Mensa Offers Free IQ Test, Brain Tips
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American Mensa, the largest high IQ society in the country, is offering their online home test for free during January.
Founded in 1946, the mission of the Mensa organization is to identify and nurture high IQ individuals. The society offers conferences, lectures, and activities aimed at stimulating intellectual and social environments for its members. You can become a member by obtaining a score at or above the 98 th percentile on an accepted standardized intelligence test. Currently, Mensa has more than 110,000 members around the world, 57,000 of which are in the United States.
Regularly priced at $18 the test can be taken either online or in print. Although the test won't get you admitted, Mensa estimates that there are roughly six million Americans eligible for membership and the test is a great way to determine if you are one of them.
In addition to taking the test, here are tips you can follow to help stimulate your brain and improve your intellectual prowess:
1. Exercise. Although up to 80 percent of the people who join a gym as part of their New Year's resolution drop out shortly after Valentine's Day, research has shown exercise improves brain function. According to a study published in January by the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona, there is strong evidence that bouts of exercise and a long-term training regiment increases the size of brain components and improves cognitive performance.
2. Dress for the job you want. A study published by the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology last year found that wearing clothes that are associated with attention-related tasks improved the performance of individuals. The symbolic meaning of the clothes and the physical experience of wearing them were both cited as causes of the improved performance in test subjects.
3. Practice makes perfect. A famous study published in the Harvard Business Review in 2007 by Dr. K. Anders Ericsson suggests that regardless of the field, it takes a lot of time to become an expert. It takes roughly 10 years, or 10,000 hours, of deliberate and dedicated practice to become a master in nearly every profession, according to the study.