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Is a 121 IQ Good? What the Score Means

A 121 IQ is well above the average of 100. About 92 in 100 people score lower than 121. Clinical reports would call 121 Very High in WISC-V wording and Superior in the traditional WAIS-IV wording.

Percentile
91.92
How rare
1 in 12 score 121 or higher
WISC-V wording
Very High
Traditional wording (WAIS-IV)
Superior
Distance from 100
1.40 SD above
On an SD 16 test
about 122
On an SD 24 test
about 134
Our test's usual range here
109 to 133 (90%)
Where 121 sits on the IQ curveA bell curve with a marker at 121. The shaded area to the left is the share of people who score lower; 121 is at the 91.92nd percentile.70100130121

What does a 121 IQ mean?

A score of 121 is 1.40 standard deviations above the average of 100. On most IQ tests one standard deviation, the typical distance from the average, is 15 points, so 121 is 21 points away.

121 sits near the bottom of the 120 to 129 band, 9 points below the next band up. About 7 in 100 people score from 120 to 129, the second highest band, which holds 121.

What percentile is an IQ of 121?

A score of 121 is at the 91.92nd percentile. That percentile is the share of people who score lower than 121, not the share of questions right. Five points higher, 126 is at the 95.85th percentile. Five points lower, 116 is at the 85.69th percentile. Across those ten points around 121, the percentile moves by 10.15.

How rare is an IQ of 121?

About 1 in 12 people score 121 or higher. In a town of 100,000 people, about 8,100 would score 121 or higher.

For every 100 people who score exactly 100, about 38 score exactly 121. These figures for 121 come from the normal curve that IQ scales are built on, and the IQ calculator works out any other score.

What would 121 be on other tests?

Not every test would print 121 for this position. Older Stanford-Binet forms and many school tests use a standard deviation of 16; there, the same position as 121 is about 122. On a scale with a standard deviation of 24, used by the Cattell test, it is about 134. 121, 122 and 134 all mean the same percentile.

Is 121 a good IQ score?

The scale does not grade the person behind a 121; it places one result among other people’s results. As a position, 121 is well above the average of 100. What a 121 is useful for depends on the purpose, and a single online result is too rough for decisions about school, work or support. A 121 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 121 gifted?

There is no single gifted cutoff that a 121 either meets or misses; each school or program sets its own rule. Many programs use the top 10 percent as a guide, and a 121 is in the top 8.08 percent of people, inside that guide. A child’s 121 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 121 mean?

An online result of 121 is an estimate. When our test shows 121, the estimated range next to it is usually about 109 to 133. That range for 121 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 121 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 121 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 121, take the free IQ test. It has 30 questions and shows an estimated range with every result.

Scores near 121

  • 119 IQ: 2 points lower, at the 89.74th percentile.
  • 120 IQ: 1 point lower, at the 90.88th percentile.
  • 122 IQ: 1 point higher, at the 92.88th percentile.
  • 123 IQ: 2 points higher, at the 93.74th percentile.

Look up any score from 70 to 160, not only those near 121, in the score explorer.

FAQ

What percentile is 121 IQ?

A score of 121 is at the 91.92nd percentile. That means about 91.92 percent of people score lower.

Is 121 IQ gifted?

Whether 121 counts as gifted depends on the program. Many use the top 10 percent as a guide, and 121 is in the top 8.1 percent.

How many people have an IQ of 121?

On a whole-number scale, about 1.0 percent of people score exactly 121. About 1 in 12 people score 121 or higher.

Can an online test show 121?

Yes, as an estimate with a range: on our test a 121 usually comes with an estimated range of about 109 to 133.