Glossary
Age norms
Definition
Age norms are the reference results a test publisher collects for each age group. They let an IQ test compare you only with people your own age, so a score of 100 means exactly average for your age, whether you are 20 or 70.
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Why it matters for IQ scores
Modern IQ tests standardize scores within each age group to a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15 (Wikipedia: Intelligence quotient). That is what makes a deviation IQ a rank among peers. Without age norms, a single scale would mix up two questions: how able someone is, and how old they are.
An example
Research finds that processing speed and some reasoning measures peak in the late teens and twenties, while vocabulary and accumulated knowledge keep rising into the sixties (Hartshorne & Germine, 2015) (Salthouse, 2009). Picture a 25-year-old and a 65-year-old who both score 100. They may have answered different items correctly, but each did exactly as well as the typical person their own age.
Common confusions
Age norms are not a bonus or a handicap. They simply pick the comparison group. They also age themselves: norms collected decades ago can drift out of date, which is one reason tests are restandardized (see standardization sample). For the research on age and ability, read IQ and age, or see processing speed.
Try one · Logical Reasoning
Which tile completes the second pair?
Tap the option you think is right, or show the answer.
Show the answer
The missing panel shows a large hatched triangle pointing up, with small solid shapes: a triangle at the right side and a triangle at the top-left corner (option 2).
How to solve it
- Compare the first two panels and name exactly what changed.
- The whole figure is flipped upside down, top to bottom.
- The large shape becomes hatched.
- Nothing else changes.
- Apply the same changes to the third panel: a large solid triangle pointing down, with small solid shapes: a triangle at the right side and a triangle at the bottom-left corner.
- So the missing panel shows a large hatched triangle pointing up, with small solid shapes: a triangle at the right side and a triangle at the top-left corner.
That was 1 puzzle. The full test has 25.
Sources
- Intelligence quotient. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient
- Hartshorne, J. K., & Germine, L. T. (2015). Psychological Science, 26(4), 433-443. doi.org/10.1177/0956797614567339
- Salthouse, T. A. (2009). Neurobiology of Aging, 30(4), 507-514.