Mensa IQ: Prepare For Your IQ Test With Practice Questions

Do you want to measure your intelligence? Are you intending to take an IQ test? You can prepare for the Mensa IQ test with a few practice questions here.

In the last few decades, intelligent measuring tests have improved and become a lot more accurate. It is always a good idea to practice on your test before you take them. If you want to take the Mensa IQ test you have come to the right place.

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” — Albert Einstein

In this article, we will explain everything you need to know about the test and practice questions before you take the test.

What Is Mensa IQ?

Mensa International is a non-profit organization that scores people’s IQs. In fact, Mensa is both the largest and the oldest IQ society in the world. They specialize in people who score at least at the 98th percentile or higher on IQ tests (whether the supervised, standardized or other intelligence tests).

Mensa International is based in England, United Kingdom but there are national branches in many countries around the world under its umbrella. Mensa international is said to have about 134,000 members around the world. Most of its members belong to American Mensa (about 57,000 members), British Mensa (about 21,000 members), and Mensa Germany (about 13,000 members).

Mensa does not have their own tests, they used tests that have been proved to work. Before applying to the Mensa organization in your country, you will need to take a legitimate IQ test whose results would be deemed valid by Mensa. You should contact your national Mensa organization directly with any of your questions. Just Google Mensa and the name on your country for contact details and specific information. Mensa also offers sample questions for intelligence tests, so you check those out before taking the test.

“I’m not a Mensa member. I have no idea where that rumor came from. I never have been, and I doubt I ever will be.” – Ben Stein

Practice Questions

The only way to measure your intelligence (in terms of what Mensa will accept) is to take a genuine IQ test. Any sample questions should just be taking for entertainment value or as a way to become familiar with the kind of questions that tend to be included in IQ tests.

Usually, the minimum age to take an IQ test is 10 and a half. Younger children must be assessed by an educational psychologist before being allowed to take an IQ test. Mensa accepts members of any age. It is estimated that about 1,500 members are under the age of 18.

Some questions are puzzles based on language or numbers. And the questions get harder as the test progresses.

With that understanding, here are some questions for you to practice on.

  • Question: What four-letter word can be attached to the beginning of each of the following words, thus forming longer words? Age, Width, It, Stand, Wagon.
    • Answer: The word is “band.”
  • Question: What number is missing from this sequence? 4 9 16 25 36 ? 64.
    • Answer: The missing number is 49 because all the numbers in the sequence are square numbers.
  • Question: What seven letter word would result in rearranging the letters of the phrase “any time.”
    • Answer: The seven-letter would be “amenity.”
  • Question: Replace each of the blanks in the following sentence with two different three-letter words that contain the exact same three letters. The sentence is “the woman decided to BLANK a well-known firm of solicitors to BLANK for compensation.”
    • Answer: The first BLANK should be replaced with the word “use” and the second BLANK should be replaced with the word “sue.”
  • Question: If FP = 10 and HX = 16 what does DS = ?
    • Answer: 15. The answer is the number of places in the Latin alphabet between the first and the second letter (H and X).

“Frankly, the reason I joined MENSA is because I was dating a guy at the time who spoke five languages and could solve a Rubik’s Cube literally with his eyes closed because it’s just an algorithm.” – Ashley Rickards.

  • Question: What letter should come next in the following sequence L K J H?
    • Answer: The letter that should come next in the sequence is G. Why? Because the sequence reproduces the order of the letters (right to left) on the middle row of a keyboard.
  • Question: Look at the following scrabbled words and identify the actual words. Which of the words does not belong in the group? CGHICOA, TTOOORN, IMMIA, CPOEHNANGE.
    • Answer: The unscrambled words are CHICAGO, TORONTO, MIAMI, COPENHAGEN. The word that does not belong in the group is COPENHAGEN because it is a European city, while the other words are names of large cities in North America (in the United States and Canada, specifically).
  • Question: Five people competed in a car race. You need to work out the order in which everyone finishes. Here is all the information you will need to work it out: There were no ties in the race. Wanda did not come first, James was neither first nor last, Jonathan come in one place after Wanda, Yolanda come in one place after Wanda, John was not second, and Walter was two places behind John.
    • Answer: John came in first, James came in second, Walter came in third, Wanda came in fourth, and Yolanda came in last.
  • Question: If 40 bakers can bake as many as 20 pizzas in 2 hours, how long will take 2 bakers to make 10 pizzas?
    • Answer: 20 hours.
  • Question: What is the missing number in this sequence 3 7 15 ? 63 127?
    • Answer: 31. Why? Because each number plus one is the next one in the sequence.
  • Question: Ceylon relates to Sri Lanka in the same way that Constantinople relates to one of the following cities: Philadelphia, Leningrad, London, Paris, Istanbul.
    • Answer: Istanbul. Why? Because Istanbul is the current name of Constantinople, just as Sri Lanka is the current name of Ceylon.

  • Question: Potatoes are to peanuts as apples are to one of the following: bananas, daisies, peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers.
    • Answer: Peaches. Why? Because apples and peaches grow on trees, just as potatoes and peanuts grow underground.

Have fun with the practice questions and good luck if you go ahead and take an IQ test!