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Is a 153 IQ Good? What the Score Means

A 153 IQ is far above the average of 100. Only about 1 in 4,900 people score this high or higher. Clinical reports would call 153 Extremely High in WISC-V wording and Very Superior in the traditional WAIS-IV wording.

Percentile
99.98
How rare
1 in 4,900 score 153 or higher
WISC-V wording
Extremely High
Traditional wording (WAIS-IV)
Very Superior
Distance from 100
3.53 SD above
On an SD 16 test
about 157
On an SD 24 test
about 185
Our test's usual range here
our test cannot show this score
Where 153 sits on the IQ curveA bell curve with a marker at 153. The shaded area to the left is the share of people who score lower; 153 is at the 99.98th percentile.70100130153

What does a 153 IQ mean?

A score of 153 is 3.53 standard deviations above the average of 100. On most IQ tests one standard deviation, the typical distance from the average, is 15 points, so 153 is 53 points away.

153 is 23 points above the start of the top band, which begins at 130 and has no upper end. About 2.5 in 100 people score anywhere in the top band that holds 153.

What percentile is an IQ of 153?

A score of 153 is at the 99.98th percentile. That percentile is the share of people who score lower than 153, not the share of questions right. Five points higher, 158 is above the 99.99th percentile. Five points lower, 148 is at the 99.93rd percentile. Across those ten points around 153, the percentile moves by 0.06.

How rare is an IQ of 153?

About 1 in 4,900 people score 153 or higher. In a town of 100,000 people, about 21 would score 153 or higher.

For each person who scores exactly 153, about 514 people score exactly 100. These figures for 153 come from the normal curve that IQ scales are built on, and the IQ calculator works out any other score.

What would 153 be on other tests?

Not every test would print 153 for this position. Older Stanford-Binet forms and many school tests use a standard deviation of 16; there, the same position as 153 is about 157. On a scale with a standard deviation of 24, used by the Cattell test, it is about 185. 153, 157 and 185 all mean the same percentile.

Is 153 a good IQ score?

The scale does not grade the person behind a 153; it places one result among other people’s results. As a position, 153 is far above the average of 100. What a 153 is useful for depends on the purpose, and a single online result is too rough for decisions about school, work or support. A 153 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 153 enough for Mensa?

Only if the 153 comes from a supervised test that Mensa accepts. American Mensa accepts scores at or above the 98th percentile, and 153 is at the 99.98th percentile. On the Wechsler scales the line is a full-scale IQ of 130, so 153 is 23 points above it. A 153 from an unsupervised internet test, ours included, is not accepted. Our Mensa IQ test guide explains the supervised routes to showing a 153.

Is 153 a genius IQ?

No test or psychology dictionary calls 153 a genius score, or defines one at all. The often quoted 140 goes back to a long-term study that selected children scoring above 140; by that line, 153 is 13 points over it. What a person with a 153 achieves depends on far more than a test number, as what IQ is considered genius explains.

Can any test measure a score of 153?

Every test has a ceiling, a highest score it can give, and few tests are built to measure as high as 153. The WISC-V full-scale score, for example, runs from 40 to 160, so 153 sits near its top. On our own test the range gets wider on the way toward 153: about 24 points wide at 100 and about 28 points wide at 140. Our page on the highest IQ score explains why scores like 153 are hard to pin down.

What does an online result of 153 mean?

Our test cannot show a 153. A perfect score currently shows about 140, and a test of 30 questions runs out of hard questions long before 153. Results above 145 show as “145 or higher”. Our methodology shows how the range is made.

An unsupervised online 153 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 153 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 153, take the free IQ test. It has 30 questions and shows an estimated range with every result.

Scores near 153

  • 151 IQ: 2 points lower, at the 99.97th percentile.
  • 152 IQ: 1 point lower, at the 99.97th percentile.
  • 154 IQ: 1 point higher, at the 99.98th percentile.
  • 155 IQ: 2 points higher, at the 99.99th percentile.

Look up any score from 70 to 160, not only those near 153, in the score explorer.

FAQ

What percentile is 153 IQ?

A score of 153 is at the 99.98th percentile. That means about 99.98 percent of people score lower.

Is 153 IQ genius?

No test defines genius, so no test calls 153 genius. 153 is in the top band of the scale. Only about 1 in 4,900 people score this high or higher.

How many people have an IQ of 153?

On a whole-number scale, about 0.005 percent of people score exactly 153. About 1 in 4,900 people score 153 or higher.

Can an online test show 153?

Not reliably for 153. Our test shows anything above 145 as “145 or higher”, and a perfect score currently shows about 140.