Repeating digits backward: Common subtests on oral IQ tests include having test-takers repeat a string of digits forwards and backwards. The latter requires more mental musculature and is much better correlated with IQ. Charles Murray reports in a footnote to his new Commentary article "The Inequality Taboo:"
The average adult gets a digits-backward score of 5 (Jensen 1998: 263). You may compare your own score with the highest I have observed, 13 and 12, achieved respectively by José Zalaquett, former chairman of Amnesty International, and the political analyst Charles Krauthammer. Zalaquett’s score might have been higher if he had not been in a car weaving through traffic at 70 miles per hour on the New Jersey Turnpike. Krauthammer’s score might have been higher if he hadn’t been driving.
Krauthammer is a paraplegic, so presumably he was operating the gas and brake pedals with one hand while steering with the other while taking the test orally.
Considering all the cleverness Krauthammer devoted to getting America stuck in Iraq, I'm reminded of something Maxwell Smart said after triumphing over a supervillain: "If only he had used his genius for niceness instead of evil."
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
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