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I suppose reading will help but I have trouble processing and remembering information (or so I have been told by my teacher). Any suggestions?
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Don't let your teacher discourage you. It's very hard for most people to remember useless information (meaning things that don't really interest you, and things that you don't need to use/know when to use in your everyday work and relationships). A lot of really intelligent people got horrible grades in traditional school settings because they just couldn't get into the read-regurgitate cycle of cramming and testing on things they didn't care about.
Do you have trouble reading and retaining info on subjects you truly care about? If yes, then a book or course on study skills might help. Also figure out if you learn better by doing hands-on activities, by watching someone else do something and asking them questions as they go, by listening to someone describe something, or by seeing an audio-visual presentation (like a video or flash tutorial online) where you can stop/replay different parts and take notes if you need to. Basically everyone learns differently so don't be discouraged if reading doesn't work for you. It doesn't mean you're not intelligent, that's for sure.
If you want a good idea of your IQ, just take a real IQ test (not a web quiz or self test from a book). Your school guidance counselor/career advisor (and even therapists/psychologists if you have one) can administer such a test and it will give you a good idea where you stand relative to others (an IQ of 100 is about average intelligence, not approaching genius but definitely not lacking enough to worry about increasing intelligence).
And if it helps any, remember that the most intelligent people are not always the wisest or the best decision makers. The men who develop most of the weapons and industrial production methods that are seriously screwing up the world/environment were likely very "smart" (same can be said for a LOT of dubious tech advancements) but they lacked the common sense and ethics that a lot of "less intelligent" people would have considered no-brainers. Plus, smarts can lead to arrogance and smart people can be just as wrong/slow/misguided at times as anybody else. I've heard that going to Mensa meetings is royally depressing because they're frequented by people that are nothing short of socially retarded (as in emotionally developmentally delayed). Not true of all brainiacs, but not an unfounded stereotype either.
If social skills or other traits come easier to you than brainy stuff, go with your strengths and don't waste time cultivating your weaknesses just to please your ego or somebody else's expectations/values (even if you think being a genius is important, you gotta ask yourself why you value it so much and what it will do for you if you were a little (or a lot) smarter). You might find that you don't know how it would help you at all, and that there are other areas you can improve where you just *know* how to get better at them (without reading a book or studying up). Most people have some intuitive talent that just come easy to them (a knack for writing, cooking, comforting others, speaking in public, sports, etc.). What if you worked on something you're already pretty good at instead of fussing with stuff you already think you're behind on?
Intelligence is really just your capacity to learn new things, problem-solve, and process existing data. Most people have enough intelligence to be successful and self-sufficient (and if you didn't, you'd probably have some kind of diagnosis or designation if you were in the public or private school system). Uber advanced intelligence (say, an IQ over 140) is one of those traits that is somewhat overrated in western culture, imo. Kind of like perfect looks in that it's not what you haven't got that is holding you back but rather how you use what you've got effectively. Hope that helps or gives you food for thought.
