Brainable IQ Test: Legit and Safe?

Here’s everything about the Brainable IQ test being legit and safe:

Brainable is a safe site to visit, and going through the IQ test is not going to bring direct harm to you or your device.

That said, Brainable does not offer compelling evidence that it uses scientifically-validated tests and methods.

On top of that, Brainable does charge, so if you want a free test, this isn’t it.

So if you want to learn all about how legit and safe the Brainable IQ test is exactly, then this article is for you.

Let’s get started!

Brainable IQ Test: Legit and Safe? (Everything to Know)

What Is the Brainable IQ Test?

As the name implies, it’s an IQ (Intelligence Quotient) test.

You can take it online in a matter of minutes (the time involved really depends on how quickly you go through the questions).

Once you do, Brainable will give you your IQ score.

That’s all pretty simple, but this probably makes more sense with some context.

Brainable isn’t just a place to take an IQ test.

It’s an online platform and service that tries to help people develop cognitive skills.

In simpler terms, Brainable tries to help people with problem solving and other mental skills.

The company advertises its ability to help with mental development in people of all ages, and they even claim that their methods can reduce the risk of dementia as you age.

It sounds interesting, right?

But is it legit and safe?

I’ll get into it.

To begin with, I should really cover how the platform works.

How Does Brainable Work?

The IQ test is straightforward.

You can go to the site, create an account, and take your test.

The test itself is free, but if you want results, you have to pay a fee (more on the payment structure later).

As for taking the test, it involves a series of questions that are built on the basic principles of IQ testing.

There are logic puzzles and questions that test your general knowledge.

Once you answer everything, your data is put through a proprietary algorithm that ultimately gives you an IQ score.

For anyone unfamiliar, IQ is an attempt to scientifically measure mental skills.

A general IQ score relates a person’s ability to learn, process information, and solve problems on a relative scale.

To put it in simpler terms, your IQ shows how you rank among the rest of the population.

It is by no means a perfect measure of intelligence, but it can help psychologists or scientists analyze mental function, and in the case of Brainable, it’s used to try to build a custom training regimen that will help you improve your score over time.

So, for IQ scores, there’s a bit of a system.

Not all tests measure the same thing, but the scoring system is pretty standardized.

The average score is supposed to be 100, and roughly two-thirds of the population should have an IQ between 85 and 115.

So, if Brainable could help you raise your score by more than 15 points, that would be a big deal.

Games

The way Brainable does its training is through carefully crafted games.

Each game is designed to focus on a specific cognitive skill.

So, if you’re working on memory, then memory games help you process and retain information very quickly.

Other games can focus on critical thinking, logic puzzles, and plenty of other tasks.

Through a customized training regime, the games are supposed to help you develop your weakest areas to improve your overall mental abilities.

Does it work?

In theory, yes.

There are suggestions that brain training games enhance cognitive functioning.

For example, according to this study, brain training games show positive effects on attention and memory functions compared with baseline visits in healthy subjects.

So, it seems to be built on sound science.

But, I can’t vouch for the Brainable games themselves.

Furthermore, there are also opinions and studies that say brain games do not work at all.

For example, a group of researchers stated, “To date, there is little evidence that playing brain games improves underlying broad cognitive abilities, or that it enables one to better navigate a complex realm of everyday life.”

This all gets pretty deep into neurology, and I was unable to find any good papers that are analyzing the specific games and methods used by Brianable.

That leads to this bottom line for Brainable.

The games might work.

They might not.

Since I can’t give you a solid answer, the safe assumption is that they don’t work.

Is Brainable Legit?

Is Brainable legit?

I have to break the answer into two parts.

In one way, it is perfectly legit.

In the other, it’s in a gray area.

Let’s start with the good news.

Brainable is not malicious.

It’s not a scam that is going to put harmful software on your device.

It isn’t stealing or selling your bank account.

It isn’t trying to extort you in weird ways.

The platform works as advertised.

It provides games and training to try to help you develop your brain.

That much is real.

But, there’s a second question.

Does Brainable actually work?

In that essence, things aren’t as clear.

As I already mentioned, the theory behind Brainable might or might not be sound.

If the theory is sound, it doesn’t mean that Brainable is applying the theory in good or effective ways.

As far as that goes, I can’t find anything definitive that would tell us Brainable is or isn’t effective.

For the most part, it looks like Brainable is a real attempt at cognitive development with no proven success.

It might be harsh to call it a scam, but I can’t in good conscience tell you that it definitely works.

So, I’ll stick with saying it’s in the gray area.

If you want to try it, Brainable isn’t going to bring you direct harm; just make sure you understand the pay structure.

Automated Payments

Speaking of payments, that’s where I saw the most complaints regarding Brainable.

If you get a link for a free IQ test, then you can take the test without making any payments.

Payment comes when you try to view your results.

At that point, you have to create an account, which is pretty normal.

If Brainble is going to charge your card, they need the appropriate information to do that legally (like your name, billing address, and card number).

When you create your account, you should have billing options.

These have changed over time, but there is a seven-day trial period (at the time of writing).

The trial is not free, but it does come at a reduced price, and you can use that to view your test results.

Here’s the most important part.

You are not signing up for a one-time payment.

You’re getting a seven-day trial that automatically upgrades into a paid subscription.

There are different payment plans for the subscription, but the gist is that you’re signing up for monthly billing.

If you don’t want recurring payments, the onus is on you to cancel the subscription.

If you don’t, the bills will come, and this is where a lot of people have complaints.

The practice is pretty normal in the internet world, but it can be annoying.

If you just wanted an IQ test, monthly payments feel pretty unreasonable.

So, go through the steps to cancel the subscription if you don’t want to use the service.

How Do IQ Tests Work?

Let’s circle back to arguments of legitimacy for a bit.

The biggest question is whether or not Brainable is providing good IQ results.

That’s very arguable since IQ isn’t a perfected science.

But, if I explain IQ and IQ tests a little more, it might help you determine whether or not you want to enlist Brainable for this function.

IQ tests work by presenting a range of questions that are designed to elicit measurable responses.

Essentially, the IQ test is trying to see how well you adapt information that is present, and more specifically, it can measure how you use your thinking skills to answer questions.

Different skills measured by IQ tests include knowledge retention, creative thinking, critical thinking, and more.

An IQ test can specifically target any of these areas, or it can try to generalize all of them.

What this means is that a good test can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses according to how you think about things and process information.

But, a bad test will give you meaningless results.

I’m not accusing Brainable of having a bad IQ test, but it’s definitely short, and that can lead to less reliable results.

Why Does Length Matter in an IQ Test?

Length is definitely important in an IQ test.

Longer tests allow the test maker to more carefully probe for specific metrics.

If you’re given five simple puzzles, it doesn’t generate a wide range of possible outcomes, and that’s the thing that matters the most.

If a million people take the same test, you want a test that can clearly differentiate the performance results among those people.

A longer test creates the opportunity for more variance in the results.

That’s part of what makes it more valuable.

Here’s another way to think about it.

Have you ever taken a personality test for a job application?

The tests usually have a bunch of questions, and each question has a lot of different answers.

The goal of the test isn’t really to determine who is better than other people.

Instead, it’s supposed to help filter people according to the answers so you can try to cater to dominant personality traits.

So, if there are five yes or no questions on the personality test, and you have a hundred candidates, you aren’t going to get much separation from the groups of people.

The test doesn’t really tell you anything meaningful, because it’s designed specifically to help you distinguish between people you don’t know very well.

A longer test with more possible answers gives you better separation from the candidates, and that makes the results more meaningful.

IQ tests work in a similar way.

You can’t ace an IQ test.

The real goal is to separate people based on how they approach the test and the conclusions they draw.

So, more length and complexity allow the test to separate people more carefully.

Let’s put all of this in simpler terms.

A good IQ test doesn’t necessarily have to have a ton of questions, as long as the questions provide good variability among the answers.

For that reason, IQ tests usually take an hour or more to complete.

The Brainable test is 20 questions.

How long that takes is up to you, but it felt short when I went through it.

It’s probably not the most accurate IQ test you can find.

Author

Theresa McDonough

Tech entrepreneur and founder of Tech Medic, who has become a prominent advocate for the Right to Repair movement. She has testified before the US Federal Trade Commission and been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, helping influence change within the tech industry.

View all posts