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IQ is one of many puzzle pieces that can help teachers and schools understand a child and provide appropriate instruction and activities. Beyond that, IQ is nothing. It should not define either a child or an adult.
Children should also not be classified as "gifted." I was given this label as a child, but my brother was one point short of being "gifted"; even as a child I could see that it was an artificial division.
Without performing a thorough lit search I can only say that "common knowledge" says that IQ does indeed drop with age. I've seen references to that in many places; of course, that doesn't necessarily make it correct.
Here's a link that references a study done several years ago. It seems they blame loss of perceptive abilities as a major cause of decreasing IQ. I know I read a bit about the decrease in scores due to aging, but that was almost 30 years ago when I was in school - as I've aged I've become less smart, so I've forgotten where the original info came from.
I remember a study of very gifted children (IQs around 140 or more) that followed them into adult life and concluded that they did not live up to their potentials. In other words, some became artists and none became rocket scientists.
However, real life has taught me that some personality types continue learning their entire lives. They research, they think, they don't just listen to what the media tells them. Consequently, today some of the highest intellectual achievers I know (in very technical, complex fields where they MUST figure out the answers to problems, and where nationwide experts call them daily to get guidance) also only had IQs tested around the 120 range as kids. Yet as adults, they have taken several standardized tests where they got the highest results ever recorded, and got IQ results as 50-year olds in the high 140s.
Yes, there are many aspects to intelligence that can be measured. But if you have an intellectually curious attitude and a fair amount of basic logic and brains, you should be able to get "smarter" as you age.
Of course, what the overall population does has little effect on the individual.
All the problems and issues with IQ tests brought up in this thread also apply to standardized exams in general, such as the SAT, or any kind of skill test that ranks you.
In any case, it's scoring a certain set of a person's abilities to answer a test to a single number. And you make of it what you will. Or at least what society will.
Ain't that the truth. We as a society are obsessed with measuring and ranking things, even people. This despite the fact that humans are way too complicated for that type of assessment method. But we like seeing a number or letter, something that is simple, to tell us who is "good" and who isn't.
In any case, I agree with everyone here. A test can be a piece of the puzzle but must be assessed in context. Your work ethic, personal ambition, savvy/emotional intelligence, persistence, etc will go a long way towards determining your future.
I thnik tehy are useful to determine just who need what to achieve the best results. there are very few gifteds children and they are soon not in ordinary schools unless just don't care about leraning. Intellignece and educated are not the same thing, Just as drive to achieve means alot .
I think you have to keep your brain in shape, just like your the rest of your body..I game a lot and practice my calculation skills once in a while (calculationrankings.co)
IQ is one of many puzzle pieces that can help teachers and schools understand a child and provide appropriate instruction and activities. Beyond that, IQ is nothing. It should not define either a child or an adult.
Children should also not be classified as "gifted." I was given this label as a child, but my brother was one point short of being "gifted"; even as a child I could see that it was an artificial division.
I agree ... for the most part.
My experiences with two of my siblings made me realize IQs are rubbish. We each took an IQ test for fun (ages at the time: 22, 24, and 25).
I scored a 162. My brother got a 129. My sister scored a 115.
In reality my sister's overall intelligence and learning ability makes me look like a useless slug.
I will admit to being smarter than my brother though. However he is much more "successful" than me and a little bit better off than sis.
In any event, that was all the proof I needed to confirm the whole concept is nonsense.
I thought I heard somewhere that the actual average was more in the 106-109 range.
Took one when I was 18 and scored a 118. Then another one maybe around 25, 115. The last one I took a few years ago, 109. Apparently I'm getting exponentially dumber by the years. Eh...give me a decade and I'll be pealing bananas.
I think Alfred Nobel only had an IQ of 120.
Anyways, I work in a department where innovation is everything. Where you must look at a problem and think outside of the box day in and day out. It is not necessarily something one can learn. You either have it or you don't. Almost like you can't train to be funny, ya got it or you don't. For some people, they hold a library in their heads but can't connect any of it to come up with something new. And for some, they got a stick and a rock bouncing around up there and somehow make fire.
I know a guy with a 140 IQ who is a total pothead slacker. He dropped out of high school, got a GED, never went to college or pursued any kind of skilled work, and he is currently employed as a waiter at Denny's at the age of 58.
I know another guy who has an IQ of 95 who has his own plumbing business, lives in a very nice house that is paid off, and goes on a nice trip overseas every year.
Which guy is better off?
Besides, you can't assign "intelligence" a single number. People can be socially intelligent, mathematically intelligent, artistically intelligent, verbally intelligent, etc.
Simply saying "I have 7 more IQ points than you. That means I am smarter than you!!!" is asinine. The word "smart" is kind of meaningless too. There are several kinds of "smart."
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its all about training
However he is much more "successful" than me and a little bit better off than sis. 
