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Is a 120 IQ Good? What the Score Means

A 120 IQ is well above the average of 100. About 91 in 100 people score lower than 120. Clinical reports would call 120 Very High in WISC-V wording and Superior in the traditional WAIS-IV wording.

Percentile
90.88
How rare
1 in 11 score 120 or higher
WISC-V wording
Very High
Traditional wording (WAIS-IV)
Superior
Distance from 100
1.33 SD above
On an SD 16 test
about 121
On an SD 24 test
about 132
Our test's usual range here
108 to 132 (90%)
Where 120 sits on the IQ curveA bell curve with a marker at 120. The shaded area to the left is the share of people who score lower; 120 is at the 90.88th percentile.70100130120

What does a 120 IQ mean?

A score of 120 is 1.33 standard deviations above the average of 100. On most IQ tests one standard deviation, the typical distance from the average, is 15 points, so 120 is 20 points away.

120 sits near the bottom of the 120 to 129 band, 10 points below the next band up. About 7 in 100 people score from 120 to 129, the second highest band, which holds 120.

What percentile is an IQ of 120?

A score of 120 is at the 90.88th percentile. That percentile is the share of people who score lower than 120, not the share of questions right. Five points higher, 125 is at the 95.22nd percentile. Five points lower, 115 is at the 84.13th percentile. Across those ten points around 120, the percentile moves by 11.09.

How rare is an IQ of 120?

About 1 in 11 people score 120 or higher. In a town of 100,000 people, about 9,100 would score 120 or higher.

For every 100 people who score exactly 100, about 41 score exactly 120. These figures for 120 come from the normal curve that IQ scales are built on, and the IQ calculator works out any other score.

What would 120 be on other tests?

Not every test would print 120 for this position. Older Stanford-Binet forms and many school tests use a standard deviation of 16; there, the same position as 120 is about 121. On a scale with a standard deviation of 24, used by the Cattell test, it is about 132. 120, 121 and 132 all mean the same percentile.

Is 120 a good IQ score?

The scale does not grade the person behind a 120; it places one result among other people’s results. As a position, 120 is well above the average of 100. What a 120 is useful for depends on the purpose, and a single online result is too rough for decisions about school, work or support. A 120 describes some kinds of reasoning on one test, on one day, and leaves out a great deal that matters, such as effort, knowledge and character.

Is a score of 120 gifted?

There is no single gifted cutoff that a 120 either meets or misses; each school or program sets its own rule. Many programs use the top 10 percent as a guide, and a 120 is in the top 9.12 percent of people, inside that guide. A child’s 120 counts for a program only when it comes from a supervised test given by a psychologist or the school. Our guide for parents explains how that works.

What does an online result of 120 mean?

An online result of 120 is an estimate. When our test shows 120, the estimated range next to it is usually about 108 to 132. That range for 120 is provisional: it comes from our scoring model and a simulation, not yet from real test takers. Our methodology shows how the range is made.

An unsupervised online 120 may also run a little high: a large review found a gap of about 3 IQ points. Taking the same kind of test again usually raises a score like 120 a little, mostly on the first retakes. Our guide are IQ tests accurate covers this in depth.

To see where your own result falls next to 120, take the free IQ test. It has 30 questions and shows an estimated range with every result.

Scores near 120

  • 118 IQ: 2 points lower, at the 88.49th percentile.
  • 119 IQ: 1 point lower, at the 89.74th percentile.
  • 121 IQ: 1 point higher, at the 91.92nd percentile.
  • 122 IQ: 2 points higher, at the 92.88th percentile.

Look up any score from 70 to 160, not only those near 120, in the score explorer.

FAQ

What percentile is 120 IQ?

A score of 120 is at the 90.88th percentile. That means about 90.88 percent of people score lower.

Is 120 IQ gifted?

Whether 120 counts as gifted depends on the program. Many use the top 10 percent as a guide, and 120 is in the top 9.1 percent.

How many people have an IQ of 120?

On a whole-number scale, about 1.1 percent of people score exactly 120. About 1 in 11 people score 120 or higher.

Can an online test show 120?

Yes, as an estimate with a range: on our test a 120 usually comes with an estimated range of about 108 to 132.