11-Year-Old Iranian Girl Gets the Highest Mensa IQ Score, Beating Einstein, Hawking

Zob Ahan

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Feb 4, 2005
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#1
https://www.physics-astronomy.com/2020/02/11-year-old-iranian-girl-gets-highest.html

An 11-year-old Iranian school girl has just become the new face of braininess after receiving the highest possible score on the Mensa IQ test.





Tara Sharifi, a student from Aylesbury High School in the United Kingdom, recently took the test in Oxford and received an astounding 162 points. Sharifi's score is significantly over the "genius threshold" of 140.



Albert Einstein is believed to have had the same IQ as Professor Stephen Hawking, 160 (Einstein himself never took the IQ test and Stephen Hawking's score comes from another source).



It's an incredible accomplishment, and no one was more surprised than Tara herself.



“I was shocked when I got the result – I never expected to get such a good score,” Tara told The Bucks Herald.



“It was a joint decision between me and my parents to take the test."



Tara's impressive score means she now qualifies for Mensa membership (AKA the High IQ Society), where she'll get to contact other members, joining the ranks of highly publicized women like actress Geena Davis and US writer Joyce Carol Oates. Mensa membership has no age limitations at the moment. One-third of Mensa members in Australia are youngsters.



“It will be a wonderful opportunity to meet other people within the Mensa system. I have told some of my friends at school and they were really impressed,” Tara told The Bucks Herald.



Her father, Hossein Sharifi, told reporters that he is "very pleased" with his daughter, despite the fact that he was aware of her academic brilliance. “I figured she might do well when we watched TV and she would get maths questions before the contestants. I knew she was very clever but I did not think she would have such a high IQ.”



The 11-year-old has indicated an interest in furthering her math studies – possibly a clue that she will follow in the footsteps of late Fields Medal-winning mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani?
 

IEI

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In a way, I feel sorry for these kinda people because they don't have a great childhood. I.e. bachegi nemikonan. One of the best period of my life was childhood.
 

TeamMeli

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Feb 5, 2014
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Good for her however, the IQ tests have been criticized heavily. I just finished studying psychology.
We have a tendency to be biased to one form of intelligence, the standard IQ test. Well, a Harvard Professor realized that we have 8 forms of intelligence.

Also, one could be strong in several sections but weak in others- For example, someone could have a very high Music interpersonal and Special IQ but a weak Logical Math Skills IQ or Body Kinesthetic. Furthermore, I don't qualify 140 as "genius threshold." You should be at least 3 standard deviations from the norm or have an IQ of 150(according to that stupid test), which is what I have but I don't put much stock into it. Some people are just good at taking logic tests and that is what IQ tests are based on. I had an advantage of studying music at an early age, so it helped with my math. I was developing my math skills, without even realizing it. However, for the longest time, I suffered in interpersonal relationships because I lived a rather sheltered life. Until that is, I started playing football and doing martial arts in high school, then I gained the social skills. Furthermore, being in a relationship for the last 3 years with my partner helped me improve that skill. My linguistic and Body- Kinestic IQ is also through the roof, why I am good at languages and sports however, I am weak in my intrapersonal IQ or self-internalization skills.
She might be very brilliant when it comes to solving mathematical equations, but she could be socially awkward, in a party setting.
My football coach would always say, to us, "Your I WILL, is much more powerful than your IQ."

I think western society puts too much of an emphasis on IQ, while ignoring other forms of intelligence. We are JSUT catching up and realizing that people could be a genius in music but not smart in math. I am sure though she is going to be very successful, when she graduates from Oxford.

Source Harvard University-
I just finished taking a 4-unit Psych class at Brigham Young and we discussed this very same topic: how someone can be strong in a couple of areas but weak in others and IQ is not the only form of intelligence. The reason why we value it so much as a society is because you have tangible iq and intangible iq.
Tangible- Logic -IQ 2+2 =4
Intangable- Music IQ- Create a Composition

There is no way you can quantify creating a composition, like you can in math. In math, either the answer is right, or the answer is wrong.
We can't quantify Visual and Special intelligence- Visual and social judgement. These people are good at solving puzzles, recognizing patters and interprets visuals well. I have improved in Interpersonal and would say my intrapersonal skill is my weakness.
As you guys might have guessed, I have never quantified it but I am sure my Music IQ is even higher than my IQ. I am just sharing what we studied for 3 months at Brigham Young, and I have a final on this topic, tomorrow so it is a good review for me.

Too bad I can't have her take my Psychology test. Hell, she probably wrote my psychology test and forwarded it to BYU.
This is a fascinating topic though THANK YOU FOR POSTING!

Source Harvard.
intellgeince.jpg
 
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Payandeh Iran

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Feb 4, 2005
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#7
I agree, however, I also think maybe they find the stuff we did in our childhood simple and stupid. who knows.
Really proud of her though.
They are different. I knew one of them cousin of cousin or something like that. Musical genius who eventually moved to Austria with his parents. When you talked to him you could see in his eyes and the way he talked that he wasn’t an 8 year old boy and rather a grown man .
 
Likes: HalaMadrid
Dec 30, 2014
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In a way, I feel sorry for these kinda people because they don't have a great childhood. I.e. bachegi nemikonan. One of the best period of my life was childhood.
That is not really true. I have known a few. Many of them have fulfilling childhoods It is just that they enjoy other things than what most kids like. The ones who have had trouble is mainly due to the treatment they received from other kids an adults, being stereotyped and often ridiculed for their intelligence.
 
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IEI

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That is not really true. I have known a few. Many of them have fulfilling childhoods It is just that they enjoy other things than what most kids like. The ones who have had trouble is mainly due to the treatment they received from other kids an adults, being stereotyped and often ridiculed for their intelligence.
Have you talked to them when they were adults ?
 
Dec 30, 2014
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#10
Have you talked to them when they were adults ?
I know a handful of them. Some I knew as children in Iran. The ones who stayed in Iran are doing ok, not great, but not bad. The ones who migrated, are doing better, some really well.

The westerners, I know only as adults. I would say that I only had the possibility to meet the ones that were doing well.

In general, there are some really smart kids, who may have other problems, such as Asperger's syndrome or something similar. It is important to separate the problems caused by that from the issues they may have due to their intelligence.
 
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