About twenty-five percent of your IQ test is reading for comprehension so reading is a good exercise for your brain. Also, studies indicate that faster readers have better comprehension. e.g. a person who can read four hundred words a minute scores in the eighties in comprehension when a person who reads at two hundred words per minute scores an average sixty percent comprehension.

You don't have to read books. News, articles, even technical papers will help, though this last might bore you to death. Try information above your current reading level. In other words, choose a subject with terms you are not already familiar with and have a dictionary handy. The idea, of course, is to expand your vocabulary.

The reading portion of IQ tests are also designed to test short-term memory as well as comprehension.

Visual-Spatial Reasoning is the ability to understand and "process" visual imagery. It is also called "the common phenomenon of thinking through visual processing." This often involves being presented with two (or more) objects and being asked to make a comparison of them. The test is to determine which of the multiple choice answers matches the original object.

Visual-spatial thinking is an indicator of creativity. Visual-spatial learners usually find satisfaction in the creative professions eg. art, design, architecture, computer programming, graphics, animation, physics.

Visual-spatial thinking is important for creating and determining solutions to problems that arise in areas such as architecture, engineering, science, mathematics, art, games, and everyday life.

About another twenty-five percent of the IQ test involves logic.

Sudoku is a number based logic puzzle. To solve a sudoku puzzle comprises a combination of three processes: scanning, marking up, and analyzing to solve the puzzle. The game is quite popular right now, but not all of us are geared toward logic puzzles.

Crosswords: are another good game. The clues provided are often vague and the squares must be filled with words of the right length that also include the letters of other words running 90° to each other. The game requires a good vocabulary, planning, and comparing.

Scrabble: Also requires a good understanding of words along with planning and comparing. This is one of the few brain exercise that can involve more than one person.

Checkers, Chess, Chinese Checkers, and Reversi are excellent logic and strategy games.