I was too leisurely and ran out of time, so I ended up leaving 4 unanswered, but I got a 130. I feel pretty good about that.
pattern recognition testing is only part of IQ testing. This one focuses EXCLUSIVELY on visual pattern recognition. Where are the logic questions? Where are the math questions? Where are the reading comprehension questions? Where are the memory questions?
This is a terrible IQ test.
Huh? This was a language independent test that plays on logic without preexisting knowledge. "Reading" and "Math" were being performed at a basal level here, in that you were learning symbols, discerning meanings, and performing logical operations. And no, there were totes logic questions! All kinds of logic happening!
Some of the earlier ones had symbols that behaved as abstract "operands" to rotate or skew a shape, etc. And several of the last few in particular were about discerning the behavior of discrete parts within a system, and how they modified their neighbors or themselves, changed the layout of the system based on number or adjacency to other discrete parts within the entire problem, etc. At least that's how I conceptualized it.
I agree that "Intelligence" is a pretty abstract concept, and tends to get conflated with ideas about learning, competence, or capability, especially when we put a Score with it. Questions like these don't test whether people are knowledgeable, skilled, are able to be generally effective in communication or society-at-large, or all the other ways people are effective and great. It's specifically a test of your brain's ability to bootstrap new knowledge/logic by understanding and integrating a system of symbols or logical units, without relying on any prior knowledge. It's base-brain level reasoning, or critical thinking and info-synthesizing. I don't think language, algebra, etc. really apply to that, since those are behaviors based on learning, memory, and experience... like riding bikes or memorizing state names or making pancakes from scratch, or whatever other highly useful and valuabe skills you learn and become knowledgeable about by rote.
EDIT: Wanted to take a crack at the last few I missed. Got 138 on my second pass. I don't think I'd have been able to get that in the time limit, even if I had been going quickly, but I almost always run out of time on tests. Kinda hate timed tests, because I tend to think slowly.