**TL;DR: You can cheat on your IQ test** • IQ tests are not an accurate gauge of _natural_ intelligence, because you can get better at them. Steven Piantadosi explains that [IQ scores can change according to time and context](https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/do-iq-tests-actually-measure-intelligence), and can be altered by practice, motivation, and tutoring. He argues that IQ tests are an unreliable measure of natural ability because they can be so easily affected by preparation and context: “I think it’s a mistake to say that your true ability can be summarized by how much you’re willing to put into a test”. • Education affects IQ scores. Cognitive skills measured by IQ tests, such as reasoning, lateral thinking, and problem solving, are taught in academic subjects, like Maths and English. Studies show that IQ scores often drop in [children who are regularly absent from school](https://theconversation.com/show-us-your-smarts-a-very-brief-history-of-intelligence-testing-45444), and rise in older children, who have spent longer in education. • [Listening to Mozart's Sonata for two pianos in D major](https://www.123test.com/increasing-your-iq/) beforehand can help you get a higher IQ score. Playing sports or boardgames, and drinking coffee (or even alcohol!) have also been linked to achieving higher IQ scores, as these activities can improve your reaction speed, verbal intelligence, and spatial insight.

**TL;DR: IQ tests can give a general feel for a particular type of intelligence** Judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree and it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. This famous quote points out there are many different ways to be intelligent. While an IQ test is not able to identify all types of intellectual ability they do give a good scope if a persons [intellectual potential and if someone has an intellectual disability] (https://www.harleytherapy.co.uk/counselling/iq-tests-helpful-or-dangerous.htm#:~:text=When%20IQ%20tests%20become%20a%20very%20good%20thing&text=To%20that%20end%2C%20positive%20uses,dyslexia%2C%20dysgraphia%2C%20and%20dyspraxia), which is what they were designed for. Online testing does have drawbacks such as being able to prepare and handling the stress of a test better. However these do apply to all those that take the test, can be mitigated for and an IQ test would therefore give an accurate gauge of natural intelligence.

The reason this is such a hotly debated issue is because it feeds into ['Race Science'](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/02/the-unwelcome-revival-of-race-science). There are measurable differences in IQ performance based on ethnicity. In the US, and increasingly in the UK (where Dominic Cummings and his advisor Andrew Sabisky sought to [rethink education policy](https://theconversation.com/is-dangerous-thinking-about-race-and-iq-at-the-heart-of-uk-government-132379) based on so-called 'evolutionary predisposition'), there is a resurgence of essentialist thinking about those differences. Some of the strongest arguments against IQ as a measure of genetic intelligence are the fact that IQ tests have, on average, improved dramatically since they first launched in the early 20th Century. That has very little to do with genetic evolution, and lots to do with our increased familiarity and exposure to abstract ideas (and education).

An IQ test only proves you are good at an IQ test. Students who go to schools in more affluent areas will hypothetically score higher on an IQ test because they are exposed to a better education because of more funding. This is not a test on the level of intelligence a person has at the baseline but rather a reflection of the education they have been lucky enough or unlucky enough to get. It crosses borders as well, some countries with poor education will score lower on the IQ test to no fault of their own. IQ also does not measure emotional intelligence which is important when gauging a persons overall intellegence.

They're decent gauges of one's ability to produce abstractions and reason with them. This is a very different thing than Wisdom.