Stable Genius

This is the story of the "test" Trump "aced" and is still bragging about, saying he might take it again.  

January 16, 2018 --

Before President Donald Trump's physical examination on Friday, Dr. Ronny Jackson had decided he wasn't going to perform a cognitive assessment. Jackson said he didn't feel the test was necessary. But the president requested he be tested, anyway.

[...]

Last week a group of mental health professionals sent an urgent public letter to the president's doctor requesting he test Trump's cognitive abilities.

[...]

Jackson said he decided to run what's called the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, known as MoCA. It is a well-known and well-tested assessment that doctors can quickly use to detect "mild cognitive dysfunction," according to the test instructions.

The 30-point test takes about 10 minutes and asks the patient to perform a simple batch of memory and mental tasks. The tasks include drawing a line between a number and a letter in ascending order. To test visuoconstructional skills. The patient is asked to draw a clock and put numbers on it, and to draw a cube.

The patient is tested on naming and is asked to give the name of animals drawn on a test page.

In addition, there is a memory test involves the doctor reading a list of five words at a rate of one per second and the patient is asked to remember as many words as they can in any order. The doctor and patient repeat the word test one more time. The doctor will then let the patient know that they will be asked about the words again at the end of the exam.

  ABC

In ten minutes.

Next, the exam looks at a person's ability to pay attention. The doctor will say some numbers and the patient is supposed to repeat them in the order that they hear them. The doctor will then ask the patient to repeat another set of numbers backward. The examiner then will read a list of letters and every time they say the letter A, the patient will tap once. Patients' math skills get a work out, as they are asked to count by subtracting seven from 100 and keep subtracting seven until the doctor tells them to stop.

Did Trump really "ace" that part? Or did Ronny fudge the score, like he did Trump's weight?

Sentence repetition is the next skill tested. The examiner will read a sentence and the patient is supposed to repeat it. Verbal fluency gets tested as well. A doctor asks the patient to say as many words that begin with a single letter given by the doctor.

Abstract thought is then tested by the doctor, who will ask to explain what a certain pair of words have in common. For example, a patient may be asked what a banana and an orange have in common.

[...]

A score of 26 is considered normal. The president did better than that. He aced it and got 30 out of 30.

"The president is mentally very sharp, very intact," Jackson said.

Sure, Ronny. Sure.

As far as he knows, Jackson said this is the first time a doctor has performed a cognitive assessment on a president.

Reagan should have had one if he didn't. But, other than Reagan, a president's mental acuity hasn't been in question.

"He has gone above and beyond what I would consider a requirement to demonstrate his cognitive abilities," Jackson said.

Well, unless you count the fact that he thinks this was testing his IQ.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.