for general prep, the most important thing is to be healthy and have an alert brain, so in the weeks leading up to it I just made sure to get lots of sleep and avoided weed
for quant, literally all you need to do is buy the ''5 Lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems'' and drill, drill drill. There are only so many question formats, and you can pretty easily memorize them all if you just put in the hours by drilling them
for verbal, same thing, all I did was use GRE flashcards which are free online and memorized every word by drilling, there are only so many words, and they are all in the flashcards
verbal flashcards + math practice problems is all I needed
It isn't exactly a good measure of fluid intelligence if you can game the test by memorizing it
I've estimated my IQ the way I've estimated it for public figures and it was 125-135 or so. It feels a little vain to post that estimate on DIE, so I've left it on my alternative website.
Once I get a better computer and more time, I'm going to develop a method of estimating IQs that takes into account multicolinearity and revise all of the estimates I had done before.
As I remember from loong ago, I found the quantitative/math stuff most amenable to practice/study. Lot of stuff well worth forgetting over time, use it or lose it--and I did. ;-) Verbal not so much, but I also note, I was using such abilities regularly and improving with practice in my readings and course work.
Most remarkable, looking back in my advanced age, was the consistency of scoring across most any kind of academic test--GRE, SAT, ACT, etc., during my lifetime. My general population percentile rank has not changed since HS ACT testing. Not that I'm any sort of genius, but now that I've delved into research on intelligence, the data seems supported from personal experience. Genetic lottery winner I guess.
This is my experience as well - I did the best in math when I was in high school and was practicing math frequently, while as an adult I only have so much time in the day. Verbal ability tests are capped out at the ~95th percentile for me, even in practice attempts.
Scored a 24 on the ACT (~82nd percentile, equivalent to 1200-1220 SAT). This was mostly because I didn’t finish a single section and left some almost a quarter empty. I didn’t really know what the ACT was all about, I thought it was some sort of science and social studies based test judging by what my parents told me and didn’t know it had such fast paced questions. At the time I had a problem of not finishing my tests. My parents seemed very concerned about this score, since it didn’t correspond with my school performance.
Took the SAT a few months later. I didn’t study, and I had never taken the PSAT as I was sick with coronavirus when it was administered. I got a 1320 (93rd percentile) (630 ERW 690 M) and finished every section ~10 minutes early (some earlier). A change in disposition and a cup of coffee resulted in a boost equivalent of 100+ points, and I probably could have done significantly better if I actually had familiarized myself with the test and its ideal time allocation instead of just rushing through it.
Also, I can’t help but wonder if other “PED’s” would be beneficial for such tests. The caffeine effect might have been a placebo, but I know people take Adderall for the occasion sometimes.
338/340 GRE scorer here
for general prep, the most important thing is to be healthy and have an alert brain, so in the weeks leading up to it I just made sure to get lots of sleep and avoided weed
for quant, literally all you need to do is buy the ''5 Lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems'' and drill, drill drill. There are only so many question formats, and you can pretty easily memorize them all if you just put in the hours by drilling them
for verbal, same thing, all I did was use GRE flashcards which are free online and memorized every word by drilling, there are only so many words, and they are all in the flashcards
verbal flashcards + math practice problems is all I needed
It isn't exactly a good measure of fluid intelligence if you can game the test by memorizing it
Considering your intellectual output, your scores are shockingly low. Maybe I have been overestimating the importance of IQ.
I've estimated my IQ the way I've estimated it for public figures and it was 125-135 or so. It feels a little vain to post that estimate on DIE, so I've left it on my alternative website.
Once I get a better computer and more time, I'm going to develop a method of estimating IQs that takes into account multicolinearity and revise all of the estimates I had done before.
As I remember from loong ago, I found the quantitative/math stuff most amenable to practice/study. Lot of stuff well worth forgetting over time, use it or lose it--and I did. ;-) Verbal not so much, but I also note, I was using such abilities regularly and improving with practice in my readings and course work.
Most remarkable, looking back in my advanced age, was the consistency of scoring across most any kind of academic test--GRE, SAT, ACT, etc., during my lifetime. My general population percentile rank has not changed since HS ACT testing. Not that I'm any sort of genius, but now that I've delved into research on intelligence, the data seems supported from personal experience. Genetic lottery winner I guess.
This is my experience as well - I did the best in math when I was in high school and was practicing math frequently, while as an adult I only have so much time in the day. Verbal ability tests are capped out at the ~95th percentile for me, even in practice attempts.
Scored a 24 on the ACT (~82nd percentile, equivalent to 1200-1220 SAT). This was mostly because I didn’t finish a single section and left some almost a quarter empty. I didn’t really know what the ACT was all about, I thought it was some sort of science and social studies based test judging by what my parents told me and didn’t know it had such fast paced questions. At the time I had a problem of not finishing my tests. My parents seemed very concerned about this score, since it didn’t correspond with my school performance.
Took the SAT a few months later. I didn’t study, and I had never taken the PSAT as I was sick with coronavirus when it was administered. I got a 1320 (93rd percentile) (630 ERW 690 M) and finished every section ~10 minutes early (some earlier). A change in disposition and a cup of coffee resulted in a boost equivalent of 100+ points, and I probably could have done significantly better if I actually had familiarized myself with the test and its ideal time allocation instead of just rushing through it.
Also, I can’t help but wonder if other “PED’s” would be beneficial for such tests. The caffeine effect might have been a placebo, but I know people take Adderall for the occasion sometimes.
Is there any evidence for these “ceilings” you talk about?
nothing hard, but anecdotal evidence / consensus in gaming communities strongly suggest they are a thing
But isn’t IQ an entirely probabilistic trait? I thought the only reason thresholds show up in data is due to a lack of compensating variables.
practice helps a lot, especially if you have psychological hang-ups. helps you get closer and closer to your "genetic ceiling"