World’s shortest IQ test measures whether you’re smarter than 80% of humanity

If you're interested in finding out how intelligent you are without giving up a good chunk of your day, this might be for you.

The world's shortest IQ test is the most efficient way to find out if you are a certified smarty-pants.

TikTok user @chibimallo shared a video challenging social media users to test their brainpower with the quick quiz.

Have a look here:

Props to her for sharing it, but MIT professor Shane Frederick is owed all the credit for creating the Cognitive Reflection Test.

The brain box published it in a 2005 research paper, but it still resurfaces every now and then after nearly two decades.

You only have to answer three questions, so you may as well give it a try.

Apparently, it's the 'quickest IQ test in the world' and if you get full marks you are 'smarter than 80 percent of humanity'.

Psychologist Frederick put 3,428 people through the trio of questions over a 26 month period.

Out of all those people only 17 percent got all three questions right and 33 percent got all three wrong. Stiff competition.

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Still, don't let those statistics throw you off - so, do you reckon you can crack it?

Here are the questions:

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 would 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 would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?

If they took you back to barmy GCSE maths questions, you're not alone.

Don't worry if you answered any of these questions incorrectly, as IQ tests aren't the defining barrier for intelligence.

Frederick designed them to 'yield impulsive erroneous responses' where your brain would jump to the wrong conclusion before you realise your mistake.

Now, lets put you out of your misery. Here are the answers.

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For the first brain teaser the answer is that the ball costs five cents, meaning that the bat costing a dollar extra makes it $1.05 and combined they'd set you back $1.10.

Question two is one that typically trips up a lot of participants, but the right answer is of course five minutes.

If it takes five machines five minutes to make five widgets then one machine makes a widget in five minutes, so 100 of them all going at the same time will have the job done in five minutes.

Finally, the patch of lily pads which doubles in size every day and eventually covers the entire lake on day 48 could cover half of it on day 47.

That last day of doubling in size takes it from half a lake's worth of coverage to full, so don't fall into the trap of thinking the answer is 24 days.

If you answered all of those correctly, congratulations. You're smart, according to Frederick's rule of thumb.

Topics: TikTok, Weird

Olivia Burke

Olivia is a journalist at LADbible Group with more than five years of experience and has worked for a number of top publishers, including News UK. She also enjoys writing food reviews (as well as the eating part). She is a stereotypical reality TV addict, but still finds time for a serious documentary.

@livburke_