<p>Just a quick clarification on the detours on IQ: I used the example of Mensa etc. since its test requires, similar to the S/SAT, a test-taker’s intellectual faculties. However, my interest remains not IQ (I could have used height as a simpler example, with you standing 6’4", 49 average men and 50 giants auditioning for tall men’s roles), but more along the lines of what the minimum ability is (as based on an objective, standardized test) that qualifies someone at a certain age to be admitted to do academic work at a good school.</p>
<p>I maintain that the level may not be nearly as high as it seems (many very smart kids with high results notwithstanding); thus perhaps the unhealthy obsession with SSAT percentiles could be replaced with the harmony of the candidate’s overall profile. We all know, or heard of, the “child prodigy”: he the next Gauss, she the next du Pr</p>