Score meaning · Reviewed 2026-09-23
What is a good IQ score?
A good IQ score is not a single line the way a passing grade is. On the scale most people mean — mean 100, standard deviation 15 — “good” is a band, a percentile, and a question. This page says what those bands are, and what an unnormed online estimate is allowed to claim.
The scale people mean by an IQ score
When someone asks for an IQ, they usually want a standard score with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. One standard deviation above the mean is 115. Two is 130. One below is 85. The number is a place on that line, not a count of facts you know and not a percent correct.
A percentile is the share of that curve sitting at or below the score. It is arithmetic on a normal curve. It is not a headcount this site has collected. The IQ score chart lists the labels this site actually prints, including 100 at the 50th percentile, 120 at the 90.9th, and 130 at the 97.7th.
The nine-task test on this site prints numbers on a conventional mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15 so the parts of one sitting can be compared. That conversion is not a census norm, not age-normed, and not a diagnosis. A qualified examiner and the publisher’s manual are what a school, a clinic, a job, or a visa can use.
Descriptive bands, not a verdict
This site prints seven conventional bands so a score can be read without a calculator: 130 and above, very superior; 120 to 129, superior; 110 to 119, high average; 90 to 109, average; 80 to 89, low average; 70 to 79, borderline; below 70, extremely low. A publisher’s manual for a named test is the authority for that test’s wording. These labels are the ones this laboratory uses. They are not a diagnosis.
“Average” is already a wide room. On this curve, 90 sits near the 25th percentile and 110 near the 75th, so the band from 90 through 109 holds about half the area. Calling 100 “good” and 95 “not” invents a cliff the scale does not have. What average IQ means stays on that point.
“Good” depends on the question in front of you
For a personal picture, a score inside the average or high-average band is a ordinary result on a well-built test, and ordinary is not an insult. For a program that wrote down 130, “good” means “at or above the cutoff in the handbook,” which is a rule, not a property of the number. What an IQ of 130 means separates the percentile from that rule.
- Curiosity about where a score sits: use the band and the percentile, then stop.
- A school or clinic decision: use the printed composite the program named, from the test they accept.
- A job, a visa, or a disability claim: this website cannot supply the score. Neither can a screenshot of it.
- A wish to see a pattern, not only one number: read the profile, not a single band.
A high number with a large split can still be a poor summary. Reasoning can sit well above memory and speed, or the other way around. How to read a cognitive profile is the page for that shape. One flattering composite is not “the good score” if the rest of the sheet disagrees.
What a good score means on this site’s test
The free IQ test is nine original tasks, about 30 minutes, with no sign-up. When you finish, it shows an overall IQ estimate and a profile name. Both use the 100/15 line so they can be compared with each other and with GAI. They are not a ranking against a census sample, and they are not age-normed. A 120 here is “this sitting landed near the superior band on our conversion.” It is not evidence you would score 120 on a WAIS.
If you already have a WISC or WAIS report, do not average it with this estimate. Paste the official composites into the GAI calculator if the question is the gap. If you have no report and you want a personal estimate, start the test. The written reading of domain scores, task scores, GAI, and CPI is a separate one-time sheet. The score and the name do not wait on that purchase.
Nothing on this page is a reliability coefficient, a standard error, or a count of people who have sat the tasks. We have not published those figures because we have not measured a norm sample we are willing to cite. Treat the band as a label, then read the limits on how scores are made.
Common questions
Is 100 a good IQ score?
100 is the mean of the usual scale. It is an average score, not a failing one. About half the area of the curve sits at or below it.
Is 120 a good IQ score?
120 is in the superior band on this site’s labels, near the 91st percentile of a normal 100/15 curve. It is a high score. It is not a qualification by itself.
Does this site’s test tell me if I am gifted?
No. Gifted placement is a program rule applied to an accepted test. This estimate is unnormed and is not for school decisions.
Where to go next
The GAIvsIQ laboratory keeps one URL for each job. This note does not replace the instrument it points to.
Ready when you are
See an estimate, not a grade
About 30 minutes, no sign-up. Overall IQ and a profile name. Not a diagnosis.