IQ 120: what it means
On the standard IQ scale, 120 is 1.3 steps of 15 points above the average of 100. It falls in the high band.
Higher than90.9%of people on the scaleAbout 1 in 11 people score 120 or more
- Percentile90.9
- Steps from 100+1.3
- Bandhigh
Is 120 a good IQ score?
Scores from 115 to 129 are above the middle of the scale. About one person in seven falls in this range.
How many people score 120 or higher?
On the standard scale, about 9.1% of people score 120 or higher, roughly 1 in 11. In a town of 100,000 people that is about 9,121.
The same score on other scales
Most modern tests use 15 points per step, but some older or special tests use 16 or 24. The same place on the curve then has a different number.
| Points per step | Same place on the curve |
|---|---|
| 15 (most tests) | 120 |
| 16 | 121 |
| 24 | 132 |
What IQ 120 does not tell you
A single number from a single test has a margin of several points, so a real result is better read as a range. Our free test does not give an IQ score like this one: it gives an estimate on a provisional scale.
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