INTRODUCTION
The
Sigma Test (TST) intends to be innovative in many aspects. The
main objective when TST was created was to put together a test
of high intrinsic difficulty without resorting excessively to
questions requiring specific knowledge of mathematics. TST bears
no resemblance to traditional test models based on matrix reasoning
or number series, and its level of difficulty has not been artificially
increased by using exhaustion techniques in question analysis.
The test questions, 36 in total, fall to ten levels of difficulty,
and TST’s highest levels of difficulty contain only unpublished
questions.
The
weighted scoring system, used in conjunction with the raw score,
improves the accuracy of the results as testees’ scores do not
suffer unfairly due to a momentarily lapse or two in concentration
when working on easy questions. Moreover, we believe that the
fact that some of the harder questions have more than one acceptable
answer is an improvement over other tests.
Apart
from the varying level of difficulty of the questions, also
the type of reasoning needed to come up with the right answers
varies between questions. Convergent thinking can solve most
of the questions 1-11, while the questions 12-20 require more
complex convergent thinking as well as some elemental divergent
thinking. In going from question 21 to question 28, the proportion
of divergent thinking needed increases progressively, and from
question 29 onwards, powerful convergent and divergent thinking
is necessary. Only highly inventive people with strong logical
reasoning power may score high on TST.
As
for the preliminary norms, we estimate that a person of normal
intelligence would get 4 or 5 questions right. An average academic
with a Bachelor’s degree would be able to answer 9 or 10 questions
correctly. An academic with a Master’s degree would get 13 or
14 right and could become a subscriber to Sigma III. Members
of Mensa would, on average, get 16 or 17 right and would meet
the admission criteria for members of the Sigma Society. An
average Doctor of some of the Exact Sciences would be expected
to get 18 or 19 right. Based on the work of Dr. Catherine Cox,
we may estimate that:
Men
of Noteworthy Talent:
Napoleon
or George Washington would achieve a raw score of about 20
Rousseau
or Lincoln would get 23 right (and would qualify for membership
in Sigma III)
Geniuses:
Swift,
Rembrandt, La Fontaine, Cervantes or Balzac would get 25 right
Molière,
Lamartine, Benjamin Franklin or Copernicus would get 26 or 27 right
Beethoven,
Darwin, Montaigne, Mendelssohn, Watt or Diderot would get 28 or 29 right
(Sigma
IV)
Luther,
Lavoisier, Raphael or Alexander Dumas would get 30 right
Great
Geniuses:
Kant,
Kepler or Spinoza would get 31 or 32 right
Descartes,
Michelangelo, Victor Hugo, Dickens, Musset or Byron would get 33 right
(and
would qualify for Sigma V)
Newton,
Voltaire or Galileo would get 34 right
Universal
Geniuses:
Da
Vinci, Pascal or Leibniz could get a raw score of 35. (Note:
Da Vinci’s IQ was estimated by Cox at 180, but it was surely
higher than that, possibly close to 200) |
