The Mensa admission test

The rule: the top 2 percent

Mensa was founded on 1 October 1946 by Roland Berrill and Dr. Lance Ware (Mensa International: history). Its single entry requirement is a score in the upper 2 percent of the general population on a Mensa-approved test that was properly administered and supervised (Mensa International). American Mensa phrases it as a score at or above 98 percent of the general population (American Mensa: testing).

Because the rule is a percentile, the qualifying number depends on the test's scale. On a scale with mean 100 and SD 15, the 98th percentile falls at about 131. Read more in what IQ you need for Mensa and the top 2 percent.

Route 1: the Mensa admission test

American Mensa does not offer its admission test to anyone under 14, says it takes one to two hours, and allows a test or test battery once every eight weeks (American Mensa: testing). One American Mensa local group describes the Mensa Admission Test as two separately timed, proctored tests, where a 98th percentile score on either one qualifies (South Texas Mensa: testing). American Mensa does not give test takers a detailed report, percentile rank or IQ score (American Mensa: testing page).

British Mensa runs its own sessions. Its in-person supervised test costs 49 pounds, lasts 2 1/4 hours and is for candidates over age 10 1/2 (British Mensa: test your IQ). Its online option is two remotely proctored adaptive tests, a non-verbal diagrammatic fluid reasoning test and a vocabulary test, and a 98th percentile score on either or both combined qualifies (British Mensa: online IQ test).

Route 2: prior evidence from another test

American Mensa accepts scores from about 200 standardized intelligence tests as prior evidence (American Mensa: qualifying scores). Some of the qualifying scores it lists:

Source: American Mensa's qualifying test scores page (American Mensa: qualifying scores). Wechsler tests must be given in their entirety so that a Full Scale IQ is obtained. American Mensa does not accept the ASVAB, and it does not accept unsupervised testing, including electronic or Internet-based tests (American Mensa: qualifying scores). British Mensa accepts prior evidence such as a full educational psychologist's report or a professionally administered IQ test (British Mensa: test your IQ).

Why the numbers differ: 130, 132, 148

Different tests use different standard deviations. The Wechsler and Stanford-Binet 5 use 15, older Stanford-Binet forms used 16 and the Cattell III scale uses 24 (Wikipedia: IQ classification). A 148 on SD 24 and a 130 on SD 15 are both two standard deviations above the mean. They are the same rank written on different scales.

Is the Mensa test an IQ test?

It is a supervised test used to decide one thing: whether a score reaches the 98th percentile. Since American Mensa does not return an IQ score, it is not a way to find out your exact IQ. The Mensa test vs IQ test page covers the difference.

How to practice

Mensa's own items are not public. Our free Mensa-style practice test uses original reasoning puzzles so you can get used to this kind of problem. It is not a Mensa test, and no IQ Octopus result can be used for Mensa admission or predicts a Mensa result.

IQ Octopus is not affiliated with or endorsed by Mensa or any test publisher named here. Test names are used only to identify and describe the tests. Our free practice tests are not copies of any published test, and no score on IQ Octopus predicts a score on another test.