Hey, gmorning. I notice a new year has occurred. It’s like the sun coming up every day–you can’t stop it, so you might as well enjoy it.
spacial
Yesterday I took a test–it had been a long time, since I took a test. The last test I took was probably a pregnancy test. Hahaha. Just kidding. I’ve taken plenty of blood tests, over the years. And I took that ACE test a few months ago.
This Great British Intelligence Test, I was surprised by what it told me are my skills. I thought I was super good at verbal, and severely lacking in spacial skills. Well, maybe I was mistaken. Oops.
I got top five percent in four areas–two of the areas are spacial. Two are memory.
Then the analogies I did well on, but not stellar. And the vocabulary test seemed very flawed and idiosyncratic. But the test is out of Great Britain, and we use different words here, somewhat.
Here are the four things I was super good at.
- Prospective Short Term Memory Object Immediate — Short Term Memory
- 2D Manipulations — Mental Rotation
- Faulty Towers Task –3D Spacial Reasoning
- Prospective Memory Object Delayed — Medium Term Memory
The thing is that the spacial tasks, I think I was doing them wrong? I was supposed to rotate the objects, but I was doing it another way having to do with patterns. I didn’t do any rotating. (Unless my mind rotates stuff without my knowing it. The behind the curtain part of me might be spinning stuff in secret.)
But if I could do it my own way that worked well, maybe it’s ok. I think I think a little weird. That’s cool–I like me, this way.
facial expressions
There was a part of the test for recognizing emotions based on facial expressions. I did really terrible on that one. I got the red x more often than not.
Makes sense because I’m partially faceblind. I know who people are based on their hair and their voice. Or a combination of voice, glasses, and hat! Body shape, posture, context–how someone moves. But mostly voices.
Also, I told Ming–when I’m scared, I’m most likely to smile. I had to do a lot of translating. What I saw and what I really thought, translated into what I thought the test wanted me to think. Also, the people are not really feeling the way they’re portraying.
“They’re actors,” Ming said. They’re trying to look a stereotype of scared or angry or happy. When people are really feeling those things, they come out way stranger!
“When I want to know how someone’s feeling, I can tell by their facial expression a little bit, but mostly their body language, tone, and words.,” I told Ming. Yeah, if I use other ways to find out how someone’s feeling, that’s smart of me. Seems valid.
speed
One of the little tests was clicking on a target. I was like–how is this intelligence at all? Seemed more about how well your hand works. How well your computer works.
I guess you have to cognition your hand to click the right place. The speed target test and facial expression test, maybe they were in beta. I don’t think they were part of the overall result spider thing.
why
The whole reason I took this test was because a penpal friend of mine over in England mentioned she’s top five percent at 2D manipulation, and asked on facebook if anyone would take the test, if they felt like it, and compare. So it was funny I happen to excel at the same thing she does.
The main thing tests measure is how well you take tests. I might do better a second time, since part of the challenge was learning to play the little game-tasks. Now I know what they’re asking.
Sometimes I felt nervous, when I thought I was doing poorly–a throwback to childhood, when I was tested and thought a lot depended on the results. I had way less perspective then, and less emotional skill.
But learning is sweetly pleasurable for me, and learning about myself is helpful. I spend all my time with myself; I might as well know me. So I appreciate learning that I was wrong about being unsmart spacially.
conclusion
I am smart in some ways, but mostly a test can’t measure how. The beauty of a poem, how funny my txts are, the originality of my thought. Making a beautiful art might require intelligence, but how in the world would you measure that.
The quantity plus quality of zines I produce is smartly special. Part of intelligence is hard work, I’ve heard. Perspiration, not inspiration. I have a lot of both.
The whole concept of intelligence seems very flawed! Like a bias gate or creepy worth-idea that makes no sense. Who decides what’s intelligent, and how meaningful is it? History is written by the victors, and intelligence tests are written by mostly white guys who think in a certain way, right? Do they pass their own test? What if I’m smarter than a test, or smart enough not to take it?
standardized
I scored standardized tests for many years, so I know how arbitrary and sad they can be. A kid who sees a question in a new, brilliant way gets zero points for their creative answer. Thinking normal is rewarded, big time. The kid can’t be smarter than the committee who decided how points are awarded.
I relate to the kid who I will never see or know, but who delighted me with a weird answer that gave me a jolt of aliveness on a dull day. The world can’t extinguish our unique light. I can’t work full time for money, drive, have kids, or do a lot of normal things. But I can do different things that might be helpful. Hope so.
