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["Lynda" <lurine AT com-pair.net>]

Don't you think a lot of the whole IQ thing has to do with the same old same 
old.  If you are good at tests, then you'll score well.  Simple as that.  I 
don't consider myself to be a genius but I've aced those tests.  I've aced 
almost every test I've ever taken.  I worked in the Health Occ department at 
the local CC and took the Nursing exams so they'd have a trial sheet to 
score to see if the ScanTron was working correctly.  I got all As and Bs. 
Ah, I really didn't a clue and you don't want me taking care of you in the 
hospital. <g>

I've always thought tests were simply an exercise in seeing how well one 
took tests.  I like puzzles.  All tests are to me is a puzzle and a 
challenge.

So, does one's IQ decrease with age, OR is it simply that one takes fewer 
tests as one gets older and is simply out of practice?  I'm voting for out 
of practice.

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT gmail.com>
> >
> I think there is more than a little difference between an intelligence
> quotient and intelligence.   There are people outside of the curve who
> can't accurately be quantified by numbers, like the autistic or the
> paranoid schizophrenic...the Rainmans and Russell Nashes of the world.
> As for when one peaks, well I'd guess mid life, when you have enough
> life experience to see connections between things, enough power to make
> intelligent choices, and before you become physically impaired from
> either your environment or your own poor habits and diseases.   I don't
> remember it, but I probably took an IQ test somewhere around the 5th
> grade because after that I was put in what would today be called a
> 'gifted' class.  I remember taking several in high school, with results
> ranging from 112 to 138.  I took several in college, and one a few years
> after.  Like any other test, so much can depend on things like whether
> or not you are PMSing or had a fight with your sister or boyfriend or
> simply have a headache.  I seriously doubt I'd score much better than
> average today.  I can tell you this, I was in a coma for several days
> when I was 21.   I coded and was revived twice.  Mentally, I just never
> regained what I had before, but I know that my IQ actually went up.  I
> suppose that is why I have so little faith in the numbers game.  Now, at
> middle age, I honestly feel like I am getting Alzheimer's because I see
> my recall slipping.  I will know that I knew it at some point, but can't
> recall it.  Additionally, I'm apparently not recording information in
> the same way as I once did.  On the other hand, some days, like today,
> everything seems so clear to me, and all the pieces of life-arts,
> science, love, pain, fit together in meaningful ways.  What is really
> odd is that I've noticed more decline since I quit smoking.  Perhaps it
> is just the coincidence of age progression, perhaps it is the lack of
> the stimulation of nicotine, or perhaps it is just my brain cells
> adjusting to the lack of serotonin or something.  Have any other former
> smokers noticed a lack of clarity when they quit, even two years on?
> Now that I am working in a brain drain field,  I am getting more mental
> exercise, and what I notice could be just brain soreness from that
> exercise<g>...maybe.
>
> B