The popular IQ tests that leave most people stumped
There are a handful of popular IQ tests that leave most people stumped. They seem simple at first, but less than 20 per cent of the population can answer the questions correctly.
Let's see how you fare.
The Cognitive Reflection Test
Professor Shane Frederick designed the Cognitive Reflection Test in 2005 as part of a research paper, and every few years the test is shared online.
It is of some comfort that some of the greatest minds, even those who attend universities like Yale and Harvard, struggle to answer them.
The first question of The Cognitive Reflection Test involves a bat and a ball. Getty Images/iStockphoto
The questions are:
1. A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
2. If it takes five machines five minutes to make five widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?
3. In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?
The second question features a lily pad. Getty
The most common answers, which are incorrect, are:
1. 10 cents
2. 100 minutes
3. 24 days
The correct answers
1. 5 cents
2. 5 minutes
3. 47 days
Professor Frederick explained in the paper: "Anyone who reflects upon it for even a moment would recognise that the difference between $1 and 10 cents is only 90 cents, not $1 as the problem stipulates.
"In this case, catching that error is tantamount to solving the problem, since nearly everyone who does not respond '10 cents' does, in fact give the correct response."
Brain Metrix
This IQ test takes into account your age and asks some seemingly simple questions many struggle to answer. The Brain Metrix IQ test includes 20 questions that can be taken online and produces instant results.
There are three of the questions included the following:
15. Here, you need to identify the figure that continues the series.
Figures in a series test. Brain Metrix
16. Question 16 also asks for the continuation of the series of pictures.
Another series test for mental agility. Brain Metrix
17. This question asks test takers to choose which of the dice is different.
One of these dice doesn't belong in this picture. Brain Metrix
And the answers are:
15. D
16. C
17. D
The answer to question 15 can be explained by the figures actions which are that they are moving clockwise making it D. Question 16 will have a dot in the middle, as the other sequences do and the answer is C because the missing image will be a combination of the other two images in the sequence.
Question 17 is D because the side with five is next to six and below four.
The Analytical Reasoning IQ test
This test has been designed to test your analytical reasoning, which is a person's ability to identify patterns within a group of facts or rules and use those patterns to determine outcomes.
One of the most popular examples of this is the triangle test.
The triangle test is one of the more popular analytical reasoning tests. YouTube
The answer, as explained by Online Training for Everyone on YouTube, is 13. It is explained that some only count the large and small triangles, but the smaller triangles make up other triangles as well.
The correct answer? B.
Can you see this?
