Question
What does a borderline IQ mean?
Short answer
Borderline is the WAIS-IV label for scores from 70 to 79. It sits between Low Average (80 to 89) and Extremely Low (69 and below). About 6.5% of people score in this range. It is a description of a test score, not a diagnosis, and it does not by itself mean intellectual disability.
Want your own number? The test is 25 visual puzzles, about 12 minutes, no sign-up.
Where the band sits
The WAIS-IV groups scores into seven labeled bands. Borderline covers 70 to 79, below Low Average (80 to 89) and above Extremely Low (69 and below) (Wikipedia: IQ classification). On a scale with mean 100 and standard deviation 15, the band runs from two standard deviations below the mean to just under one and a third. The normal curve puts about 6.5% of people in it.
You can check any score in the band on its own page, for example IQ 70, IQ 75 or IQ 79.
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 four outlined squares (option 6).
How to solve it
- Compare neighboring tiles and name what changes each time.
- From tile to tile, one more square is added.
- The fill cycles outline, hatched and solid, then starts again.
- Everything else stays the same from tile to tile.
- The last tile shows three solid squares. Apply each change once more.
- So the missing tile shows four outlined squares.
That was 1 puzzle. The full test has 25.
What the label does and does not mean
A Borderline score says a person found the test tasks harder than most people their age. It does not describe their character, their potential to learn or their everyday abilities. Intellectual disability, by the AAIDD definition, needs significant limits in both intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior, beginning before age 22, with an IQ of around 70 or up to 75 treated as the intellectual threshold (AAIDD). Many people with Borderline scores do not meet that definition.
Measurement error matters most near boundaries
A clinical score usually comes with a confidence interval of about plus or minus 5 points at 95% (Wechsler, 2008). A measured 78 is consistent with a true level in the low 70s or low 80s. Near a band edge, the band name tells you less than the range.
If you scored in this range on an online test, treat it as a rough signal at most; conditions like fatigue or distraction move online results. See what IQ is considered low and the guide to IQ classification.
Sources
- IQ classification. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_classification
- Defining criteria for intellectual disability. American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. www.aaidd.org/intellectual-disability/definition
- Wechsler, D. (2008). WAIS-IV Technical and Interpretive Manual. Pearson.