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Is a 129 IQ Good? What the Score Means

A 129 IQ is well above the average of 100. About 97 in 100 people score lower than 129. Clinical reports would call 129 Very High in WISC-V wording and Superior in the traditional WAIS-IV wording.

Percentile
97.34
How rare
1 in 38 score 129 or higher
WISC-V wording
Very High
Traditional wording (WAIS-IV)
Superior
Distance from 100
1.93 SD above
On an SD 16 test
about 131
On an SD 24 test
about 146
Our test's usual range here
116 to 142 (90%)
Where 129 sits on the IQ curveA bell curve with a marker at 129. The shaded area to the left is the share of people who score lower; 129 is at the 97.34th percentile.70100130129

What does a 129 IQ mean?

A score of 129 is 1.93 standard deviations above the average of 100. On most IQ tests one standard deviation, the typical distance from the average, is 15 points, so 129 is 29 points away.

129 sits near the top of the 120 to 129 band, 1 point below the next band up. About 7 in 100 people score from 120 to 129, the second highest band, which holds 129.

What percentile is an IQ of 129?

A score of 129 is at the 97.34th percentile. That percentile is the share of people who score lower than 129, not the share of questions right. Five points higher, 134 is at the 98.83rd percentile. Five points lower, 124 is at the 94.52nd percentile. Across those ten points around 129, the percentile moves by 4.31.

How rare is an IQ of 129?

About 1 in 38 people score 129 or higher. In a town of 100,000 people, about 2,700 would score 129 or higher.

For every 100 people who score exactly 100, about 15 score exactly 129. These figures for 129 come from the normal curve that IQ scales are built on, and the IQ calculator works out any other score.

What would 129 be on other tests?

Not every test would print 129 for this position. Older Stanford-Binet forms and many school tests use a standard deviation of 16; there, the same position as 129 is about 131. On a scale with a standard deviation of 24, used by the Cattell test, it is about 146. 129, 131 and 146 all mean the same percentile.

Is 129 a good IQ score?

The scale does not grade the person behind a 129; it places one result among other people’s results. As a position, 129 is well above the average of 100. What a 129 is useful for depends on the purpose, and a single online result is too rough for decisions about school, work or support. A 129 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 129 gifted?

There is no single gifted cutoff that a 129 either meets or misses; each school or program sets its own rule. Many programs use the top 10 percent as a guide, and a 129 is in the top 2.66 percent of people, inside that guide. A child’s 129 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 129 mean?

An online result of 129 is an estimate. When our test shows 129, the estimated range next to it is usually about 116 to 142. That range for 129 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 129 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 129 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 129, take the free IQ test. It has 30 questions and shows an estimated range with every result.

Scores near 129

  • 127 IQ: 2 points lower, at the 96.41st percentile.
  • 128 IQ: 1 point lower, at the 96.9th percentile.
  • 130 IQ: 1 point higher, at the 97.72nd percentile.
  • 131 IQ: 2 points higher, at the 98.06th percentile.

Look up any score from 70 to 160, not only those near 129, in the score explorer.

FAQ

What percentile is 129 IQ?

A score of 129 is at the 97.34th percentile. That means about 97.34 percent of people score lower.

Is 129 IQ gifted?

Whether 129 counts as gifted depends on the program. Many use the top 10 percent as a guide, and 129 is in the top 2.7 percent.

How many people have an IQ of 129?

On a whole-number scale, about 0.4 percent of people score exactly 129. About 1 in 38 people score 129 or higher.

Can an online test show 129?

Yes, as an estimate with a range: on our test a 129 usually comes with an estimated range of about 116 to 142.