Comments on: Outliers ….

By: Jared

Jared — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:47:51 +0000

Jeoff, that answer was far from detailed enough for me to figure out what you’re saying. You need to distinguish between 3×3 squares and smaller squares, and also between rows of 3×3 squares and rows within 3×3 squares.

By: Jeoff

Jeoff — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 08:01:06 +0000

The answer to the Raven’s test is A because the shapes within it’s cells correlate to squares in the other two (vertical rows). If you look at the puzzle vertically, each square has a similar pattern to a square in the other rows. So if you number the squares 1-3 from top to bottom in the first row, then look in the second row to see which square shares the same pattern of shapes (not exact, just the same number). Doing this you’ll find that the first row is 1,2,3 the second row is 2,3,1 and the third row is 3,1, and the missing square is 2.

By: Maria

Maria — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:43:08 +0000

I thought the “rocket surggeons” were funny too. I didn’t know the answer eihter, but hey, English isn’t my native tongue, do I guess I’m excused. This is exactly why IQ-tests aren’t accurate.

As to the answer to the Raven’s question, I haven’t the foggiest. Don’t feel stupid though, the test measures your ability to learn (as will as your reasoning skills). That means that if you take the whole test you will get to a higher level than you’d be able to do in the beginning. You might even be able to solve this one…

By: Bobby

Bobby — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:16:14 +0000

I think it’s funny that Craig’s children are not “rocket surgeons”.

By: Mara

Mara — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:23:21 +0000

I would’ve said “dentist”. What is a nest to a dentist??

By: Sue

Sue — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:01:54 +0000

Anyone know the answers (as to how they’re obtained) to the IQ test questions in the Outlier’s book? Especially Raven’t question on page78? Please explain. Thanks

By: Jason Mazzone

Jason Mazzone — Sun, 24 May 2009 03:32:37 +0000

Agatha Christie likes to use “mare’s nest.” I suspect it is more common in British English. Gladwell’s father is English (Gladwell grew up in Canada).

By: A.J. Sutter

A.J. Sutter — Sun, 24 May 2009 03:07:49 +0000

I’m probably older than most who read this blog, and I didn’t recall “mare’s nest,” nor any occcasion on which I might have used it. I guess I’m young enough to be in the pigs/wings/flying-out-of-butts generation of thaumatology. In the early 1960s, the “Candid Camera” TV show often showed segments capitalizing on kids’ ignorance of these expressions. (My younger sister, then in 1st grade, made it on air when she completed “Fools rush in where …” with “people are crowded.”) OTOH, I don’t recall seeing questions like that on the zillions of standardized tests we took in elementary school. Could Gladwell just be telling an old wives’ narrative?

By: Bruce Boyden

Bruce Boyden — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:21:57 +0000

Either it’s a bad IQ test, or an old IQ test, or both.

By: Craig

Craig — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:12:03 +0000

This is an excellent example a good objection to IQ tests. It depends on the exposure of the test taker to colloquial english. None of my 5 children, ranging in age from 5 to 16 have even heard the phrase “hen’s teeth”, while the older ones did guess that it must be something rare and so logically filled in animals that don’t nest, none had heard the colloquialism “mare’s nest” either. Now, my children aren’t rocket surgeons, but neither should they be dinged for lack of exposure to phrases that are not at all common in their vernacular.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Sun, 24 May 2009 01:36:57 +0000

Cow, sow, doe, vixen, ewe.