Question
Can you fail an IQ test?
Short answer
No. An IQ test has no pass mark. It compares your performance with people your own age and places you on a scale where 100 is average, so every result is a position, not a grade. Some uses of IQ scores, such as Mensa admission, set a cutoff, but the test itself cannot be failed.
Want your own number? The test is 25 visual puzzles, about 12 minutes, no sign-up.
Why there is no pass mark
Modern IQ tests are scored by comparison. Your performance is set against a large sample of people your own age and placed on a scale with mean 100 and standard deviation 15 (Wikipedia: Intelligence quotient). A score of 85 means you scored one standard deviation below your age group's average, higher than about 15.9% of people. That is a description, not a judgment.
Your number of correct answers, the raw score, only matters through that comparison. Thirty right on a hard test can be a higher IQ than forty right on an easy one.
Try one · Pattern Recognition
Which tile comes next?
Tap the option you think is right, or show the answer.
Show the answer
The missing tile shows a very large outlined arrow pointing left (option 6).
How to solve it
- Compare neighboring tiles and name what changes each time.
- From tile to tile, the arrow turns a quarter turn counterclockwise.
- The fill cycles outline, solid and hatched, then starts again.
- Everything else stays the same from tile to tile.
- The last tile shows a very large hatched arrow pointing up. Apply each change once more.
- So the missing tile shows a very large outlined arrow pointing left.
That was 1 puzzle. The full test has 25.
Where cutoffs do exist
Some organizations use IQ scores with their own thresholds. Mensa, for example, admits people at or above the 98th percentile on an approved, supervised test (Mensa International). Not reaching a cutoff like that is not failing the test. It just means the score was below that particular line, and even then every score carries error of a few points (Wechsler, 2008).
How to approach any IQ test
- Answer every item unless the instructions say wrong answers cost points.
- Do not stall on one hard item; later items may be easier for you.
- Take it rested, in a quiet place, on a screen big enough to see the details.
If you want to know what a particular result means, the guide how to read an IQ score walks through every part. And if you are wondering about the numbers themselves, read is an IQ score a percentage.
Sources
- Intelligence quotient. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient
- About us. Mensa International. www.mensa.org/mensa/about-us
- Wechsler, D. (2008). WAIS-IV Technical and Interpretive Manual. Pearson.