Mensa Singapore Admissions Test (MSAT)

The Mensa Singapore Admissions Test (MSAT) is an IQ test involving symbolic and pictorial representations that do not require knowledge of any specific language or mathematics - used as a selection tool into Mensa Singapore (a subset of Mensa International which proclaims itself as the oldest and largest high IQ society in the world). You can only take it up to twice in your life, and if you fail twice, you would be permanently disqualified from being part of that country's society. Mensa Singapore happens to be one of only twenty countries internationally to qualify for full National Mensa status. 

Mensa, globally, is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardized and supervised IQ test (top 2%). Across the world, the types of tests administered to candidates are different. For instance, some countries include questions related to language and mathematics in their tests. In Singapore, however, only advanced progressive matrices are used for scoring. 

As a child, I had heard of Mensa and deemed it as a society for geniuses that I could probably never qualify into, no matter how confident I was about my aptitude in school. It was something I thought about as a child but forgot about as I grew older. That is until Jie suddenly asked me in October if I'd like to sit for the admission tests in Singapore. It was a highly random subject that she brought up, and I've never gotten down to asking her why she suddenly thought of that, but in the name of fun and a tad of curiosity, I thought why not. Tests are administered at the Suntec Building in the central district of Singapore and costs $60 per pax. By the time I had applied for the test online, the seats for the November tests were fully taken up, and I could only be posted to the January batch. However, I called MENSA up to ask if I could be put on the waiting list for the November tests, and was promptly placed as queue person number 1. My hopes for getting a place in November were low, though.

In mid November, I got a surprise call from Mensa Singapore informing me that my test had been pushed forward to late November. I was excited but simultaneously nervous, as I had not mentally prepared for it. According to the society's website, we cannot practice for the test nor can we improve our scores by taking it repeatedly. That didn't stop Jie from purchasing a Mensa puzzle book in the name of fun. I spent my free time (which was scarce because I was extremely busy with work)  looking through the puzzles, which in all honesty, were pretty easy and not reflective of the questions that came up in the actual test (as I found out in the test hall).  

My hypothesized logic for Mensa claiming that it is non-useful to prepare for the test:

- Questions are changed yearly and never repeated. 

- Assuming every candidate tried to prepare for the test and got good at it, the cutoff point for scores at the 98th percentile or higher would only increase, and not affect the percentile scoring of each individual, because eligibility is not based on an absolute score value. 

Holding a different logic though, I tried to prepare for the test. 

My logic:

- Sample questions may not be the same, but attempting to prepare nonetheless puts me in the FRAME OF MIND to think divergently. 

- Being psychologically prepared helps me to stay calm during the brain-intensive test, allowing me to think with a clearer mind.

On the day of the test, I was ushered to a small seminar room with 20 seats inside. We were told that no rough paper was allowed, nor were we allowed to make highlights or written workings in the question booklet. This was to challenge our working memory and ability to mentally disassemble, assemble, and rotate symbols in our heads. I had guessed as much previously, but this still threw me into a slight panic mode. The invigilator announced that there were 36 questions to be answered in the span of 40 minutes, and that we should not get complacent if we did the earlier questions quickly, as there were people who finished doing the first half of the booklet in 5 minutes and who nonetheless could not finish the quiz. We were to be tested on speed, working memory, and divergent thinking. I made a mental note to rush through the front few questions. It was around that time that I realized I had not brought my watch along. Thankfully, hand-phones were allowed as time-check tools in the room. 

When the quiz commenced, the first 20 questions or so were pretty manageable. I remember flipping the question booklet every 10 seconds or so to take on a new puzzle. It went like this.

Flip. Write.

Flip. Write.

Flip. Write.

Flip. Write. 

The nightmare started at question 20-something. 

The problem was that there were 8 options to every MCQ question, so guesswork could only guarantee a 12.5% chance of getting any random answer correct, which wasn't a great help in a situation where percentile scoring might be point-sensitive. In the end, I guessed around 2 to 3 answers, because time constraints necessitated that I filled in an answer even if I was unsure. When the last-5-minute mark was announced, I think my brain stopped functioning optimally. All I could think of was TIME'S UP. 

I left the seminar room slightly discouraged, sensing that I had not made the Mensa mark. The results was due to arrive in our snail mail within 3 to 8 weeks, telling us our percentile scoring and if we had qualified for admission into Mensa Singapore, with an additional application letter sent to candidates who had made the mark. I remember wondering to myself if I would even have the courage to tear open the results envelope when the day came. 

Thankfully, I did not have to undergo that dilemma. While I was at work yesterday, my Mum saw the envelope addressed from Mensa to me, and tore it open out of curiosity. Congratulations ensued in our family WhatsApp group chat. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Jie type to me that I had qualified for Mensa Singapore with my test scores, until she took a picture and sent it to me. I was ecstatic. 

Benefits of joining Mensa Singapore apparently include the following: 

- Receiving the Mensa Singapore's Newsletter through email

- A personalized mensa.org.sg email address

- Opportunities to travel and meet Mensans from all over the world via SIGHT program (I don't know what this means)

- Special Interest Groups (SIG) catering to specific interests

- Regular monthly gatherings for networking at three different venues across the island

For those of you interested to try out for the admission into Mensa Singapore, you may visit http://www.mensa.org.sg/join-us/msat/. As this test attempts to measure fluid intelligence, rest assured that you do not require crystallized knowledge of any field to be eligible. Also, you definitely do NOT need to be a genius (like Albert Einstein was) to qualify! 

Till next time,

Meng Yee