One of my coworkers noticed an amusing juxtaposition of advertisements last week while he was checking the local weather forecast. I had to disable Firefox’s Adblock Plus to see any ads, but it was worth it for the laugh:
For reference, the monthly payment on a 30-year fixed mortgage of $430,000 at today’s interest rates of 6.5% comes out to about $2,700. Even an interest-only loan at 6.25% comes with payments over $2,200.
What’s your IQ, indeed.
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8 responses so far ↓
1
EconE
// Jun 17, 2007 at 7:11 pm
I got a 136 on the test. Does that mean I qualify for the mortgage?
2
plymster
// Jun 18, 2007 at 9:17 am
136? I think you need to get a bit lower to qualify. Maybe about a 16? How much do you get for correctly entering your contact information?
3
EconE
// Jun 18, 2007 at 11:06 am
I never put any stock into an IQ test…especially some online one from a site named “Tickle”. Maybe it’s like the SAT’s…when I took them I heard that one would get an automatic 400 just for turning it in. Maybe we should all take that tickle test just for fun. I’d be willing to bet that you guys would all trounce my score.
4
Eleua
// Jun 18, 2007 at 1:04 pm
I took that test a few years ago. I don’t buy it.
I think it is massively skewed to show a high score - so you will think you are special and sign up for their service.
How many subscriptions could you sell by telling people they have an IQ between 90-110? How about 130-145 for the same people?
I took the test (untimed) and was able to get a 90. This was in an attempt to answer every question incorrectly. On the trip through where I tried to answer it correctly, I got a 140+/-. I don’t buy either number. Just assigning a random answer to each question will (if memory serves me) yield an above average score (>100).
I am a firm believer in IQ or “g.” College admissions that attempt to circumvent this usually set up titanic intellectual mismatches. What happens when you put people that are within the first standard deviation of applicants in a classroom with those that are 2.5 to 3 sigma above the average?
Teachers have to teach to the lower tier, or fail them out. The upper tier students get bored and ignored.
The students that fail out start complaining that the U was biased against them, when the actual truth was the U set them up to fail in the name of trendy politics. On the upper end, the students are not challenged enough to bring out their full potential, and the entire upper eschelon of academic achievement gets stunted.
5
Eleua
// Jun 18, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Life is an IQ test.
Signing up for a 2/28 teaser mortgage at 45% of gross income is a pretty telling test. Following the crowd isn’t exactly a sign of higher cognitive abilities.
6
Eleua
// Jun 18, 2007 at 1:23 pm
EconE,
Yes, that is true. Back in the 80s (and I assume the same is correct for today) you got 400 points just for getting your name correct.
In the early 90s, the Scholastic Aptitude Board renormalized the SAT in order to bring the average back up to 1000. That is why you suddenly saw a massive amount of 1600s. These scores would have been 1510 or lower under the older scale.
As with any test (WASL?) if you don’t like the results, dumb the test down to get the results you want.
Correlation between the SAT and freshman year success is 0.8 - higher than just about any other metric.
7
Eleua
// Jun 18, 2007 at 1:26 pm
OOPS! I meant to say “higher.”
8
deejayoh
// Jun 18, 2007 at 4:53 pm
I took that test a few years ago. I don’t buy it.
So I guess I shouldn’t bother sending in my mensa application?
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