LSAT and intelligence

[nekko]

On that same note, being in the military, I have taken an incredibly diverse selection of standardized tests to determine different aptitudes.  Some I did great on, others I did not so well on. 

Let me give you an example.  I took a test called the DLAB, or Defense Language Aptitude Battery, a test designed to measure your innate ability to learn a foreign language.  The test basically consists of hearing and deciphering a made-up foreign language given a quick overview of the rules of grammar and syntax.  I performed at about an average level.  The ability to learn a language can be defined as "intelligence".

Meanwhile, in tests like the LSAT I do much better, percentile wise. The tests that measure reading comprehension or logic tend to come much easier, probably because I have innate skill. 

I took that language test too and was amazed with people who did exceptionally well on it. There is certainly a type of intelligence utilized in learning languages (recognition of patterns and things like that) but once again is that the type of intelligence we're referring to in the context here when people talk about how smart X person is for scoring 178 or something on the LSAT?

As to the distinction between "smart" and "intelligence" these are both very nebulous and overlapping terms so without further clarification it's difficult to see how using one v. the other changes anything.

[nathanielmark]

i think its just the self-selection of high achievers winding up on web boards.  i cant see myself or anyone else lying about their numbers.  while i would love to say i scored a 175 on the LSAT, i think if i started telling people that i would feel worse about my own score.  what would one have to gain by lying? 

You have to take all the posted scores and GPAs with a grain of salt.  For example, I'm not singling anyone out, but no one in my entire faculty of 1,800 students has a CGPA above 3.96. And, there are only two students who's above 3.9, that's 0.1%!

[daynee]

Intelligence and 'smartness' are two different things. Any idiot can be 'smart', but intelligence is a natural trait.

I agree - some of the smartest people I know are dumber than boxes of hair when it comes to real-life common sense and intelligence. 

[bj47]

Just an aside...

You can be admitted to Mensa with an LSAT score of 162 or above.

Not that it matters, or that people in Mensa are actually more intelligent (my guess is that they are just more insecure than the general populace.  But I found that out the other day while searching for law school data.

[TrojanChispas]

not to nitpick, but it is the ASVAB not the ASFAB and anyone who ever took would know the difference.  Armed Services Vocational Apptitude Battery

[RockyMtnHighMama]

Y'know, I thought to myself, I should look that up... thank you for your courtesy in correcting me. It only has been 22 years. You been alive that long???

[mpete80]

i have a hrad time believing that a person who has studied the LSAT for about a year and scores a 168 or so is smarter then the person who recently realized that they wanted to attend  Law School and studied as nuch as they could with a full time job and received a 160. There are many factors to you LSAT score that don't show up on paper.

[Bman]

This would be a pretty easy study to do. Simply find a representative sample, take their LSAT scores and IQ test scores and see if there's a correlation. I have to think its been done by someone

[swifty]

Standardized tests measure a certain kind of intelligence, probably one that's largely innate.  It probably makes you good at accounting or finance.  But it doesn't show you know how to work hard or have people skills.

Whoa there young man.  I've excelled in accounting for ten years, so much that I got tired of it and got out of the profession, Yes, I was a good accountant, probably would have scored in the 99th% on the ASAT (Accounting school apptitude test) but I am not good at standardized tests.  I can clear up that matter right now.  Standardized tests and accountnats?  Apples and oranges.   BTW, there is no such thing as the ASAT 

[ruskiegirl]

FWIW, the Stanford-Binet IQ test I took at age 14, the AS*V*AB at 15, the NMSQT at 16, the SAT and ACT at 17, and the LSAT I took at age 39 all put me in roughly equivalent population percentiles, 98+%. From my point of view, they seem pretty consistent despite age, and I figure must be measuring approximately the same things.

I took all those test as well and scored in the 99th percentile on all except the LSAT.  Go figure.