OK, let’s give this a try...I am Mensa qualified (143) and scored a 48 out of 50 on the old LSAT (the one Barack actually took), which was in the 97th percentile. Now that I have crowed about my credentials, since we applied to Law School the same year, I know something of the processes back then. Harvard still accepted the LSAT back then (though shortly thereafter it became optional). I don’t think the LSAT translates to IQ score or Mensa well.
Given all that, the tell tale evidence on Barack’s raw skills lies in the acceptance and matriculation to Occidental Collge in Los Angeles. Punahou is Hawaii’s best high school. The era was the height of affirmative action. If he had the goods back then, he could have easily done better than Occidental which is ranked by US News & World Reports on the much smaller Liberal Arts list at number 36 (list does not include the majors or the ivys). My guess is an IQ in the low 120s and an SAT between 1100-1200 (largely on the strength of the verbal) and an LSAT score between 39 and 41 (old test). That is where my smart, African American friends back in law school fell. One was a Princeton grad who may have actually been there with Michelle Obama (early to mid 80’s). It’d be interesting to see how close I am to pegging this.
You think the LSAT is a poor indicator of intelligence? Of all the standardized tests I’ve taken, I think it’s probably the best. It’s pure logic with no knowlege required. Lots of problem solving and lots of inference.
I’d say it’s a far better indicator than the SAT, the ACT, the GRE, or the MCAT, anyway.