This quick IQ test purportedly shows whether you are smarter than 80% of the population. The Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), touted by many as the world’s shortest IQ test, is garnering attention mostly because it’s only three questions long.
Introduced in 2005 by former MIT Professor Shane Frederick (who is now teaching at Yale), this quick IQ test is just three questions long and seeks to identify intellectual outliers, claiming to measure whether one’s intelligence outstrips that of 80% of the global populace.
After introducing the test in a TikTok video, podcaster Josh Eli presented the trio of seemingly simple yet deceptive questions that have confounded many since their inception.
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The first question asks: “A bat and a ball cost a dollar and $0.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?” Seems easy enough! Josh clarified that you are not alone if you’ve heard of this riddle before. This test has been around for a while, and the questions have spread around the internet before.
If your immediate answer is, “Duh, the ball costs $.10,” you’re not alone. That’s what most people say. CNBC explained the answer: “If the ball costs 10 cents, then the bat would cost $1.10, which would bring the total to $1.20. The correct answer is the ball costs 5 cents and the bat $1.05.” It totally makes sense when you stop and think about it, but you rely on a knee-jerk reaction to answer, proving that sometimes you need to think before answering.
The second question asks: “If it takes five machines five minutes to make five widgets, how long does it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?”
TikTok user Nathan Kennedy, known for his financial advice, explained, “The answer is still 5 minutes. That’s because each machine pumps out one widget in 5 minutes, so if you have 100 of them, it’s still going to take 5 minutes to punch out all of them at the same time.” Again, like the first question, it’s easy to get mixed up just because of a quick thinking error.
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The final question asks: “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?”
The time needed for the patch of lily pads to cover half the lake would be 47 days, not the intuitive 24 days. Remember, as Kennedy pointed out, the patch doubles in size every day. That means the day after the day it hits the half mark, it would cover the whole lake.
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The answer may not be straightforward. The CRT is designed to divert individuals from their instinctual, intuitive thinking by presenting trick questions. However, its popularity online may have diluted its effectiveness as an accurate metric of cognitive reflection.
This concern was reflected in a 2016 study published in the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which cited the “low reliability” of the CRT. This is due in large part to its online ubiquity. Many individuals encountering the test are likely already familiar with the questions, their answers, or at least the general logic behind them.
As such, while the CRT continues to fascinate and challenge new audiences, its capacity as an accurate gauge of cognitive abilities is still up for debate.
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Ethan Cotler is a writer and frequent contributor to YourTango, living in Boston. His writing covers entertainment, news, and human interest stories.
