Ask ten people what a "good" IQ score is and you'll get ten different answers. The honest one is: it depends on what you're comparing to. IQ is a scaled score, designed so that the average of a population is 100 and scores follow a bell curve. Here's what each band actually means.
How IQ is scaled IQ tests are normalised so that 100 is the population average and the standard deviation is 15. That means: - About 68% of people score between 85 and 115 - About 95% score between 70 and 130 - Fewer than 3% score above 130 or below 70
These aren't arbitrary bands — they fall out of the bell curve. The specific test labels differ between clinical instruments (WAIS, Stanford-Binet, Raven's) but the statistical structure is identical.
Band by band **70–84 (Borderline)**: About 14% of people. Many live fully independent lives; the band includes people with learning difficulties who need support, and people without any diagnosis who just process information more slowly.
**85–99 (Low Average)**: About 34% of people. Completely within normal function. Often outperforms higher-IQ peers in real-world work due to conscientiousness and motivation.
**100–114 (Average to High Average)**: The biggest chunk of the population. 100 is the exact midpoint. Scoring 110 means you're ahead of about 75% of people on this specific type of reasoning test.
**115–129 (Above Average)**: About 14% of people. Correlates with success in demanding academic fields, professional roles and research positions. Most doctors, engineers and senior managers score here.
**130+ (Gifted)**: About 2% of people. Scores above 145 are roughly 1 in 1,000. These are clinical-level scores, not something to claim from a 20-question online test.
The 85% ceiling effect Online IQ tests, including ours, typically measure well below 130 with any reliability. Short tests have too few high-difficulty items to distinguish between a 130 and a 150. A clinical test has 60-100+ items specifically calibrated to separate scores at the upper end. If you score "exceptional" on an online test, treat it as "above average at minimum" — not as a precise number.
What "good" depends on - **For school and work**: Above 100 is genuinely helpful. Above 115 opens doors in demanding cognitive fields. - **For life satisfaction**: Almost no correlation above 100. People at 100 report similar life satisfaction to people at 140. - **For specific careers**: Research suggests a soft threshold effect — around 120, IQ stops predicting performance in many creative fields, because other factors (drive, conscientiousness, social skills) take over.
Why IQ isn't everything Psychometric research consistently finds that: - Conscientiousness predicts job performance about as strongly as IQ - Emotional intelligence predicts leadership success more than IQ - Grit and deliberate practice compound over years to beat raw talent
IQ opens some doors. It doesn't hand you anything behind them.
What your score is telling you Focus less on the exact number and more on: - Which question areas you did well in (pattern recognition vs verbal vs numerical) - Where you slipped (that's practice territory) - Whether it matches your sense of your own strengths
If you haven't taken our 40-item screener yet, it'll give you a band and a breakdown by skill area. It won't tell you your IQ to three significant figures — no online test can — but it will point you at what to practise.
