Help! I think I lost my brain!

hey everyone,
so something totally wild happened to me today. basically... I recently got my driver's license, so I had to head back to the doctor since it's been more than six months since the first checkup. That first time, I pretty much just breezed through the appointments without any real deep dive. The psychologist chatted with me for a bit and decided there was zero need for me to take those psychomotor tests given that I was a straight-A student and finished college and all that.
fast forward to this morning at 7:15 AM, and I’m staring at this test like it's written in ancient hieroglyphics—just a complete mental block!! There were about ten guys from some local construction firm in the room with me, plus one high school kid. So yeah, I'm the only girl there, and clearly the most educated one by a mile. But man, I was totally out of it! The doctor is grading the tests and gives me a "nice job" (mentioning my profession and everything), but then he suddenly realizes he's actually supposed to be grading mine next. I look over, and there's this guy who looks like he's got his whole life together, scoring a 39; the doctor is practically singing his praises. Then he gets to mine... and right under the score: 21!!! He just mutters, "well... okay..." I swear I almost wanted the floor to swallow me whole from the sheer embarrassment!
I just don't get it. I took these kinds of tests back in elementary school and always scored way above average... then again before starting college... and now this???
How is that even possible? Now I'm sitting here wondering if I've been living a lie my entire life. I never went around thinking I was Einstein, but I always considered myself smart and capable, and that's how everyone who knows me describes me too... I was never someone who just memorized things; I always connected everything to what I already knew...
Is it possible that my intelligence was being sabotaged by the anxiety and panic attacks I was dealing with toward the end of college? Do you guys even believe in these kinds of tests?

You could be the next Einstein for all I care, but once panic sets in, you’re going to react in a way that's anything but brilliant. Honestly, it borders on idiotic. That’s just how human nature works when the pressure hits a boiling point.

Beyond that, if you’ve got this deep-seated need to prove yourself—or worse, a paralyzing fear of failing—it all leads back to the same dead end. It completely shuts you down.

So, my advice? Just step out of that frantic "survival mode" loop. Tell yourself, "So what if I fail again? So what if people think I'm not the smartest person in the room? Who cares what they think?"

Just stay calm, take a breath, and everything will work itself out. 🙂

Fine, now you're the one suffering because you didn't exactly ace that intelligence test, or maybe you're just worried about what the doctor thinks of you 😁
I mean, why would I even need to impress anyone 🙂 And honestly, who knows what that doctor's IQ actually is 😉

Since when does a doctor start testing IQ?

Maybe it’s because it was 7:15 AM. Honestly, I’d be feeling pretty shaken up myself at that hour.

honestly, I catch myself wondering the same thing all the time

yeah, back in middle school and high school, I was basically a straight-A student, but once I hit college.....it’s been a total train wreck...barely scraping by with passing grades
plus, staying focused at work is an absolute struggle lately

it's just awful....I don't even recognize myself anymore

Concentration is a completely different beast than intelligence itself. Losing your focus doesn't mean you've actually lost your IQ. It just messes with how you tackle tasks—including how you perform on an intelligence test.

Everything still stands
but if you can't focus, it kind of just nerfs your intelligence

so basically, we're all just wasting our brainpower if our concentration is shot

Sure you can.
But focus? That’s a skill. Happiness? You can work on that too. Intelligence, though—that’s just the hand you were dealt.

Bradley Bailey4 said:hey everyone,
so something totally wild happened to me today. basically... I recently got my driver's license, so I had to head back to the doctor since it's been more than six months since the first checkup. That first time, I pretty much just breezed through the appointments without any real deep dive. The psychologist chatted with me for a bit and decided there was zero need for me to take those psychomotor tests given that I was a straight-A student and finished college and all that.
fast forward to this morning at 7:15 AM, and I’m staring at this test like it's written in ancient hieroglyphics—just a complete mental block!! There were about ten guys from some local construction firm in the room with me, plus one high school kid. So yeah, I'm the only girl there, and clearly the most educated one by a mile. But man, I was totally out of it! The doctor is grading the tests and gives me a "nice job" (mentioning my profession and everything), but then he suddenly realizes he's actually supposed to be grading mine next. I look over, and there's this guy who looks like he's got his whole life together, scoring a 39; the doctor is practically singing his praises. Then he gets to mine... and right under the score: 21!!! He just mutters, "well... okay..." I swear I almost wanted the floor to swallow me whole from the sheer embarrassment!
I just don't get it. I took these kinds of tests back in elementary school and always scored way above average... then again before starting college... and now this???
How is that even possible? Now I'm sitting here wondering if I've been living a lie my entire life. I never went around thinking I was Einstein, but I always considered myself smart and capable, and that's how everyone who knows me describes me too... I was never someone who just memorized things; I always connected everything to what I already knew...
Is it possible that my intelligence was being sabotaged by the anxiety and panic attacks I was dealing with toward the end of college? Do you guys even believe in these kinds of tests?

Anxiety didn't lower your IQ; it just tanked your score on this specific test. You admitted you hit a mental wall. Also, a driver's ed exam isn't an intelligence test. Besides, you passed it anyway. 😉

Bradley Bailey4 said:hey everyone,
so something totally wild happened to me today. basically... I recently got my driver's license, so I had to head back to the doctor since it's been more than six months since the first checkup. That first time, I pretty much just breezed through the appointments without any real deep dive. The psychologist chatted with me for a bit and decided there was zero need for me to take those psychomotor tests given that I was a straight-A student and finished college and all that.
fast forward to this morning at 7:15 AM, and I’m staring at this test like it's written in ancient hieroglyphics—just a complete mental block!! There were about ten guys from some local construction firm in the room with me, plus one high school kid. So yeah, I'm the only girl there, and clearly the most educated one by a mile. But man, I was totally out of it! The doctor is grading the tests and gives me a "nice job" (mentioning my profession and everything), but then he suddenly realizes he's actually supposed to be grading mine next. I look over, and there's this guy who looks like he's got his whole life together, scoring a 39; the doctor is practically singing his praises. Then he gets to mine... and right under the score: 21!!! He just mutters, "well... okay..." I swear I almost wanted the floor to swallow me whole from the sheer embarrassment!
I just don't get it. I took these kinds of tests back in elementary school and always scored way above average... then again before starting college... and now this???
How is that even possible? Now I'm sitting here wondering if I've been living a lie my entire life. I never went around thinking I was Einstein, but I always considered myself smart and capable, and that's how everyone who knows me describes me too... I was never someone who just memorized things; I always connected everything to what I already knew...
Is it possible that my intelligence was being sabotaged by the anxiety and panic attacks I was dealing with toward the end of college? Do you guys even believe in these kinds of tests?

Wait a second, this is actually pretty interesting...

What were you carrying to your driver's license exam, your diplomas and transcripts?
That’s hilarious... like... you just bring all that with you and when they need a test... oh no, you were a top student and have a degree, so we don't need to worry about you.😵
Are you sure about that?

Because of that, I was staring at the test at 7:15 this morning like it was written in Chinese—total brain freeze!! There were about ten guys from some construction firm and one high schooler in the room with me. So, yeah, I was the only woman there, and clearly the most educated one. But man, my brain just shut down! The doctor grades the tests and tells me, "Oh, nice job," mentioning my profession, but then suddenly realizes he's messing around and that mine is next. I look over, and this guy looking all polished has 39 points, and the doctor is praising him through the whole 16th review. Then he checks mine... and under the score: 21!!! And he just quietly mutters, "Well... okay..." I almost died of embarrassment right then and there!

I didn't even realize this happened...
Since doctors and instructors started announcing results in front of everyone and throwing out comments like "nice job" and stuff.
Are you sure?

Do you even believe these kinds of tests?

Based on what you just wrote... not at all.

What a total joke of a thread. Can we just lock this thing already?

Andrew Kim87 said:What a total joke of a thread. Can we just lock this thing already?

Yeah, well, apparently nobody actually reads anything here anyway.🙄

redharbor9 said:Since when does a doctor start testing IQ?

Look, if she’s got a PhD in psychology, then technically she’s a 😁

Just kidding—though I suppose you could argue that point—but honestly, even clinical psychologists perform these kinds of assessments, not just those specialists working in occupational health.

http://www.apa.org/topics/clinical-psychology

I still don't get it. Maybe she actually *is* an MD and just didn't know how to fix a test she shouldn't have even been using in the first place... so that's why the results turned out like that.

Either way, the whole story sounds sketchy as hell to me.

I’ve been sitting through all sorts of scholarship exams lately, and they were quite intense. Honestly, though, I have to admit that the driver's permit test was a complete joke compared to an actual intelligence test. I managed to get a perfect score, even though I don't consider myself particularly brilliant based on the other academic assessments I've taken.

Now, regarding what you said—I've personally dealt with anxiety and panic attacks before. However, it never really impacted my college exams or anything related to my mental clarity.
I doubt your poor result has anything to do with that.

The OP made a single post, started this thread, and then just went completely silent.

I barely scraped by those brain-numbing IQ tests... honestly, they felt like pure mental clutter. I couldn't make heads or tails of anything in there.

Sorry guys, I was totally MIA from the forum all day yesterday.

First off, I honestly don't get why some of you are acting like what I wrote was weird or sketchy or whatever. Like, seriously, why is it so hard to just take my word for it?

Look, I’m not forcing anyone to read my posts or leave a comment if they don't want to.

And for those of you obsessing over the whole "psychology" thing—and I only used the term because I have zero clue what that woman actually does for a living—she basically just handed out tests, used them as a template to grade us on the fly, and then spit out our scores. I have no idea why she felt the need to comment, though maybe she just assumed the guy had an insane score and thought it was mine since she probably expected the most from me given my field.
The whole vibe was chaotic; she crammed us all into one room and we had fifteen minutes to finish, and there wasn't even enough space in there—she was basically sitting right across from me at my own desk. Then she was frantically grading everyone as they finished just to push us out the door, everything was such a rush.

I'm stuck in this loop of overthinking it from two different angles: part of me feels embarrassed because I can only imagine her wondering how someone as educated as me could pull such a low score (not that intelligence is directly tied to education, obviously, but still), and the other part of me is just reeling from the result itself because, like I said, I always considered myself smart and I'm having a hard time processing that I hit such a wall on this test.

Bradley Bailey4 said:Sorry guys, I was totally MIA from the forum all day yesterday.

First off, I honestly don't get why some of you are acting like what I wrote was weird or sketchy or whatever. Like, seriously, why is it so hard to just take my word for it?

Look, I’m not forcing anyone to read my posts or leave a comment if they don't want to.

And for those of you obsessing over the whole "psychology" thing—and I only used the term because I have zero clue what that woman actually does for a living—she basically just handed out tests, used them as a template to grade us on the fly, and then spit out our scores. I have no idea why she felt the need to comment, though maybe she just assumed the guy had an insane score and thought it was mine since she probably expected the most from me given my field.
The whole vibe was chaotic; she crammed us all into one room and we had fifteen minutes to finish, and there wasn't even enough space in there—she was basically sitting right across from me at my own desk. Then she was frantically grading everyone as they finished just to push us out the door, everything was such a rush.

I'm stuck in this loop of overthinking it from two different angles: part of me feels embarrassed because I can only imagine her wondering how someone as educated as me could pull such a low score (not that intelligence is directly tied to education, obviously, but still), and the other part of me is just reeling from the result itself because, like I said, I always considered myself smart and I'm having a hard time processing that I hit such a wall on this test.

Nobody's whining. It’s just impossible for a doctor to actually test IQ... they don't even know how to do it. If you're fine with posting such total nonsense, then I don't know why you expect anyone to take you seriously, believe you, or think you're anything close to intelligent...