practice strategies for the WAIS III intelligence test.

Are there any practice strategies I can use in the future to help myself get a higher score on this IQ test?

Book reference please...

The next time I take a physcoeducational evaluation I want my IQ to be at a respectable level, that way I won't be deemed barely educable.

Pls folks, if you *must* compromise the test... think twice! I'm not sure about this, but you might end up getting LD OnLine in trouble.

The tests are standardized based on people who *didn't* know the questions ahead of time. The folks who make the test could really have a hizzy fit if subtest details got on a public forum. So while I totally sympathize with you wanting and needing to get a higher score, you might be opening up a big can of worms.

(NOte: I don't work for LD ONLine, I have no power over what you post and what happens to it! That's why I'm posting this publicly instead of sending private messages... )

Sue J, webmastress www.resourceroom.net

That would make a lot of sense. I should have known :-) Sorry for being nervous when there was no need!

For those cognitive skills, you might look at Lexia Learning's Cross Trainer that has visual thinking and logic in it. ( http://www.lexialearning.com )

Sue J, webmastress www.resourceroom.net

Victoria is right, some of the words in Vocabulary subtest are not used often, except in books, so if you don't read quite a bit, you are going to miss lots of them. There are 30 words or so and you have to define them. Information subtest questions were very easy, but I managed to screw up one of them... If someone is interested in WAIS III, you can make a search on the Web and find the info about the kind of subtests in this test. In a year or so instead of WAIS III there is going to be WAIS IV with more complicated questions and maybe even different subtests.

"In a year or so instead of WAIS III there is going to be WAIS IV with more complicated questions and maybe even different subtests"

if it's anthything like the WISC IV my IQ will drop 5 to 10 points, which will diqualify me from earning a college degree. :(

Agree... your iq score doesn't disqualify you at least not in the U.S. It doesn't mean college is the right place, either - nothing's that simple :-)

Sue J, webmastress www.resourceroom.net

Lack of mental ability certainly can prevent you from getting a college degree but realize that a new IQ test does not "make" you any less smart (or more) smart than you already are. So you are wasting your energy worrying about that. In my experience, few students don't make it through college because they don't have enough "ability". Study skills and choosing an appropriate major seem to me to be the most important predictors of success. I mean I loved geology but when I learned how much math was required, I wisely decided it wasn't for me.

Beth

Honestly all I really want is to become independant and have a marketable skill doing something that I enjoy doing... I have yet to find my niche. My self confidence has been shattered, but some of us were born with Mcjob ig's and I guess I must accept that and move on.

Forgive me for being so negative but more and more companies are starting to cut back on health coverage and other things, I have a right to worry....

I have poor visual skills as well, since I was 7 years old i've been wearing bifocals. I've always enjoyed talk radio and have considered a career in communications before. All I want is a lousy associates degree in this field, that's all that's really required to work for a local tv affiliate or radio station. Right out of high school I did study this program but quickly bailed out once the courses became more complicated. My first semester in college I got a 3.0 and thought that I was smart enough to float by without any academic help, boy was I wrong.

oh well

*mixes drink*

Okay, what courses did you take and get that 3.0 average?

Another angle for you to take is to get into the school and focus on excelling at the stuff *in your major,* and making contacts in the professional field and looking for a "side door" into the business. That way, even if there are courses that are your nemesis and you don't pass them, you could still end up with what you want - a career in what you're good at and enjoy.
And keep at it, itsmethere :-) Can you see that light at the end of the tunnel yet??

Sue J, webmastress www.resourceroom.net

Unfortunately, I am not too happy with my IQ either. It's very mediocre, at best. I would also do anything so that my brain works more effictively and efficiently.

I do most things by rote, despite TRULLY TRYING to understand but in vain. At times, it feels like college isn't for me, but I persevere.

"A person"--I am sure you can do better on the WAIS next time. Certain subtests are especially amenable to practice. For instance, for digit span, just make up a strategy--anyone can improve greatly at that after initial exposure. For symbol search--with a strategy you might not perform stellar, but a ten is totally possible. Vocabulary-just make it a habit to keep a vocabulary notebook, look up and write down an unknown word every time you encounter it. And don't be lazy to look up the same word multiple times as well as to write the very same word up multiple times in a notebook. That way, eventually you remember it. That's exactly what I do and it helps. Vocabulary is something anyone can build up and in a year/ a year and a half of agressive vocabulary building you'll see results. By the way, vocabulary has nothing to do with intelligence; all it measures is one's desire to be intelligent. As for the more reasoning based "similarities"and vocab. def. based on understanding, etc. just think about what words mean and what features and attributes the word encompasses. Make up a mental venn diagrams to see how words are related. The hardest part of those tests is that they are timed because with purposeful thinking, you can get it all.

The hardest part of PO tests is that they are timed. However, if you practice A LOT with strategies of how to attack them, esp. block design, and picture arrangement (although this doesn't go into your IQ), your score will go up. Practice and desire to improve should totally work given the structure of the current WAIS.