Ways To Test For Intelligence

Intelligence been the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. It is also true that Individuals differ from one another in their ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various forms of reasoning, to overcome obstacles by taking thought.
Although these individual differences can be substantial, they are never entirely consistent: a given person's intellectual performance will vary on different occasions, in different domains, as judged by different criteria. Concepts of "intelligence" are attempts to clarify and organize this complex set of phenomena. Although considerable clarity has been achieved in some areas, no such conceptualization has yet answered all the important questions, and none commands universal assent.
In short, I believe 3 common signs of intelligence are:

• Brutally and shamelessly honest with what you don’t know

I think a common trap that many people fall under is trying to pretend we understand something that we don’t know, while nodding our heads meaninglessly. We do this because we don’t want to appear uninformed and unknowing. (I’m still working to improve on this myself)

I think intelligent people get straight to the point. They say “I don’t understand this, can you explain it to me like I’m 5?”

They could care less about what others perceive their understanding or intelligence to be. What they do care about is catching up and learning so that they can understand in the first place.

They know that without a solid understanding of the basics, there’s no hope for them to grasp the more complex material.

Our brain’s mental capacity is a finite resource. Eventually, our brains will deteriorate. We will learn less and more slowly as we get older. Our memories will fade. New technologies and theorems and complex formulas will make their way into the world that will be hard for us to understand due to our upbringing and/or complacency with the status quo.

I think intelligent people desperately embrace the fact that time is a finite resource. There’s no equivalent of a “billionaire” when it comes to time like there is for money.

Time spent pretending is time wasted. Time spent learning and getting up to speed is time well-spent.

•  You know how to explain your craft to anyone, effortlessly

This especially applies to people who are professionals or experts in their field.

This is because they’ve been through it all. They know what it’s like to come across the topic for the first time. To progressively learn more about it as a student. To having dedicated hours studying and researching and becoming an expert.

They know what the stages of learning are, and can explain their craft to anyone in those respective stages.

Albert Einstein is well-known for saying the following quote:

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.

• You don’t talk for the sake of hearing your own voice, but to extract and share information

To you, small talk is simply that. Small. Meaningless even. It’s a waste of time.

You proactively listen to others and digest what was said before explaining their counter-argument.

You bounce ideas and hypotheses off of others rather than discuss random pop psychology or the latest news on a celebrity couple.

In short, you shamelessly focus on what’s important.

More attributes obtained with intelligence includes 

• You pick their arguments wisely.
• You are emotionally intelligent and emotionally mature.
• You have a strong sense of self.
• You have precise vocabulary. 
• You use enough words to express a point and avoid extra fluff.
• You have a broad knowledge base, most likely due to reading a lot of books, watching documentaries, or learning from other intellectuals.
• You are up to date on current events.
• You find solutions quickly.
• You have a strong ability to focus.
• You have something to contribute to most conversations.
• You love to learn.
• You learn from your mistakes and mistakes of others.
• You can express your thoughts and feelings effectively.

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Article Credits: Joshua Otusanya | Kevin Luo