god damnit

ok... here is an example of the reason I paid for the results on that IQ test. there were a few that I -knew- I would likely get wrong, not for lack of my own mental ability, but for lack of either accuracy or clarity on the part of the test.

for example, here is question #4, which the test stated that I got wrong.


(the green arrow being my answer, the red check being the "correct" answer)

now to clarify, a square is by defintion a rectangle, but a rectangle is by defintion NOT a square.

square: n.
1. A plane figure having four equal sides.
2. Something having an equal-sided rectangular form: a square of cloth.

rec·tan·gle: n.
A four-sided plane figure with four right angles.

now, given the above definitions, we can see that the colored portions of the 2 figures are NOT squares, but are actually rectangles. they are not even CLOSE to being squares. HOWEVER, the 4 corner shapes on the other hand ARE squares.

so, the correct answer here would obviously be "neither colored shape is actually a square, so none of the possible given answers is correct.".

but... given what I had to work with, and allowing for the fact that it is a SOLID fact that the colored rectangles are NOT squares, I had to move down the line of reasoning to the related shapes, these being the SQUARES at the 4 corners of the associated colored shapes. now, while this doesn't exactly fit the phrasing of the question, neither do the given answers fit the facts.

so I had 2 options. either dumb myself down to allow for the fact that they probably made the mistake of incorrectly calling 2 rectangles "squares", or I actually use my brain to follow a train of logic and make the best guess in what would, in an abstract reasoning sense, be a trick question/answer.

obviously I was shooting for a higher score, so I chose the more accurate per definition answer... and got it wrong.

now, while I wasn't entirely correct, being fully correct is perfectly impossible, given the fundamental error of the question.

yeah. sometimes I think too much. which is funny, given that this is an IQ test.

oh well, like Stephen said... "what, being a genius isn't good enough for you? you need to be a super genius?"

really, I just wanted to get to the bottom of it. :)

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for the record, the only question I got wrong as a result of me just mentally screwing up, was the question about which would be cheaper, the ham or the beef. my mistake was in not subtracting 40% from the price, but in calculating 40% of the price and using that number. (divide by 10 to get 10%, being 25 cents, multiply by 4 to get 40% = $1, which I should have then subtracted from $2.50 to get $1.50, which would have made the ham $0.50 more than the cost of the beef while both were on sale.) one of those where I smacked my forehead after the fact, but that one was my own fault for an oversight.

the other 3 (besides the above "squares" one) that I got wrong were the stapler, which I misjudged the width of the staples and chose the second one... the chairs and table, where I figured that the size of the table in relation to the chairs wasn't specified, and therefor either both could fit, or just the last one, or none... depending on the unspecified relative scale. another I should have dumbed down for I guess. and finally, the peanut and the paper. again, another unspecified one. I could simply fold the paper into a paper airplane and drop it... it's wind resistance at that point relative to weight would be less than the peanut and therefor it would fall faster. *sigh* again, I should have just picked the obvious answer.

sometimes overthinking things isn't the best route.

yay for Occam's Razor.