Students take Mensa challenge
The questions certainly looked hard, and the concentration was clearly etched on their faces – but do they have what it takes to join the elite group for some of the most intelligent people in Britain?
Five brainboxes spent the morning at the Royal Wolverhampton School to sit a test to see if they had what it takes to join Mensa, the Wolverhampton-based society for people with high IQs.
The group, which is open to anybody whose IQ puts them in the top two per cent of the population, was holding the tests for prospective new members.
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Among those taking part was 17-year-old sixth-former Aaron Dardi, of Compton Drive, Dudley, who also went to Alder Coppice Primary School in Sedgley.
The teenager, who is studying for his A-levels at King Edward VI School in Five Ways, Birmingham, said: "I thought I would give it a try, because I did quite well in my GCSEs, I got six A*s. I think being a member of Mensa will help you when you apply for university or look for a job."
The exam was being invigilated by retired headmaster Mark Gallacher, who is secretary of the Wolverhampton and Walsall branch of the organisation, which also has its national headquarters in St John's Square, Wolverhampton.
Mr Gallacher, who worked at Birchfields School in Walsall, said the society was first and foremost a social group. "There are a whole range of special interest groups within Mensa," he said. The 61-year-old, who lives in Sutton Road, Walsall, said: "When I joined, I was about 26. I played rugby and stood in a pub most weekends talking to the same people about the same things, usually rugby, and I thought there must be more to life than this." During the two-hour test, participants have to answer a series of questions about logic, arithmetic, and visual reasoning, which get progressively harder as candidates work their way through the paper.
So what is the pass mark? Predictably, the answer to that is far from simple. Indeed, deciphering the scoring system is almost like a Mensa puzzle in itself.
"One mark is given for each correct answer in tests 1-5, and three marks for each correct answer in test 6," says the guidance. "The total of possible marks in the tests are thus: 20 + 25 + 20 + 25 + 25 +36 = 151." It will be three weeks before those who took part in the test will find out whether they have made the grade.
l Fancy your chances of getting in to Mensa? See some of the questions at www.expressandstar.com
