The IQ score chart
The table below uses the standard scale with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, which is what Testora IQ and most modern batteries report. Percentile means the share of the reference population scoring at or below that value.
| IQ score | Percentile | Classification | Roughly how common |
|---|---|---|---|
| 145+ | 99.9th | Highly gifted | About 1 in 1,000 |
| 130–144 | 98th–99.8th | Gifted | About 1 in 50 |
| 120–129 | 91st–97th | Superior | About 1 in 11 |
| 110–119 | 75th–90th | High average | About 1 in 4 |
| 90–109 | 25th–74th | Average | About 1 in 2 |
| 80–89 | 9th–24th | Low average | About 1 in 6 |
| 70–79 | 2nd–8th | Borderline | About 1 in 16 |
| Below 70 | Below 2nd | Extremely low | About 1 in 50 |
Why most scores cluster near 100
The normal distribution puts about 68% of people within 15 points of the mean and about 95% within 30 points. That is why scores between 85 and 115 feel unremarkable: they describe two thirds of everyone who takes a well-normed test.
It also means percentile movement is uneven. Going from 100 to 105 moves you roughly 13 percentile points. Going from 135 to 140 moves you barely more than one. If your goal is to understand your standing, read the percentile; if your goal is to compare with a friend, read both and remember the confidence interval.
What each band tends to look like in practice
Classifications are descriptive labels attached to score ranges, not diagnoses and not predictions about a life. They are worth knowing mainly so you can recognise how loosely popular writing uses them.
- Average (90–109): comfortable with everyday reasoning tasks; differences within this band say little about capability at work or study.
- High average to superior (110–129): typically faster at extracting rules from unfamiliar material, which shows up most in novel problems rather than familiar ones.
- Gifted and above (130+): rare enough that measurement error matters more than the number; a single online result in this range is best treated as a strong indication, not a certification.
- Below average (under 90): often reflects specific weak domains rather than uniform difficulty, which is exactly why a domain breakdown is more useful than a single score.
Reading the confidence interval on your result
A responsible report never shows a bare number. With a standard error of measurement around 4.5 points, a 90% confidence interval spans roughly 14 points, so a reported 118 sits in a likely true range of about 111 to 125.
Practically, that means treating any two scores within about seven points of each other as equivalent. Retaking a test and moving from 116 to 121 is not improvement; it is the same estimate expressed twice.
Why your domain breakdown matters more than your total
Two people can reach an identical total from very different profiles. One might be strong in spatial reasoning and pattern recognition while average in working memory; the other the reverse. The total hides that entirely, and the total is the part that is least actionable.
The breakdown is what supports decisions: which study techniques to try, which item types to slow down on, whether to work on holding information in mind or on scanning for structure. That is why the Testora IQ report presents five domain scores alongside the overall figure and a percentile for each.
Common misreadings to avoid
Three mistakes account for most confused questions we receive at support.
- Treating a percentile as a percentage score. The 84th percentile does not mean 84% correct; it means 84% of the reference group scored at or below you.
- Comparing scores across tests with different scales. Some older tests used a standard deviation of 16 or 24, which shifts the same rank to a different number.
- Reading a small change between sittings as real change. Within the confidence interval, nothing has changed.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the average IQ score?
- The average is 100 by definition, and the range from 90 to 109 is usually described as average, covering about half of the population.
- Is an IQ of 120 good?
- A score of 120 sits around the 91st percentile, meaning roughly nine in ten people in the reference group score lower. With measurement error, the likely true range is about 113 to 127.
- What IQ score is considered gifted?
- Most systems use 130 and above, which is two standard deviations over the mean and reached by about 2% of the population.