9 Interview Questions That Show How Smart You Are (With Example Answers)
Interview questions about IQ are meant to find out how smart a job candidate is. It can be helpful to know how to answer IQ-related questions correctly, and you can get better at it by doing research and practicing. Knowing some of the most common IQ questions asked at job interviews and how to answer them can help you get the job. This article talks about typical IQ interview questions and gives examples of how to answer them.
9 questions about IQ and some sample answers
Here are some examples of what to say when asked about your IQ in an interview:
1. How many months have 28 days?
This question is meant to test how well the candidate can listen to a question and not jump to the wrong conclusion. A candidate might start by counting the number of days in each month and say that only February has 28 days. But the question did not say that a month could only have 28 days. The question was how many months have at least 28 days. Every month of the year has at least 28 days.
2.You only have one match, and you have to go into a dark room. Which do you turn on first: a candle, an oil heater, or an oil lamp?
This IQ question is meant to test how well the candidate can imagine a series of events and the steps they need to take to reach a goal. The candidate might say that they would light the candle or oil lamp to make the dark room brighter. But the first thing they always need to light something is a match.
A possible answer is, “I would light the match and then use it to light the candle.”
3. A ball and a bat cost $1.10 together. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does it cost for the ball?
This question is meant to see if the candidate can come up with new ways to solve problems. At first glance, many candidates say that the ball costs 10 cents, but the math shows that the only answer is that the ball costs 5 cents and the bat costs $1.05. Most people who say 10 cents think in an intuitive way, while most people who say 5 cents think in an analytical way.
“If the difference is $1, we can figure out how much the ball costs by taking $1 off of $1.10 and dividing that number by two.” So, the ball costs five cents.”
4. In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads that grows by half every day. If the lilies take 48 days to cover the whole lake, how long do they need to cover half the lake?
This question tests how well the candidate can make math-related decisions without making a mistake. Many candidates say that it would take half of the 48 days to cover half of the lake because the brain can sometimes figure out answers to simple math problems on the spot. When you look at the question more closely, you can see that it would take 48 days and one day to cover half of the lake because the patch doubles every day.
“If the lily pads cover the whole lake in 48 days and the patch doubles in size every day, then they cover half the lake on day 47.”
5.Red bricks are used to build a red house, while blue bricks are used to build a blue house. How do you put together a greenhouse?
This question checks how well the candidate knows the world around them and how likely they are to be able to answer a question quickly and without much thought. Many people say right away that the greenhouse is made of green bricks, but everyone knows that a greenhouse is made of glass.
“Usually, bricks aren’t used to build greenhouses. It’s made of glass, so the sun can shine through it.”
6. Let’s say you are driving a bus from New York to Boston. In New York, fifteen people get on the bus, but when it gets to Boston, only one person gets off. What is the name of the bus driver?
This question checks to see if the candidate is a good listener and can catch all the details of a conversation. It seems silly to ask who drives the bus, but if the candidate remembers the whole question, they will remember that the interviewer started by saying that the candidate is the driver.
“At first, you said I was driving the bus, so my name is the driver’s name.”
A house only has four walls, and they all face south. Each wall has its own window, and all of a sudden, a bear walks through one of them. What does it look like?
This question checks how well the candidate can come to a logical conclusion. Because all four walls of the house face south, it can only be at the North Pole, which is the only place you can look south from. The only bears that live at the North Pole are polar bears, so the bear is definitely white.
Example answer: “A house can only face south if all four walls face south. It could only do that at the North Pole, so the bear is a white polar bear.”
8. Half of two plus two equals?
This question tests the candidate’s ability to do basic math and to follow directions. You could say “two” if you were in a hurry, since half of two plus two is half of four. But if you listen to the question carefully, you’ll hear that the first step is not to add 2 and 2, but to figure out what half of 2 is. The second step is to add this number, which is half of two, to two.
“One half of two is one, and one plus two is three.” So the answer is 3.
9. You’re in a house with two rooms, but you can’t see into the other room. One room has three light switches, and the other room has the same number of light bulbs. You don’t know which switch turns on which light, and you can only go from one room to the next once. How do you know?
This question is meant to see if the candidate can give a logical answer to a real-world problem. Everyone knows that a light bulb gets hot after being turned on, so this can help you figure out which switches go with which bulbs.
Example: “I would flip on one switch and leave it on for a few minutes. Then I would turn it off, turn on another one, and run into the next room. I forgot to turn off the second switch, which goes to the light bulb. Because it stays warm for a few minutes after being turned off, the warm bulb is connected to the first switch. Last, it makes sense that the bulb that is neither warm nor lit goes to the third switch.
