School exams are, generally speaking, the first kind of test we take. They find out how much knowledge we have gained. But do they really show how intelligent we are? After all, isn’t it a fact that some people who are very academically successful don’t have any common sense.

Intelligence is the speed ___(21)_____ which we can understand and react to new situations and it is usually tested by logic puzzles. Although scientist are now preparing ___(22)_____ computer technology that will be able to “read” our brains, for the present tests are still the most popular ways of measuring intelligence.

A person’s IQ is their intelligence as it is measured by a special test. The most common IT tests are ___(23)_____ by Mensa, an organization that was found in England in 1946. By 1976, it had 1,300 members in Britain. Today there are 44,000 in Britain and 100,000 worldwide largely in the US.

People taking the tests are judged in ___(24)_____ to an average score of 100, and those who score over 148 are entitled to join Mensa. This works out at 2 percent of the population. Anyone from the age of six can take tests. All the questions are straightforward and most people can answer them if allowed enough time. But that’s the problem; the whole ___(25)_____ of the test is that they’re against the clock.