World’s shortest IQ test reveals if you’re smart

The world’s shortest IQ test — answered in just three questions — quickly reveals whether you’re smarter than 80% of humanity.

The world’s shortest IQ test — answered in just three questions — quickly and easily reveals whether you’re smarter than 80 per cent of humanity.

The Cognitive Reflection Test was created by MIT psychology professor Shane Frederick. It was recently shared on TikTok, where it’s gone viral as thousands of users estimate their intelligence.

Professor Frederick quizzed 3428 people with the same trio of questions over a 26-month period. He found just 17 per cent of people got all three questions right, while 33 per cent got all three wrong. The rest of the participants fell somewhere in the middle.

The questions work by “yielding impulsive erroneous responses”, which means they trick your brain into alighting on what sounds like the correct answer before taking a moment to double check its reasoning.

A TikTok video explaining the test, posted by user @chibimallo, has been viewed more than 300,000 times and is home to a comment section full of wrong answers.

So, do you think you can hack it?

@chibimallo ARE YOU SMART? Take the worlds shortest IQ test? Answers in part 2 :-) #iq#test#smart#jesuslovesyou#iloveyou#intelligence♬ original sound

World’s shortest IQ test

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 does it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?
3. In a lake, there’s 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 does it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?

ANSWERS BELOW.

How did you do?. Picture: TikTok.

World’s shortest IQ test answers

1. Five cents. If the bat costs an extra $1, that brings the cost of the bat to $1.05, meaning the bat and ball together will set you back $1.10.
   
2. Five minutes. If it takes five machines five minutes to make five widgets, then it takes one machine five minutes to make one widget, and 100 machines working at the same time will have the job done in five minutes.
3. 47 days. If the patch of lily pads doubles in size every day, then it will cover half of the lake exactly one day before it covers the full lake.