Mensa — the club for people who know they’re smarter than you — is offering its home test for free during the month of January. It’s an IQ test that takes 32 minutes to complete and will tell you whether you’re Mensa material.
Although blitzing this test won’t get you admitted to Mensa — that test has to be taken in a controlled environment — it’s a really good approximation, and a good score would certainly be good enough to declare yourself a genius, at least to your friends.
This test takes place on a computer, but the actual Mensa test is on paper. If you want to seriously prepare for a Mensa exam, the written test is still $US18. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out how to take the test — you input your address and email, and then you will be emailed a code that gives you access to the virtual test centre.
Mensa is an organisation that has been around since 1946. Its primary objective is to identify high-IQ individuals and nurture them. The primary requirement is that you have to have an IQ that is at or above the 98th percentile. Those odds aren’t bad — they’re about 1 in 50! Once you’re a member, you get to attend exclusive gatherings and discuss things like science, philosophy and your favourite websites. Who said smart people don’t have any fun? [Mensa]