Do you think you're pretty smart? Well here's an IQ test to find out if you really are. It's called the Cognitive Reflection Test and the three-question long quiz is part of a research paper by MIT professor Shane Frederick. Frederick gave his test to 3,000 people from all different types of educational backgrounds and only 17 percent were able to correctly answer all three questions. The questions seem simple, yet they require more thought than expected. Frederick explainedin more academic terms, "The three items on the CRT are 'easy' in the sense that their solution is easily understood when explained, yet reaching the correct answer often requires the suppression of an erroneous answer that springs 'impulsively' to mind."
The test:
Question 1:
A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
Question 2:
If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?
Question 3:
In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?
Do you feel smart?
What you probably answered:
Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Question 1:
The ball costs $0.10
Question 2:
100 minutes
Question 3:
24 days
The correct answers
The correct answers are:
Question 1:
The ball costs $0.05
Question 2:
5 minutes
Question 3:
47 days
[AdSense-B]
Harder than expected?
This test is known as the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT). The test determines your brain’s ability to quickly realise that a problem is harder and more complex than it appears on the surface.
Here’s the great thing about this test–it has been found to correlate strongly with the best tests in the world to measure “general intelligence,” which consist of hundreds of questions and take hours to complete – so it’s known as one of the best and fastest ways to measure cognitive ability.