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Is a 156 IQ Good? What the Score Means

A 156 IQ is far above the average of 100. Only about 1 in 11,000 people score this high or higher. Clinical reports would call 156 Extremely High in WISC-V wording and Very Superior in the traditional WAIS-IV wording.

Percentile
above 99.99
How rare
1 in 11,000 score 156 or higher
WISC-V wording
Extremely High
Traditional wording (WAIS-IV)
Very Superior
Distance from 100
3.73 SD above
On an SD 16 test
about 160
On an SD 24 test
about 190
Our test's usual range here
our test cannot show this score
Where 156 sits on the IQ curveA bell curve with a marker at 156. The shaded area to the left is the share of people who score lower; 156 is above the 99.99th percentile.70100130156

What does a 156 IQ mean?

A score of 156 is 3.73 standard deviations above the average of 100. On most IQ tests one standard deviation, the typical distance from the average, is 15 points, so 156 is 56 points away.

156 is 26 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 156.

What percentile is an IQ of 156?

A score of 156 is above the 99.99th percentile. That percentile is the share of people who score lower than 156, not the share of questions right. Five points lower, 151 is at the 99.97th percentile.

How rare is an IQ of 156?

About 1 in 11,000 people score 156 or higher. In a town of 100,000 people, about 9 would score 156 or higher.

For each person who scores exactly 156, about 1,100 people score exactly 100. These figures for 156 come from the normal curve that IQ scales are built on, and the IQ calculator works out any other score.

What would 156 be on other tests?

Not every test would print 156 for this position. Older Stanford-Binet forms and many school tests use a standard deviation of 16; there, the same position as 156 is about 160. On a scale with a standard deviation of 24, used by the Cattell test, it is about 190. 156, 160 and 190 all mean the same percentile.

Is 156 a good IQ score?

The scale does not grade the person behind a 156; it places one result among other people’s results. As a position, 156 is far above the average of 100. What a 156 is useful for depends on the purpose, and a single online result is too rough for decisions about school, work or support. A 156 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 156 enough for Mensa?

Only if the 156 comes from a supervised test that Mensa accepts. American Mensa accepts scores at or above the 98th percentile, and 156 is above the 99.99th percentile. On the Wechsler scales the line is a full-scale IQ of 130, so 156 is 26 points above it. A 156 from an unsupervised internet test, ours included, is not accepted. Our Mensa IQ test guide explains the supervised routes to showing a 156.

Is 156 a genius IQ?

No test or psychology dictionary calls 156 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, 156 is 16 points over it. What a person with a 156 achieves depends on far more than a test number, as what IQ is considered genius explains.

Can any test measure a score of 156?

Every test has a ceiling, a highest score it can give, and few tests are built to measure as high as 156. The WISC-V full-scale score, for example, runs from 40 to 160, so 156 sits near its top. On our own test the range gets wider on the way toward 156: about 24 points wide at 100 and about 28 points wide at 140. Our page on the highest IQ score explains why scores like 156 are hard to pin down.

What does an online result of 156 mean?

Our test cannot show a 156. A perfect score currently shows about 140, and a test of 30 questions runs out of hard questions long before 156. Results above 145 show as “145 or higher”. Our methodology shows how the range is made.

An unsupervised online 156 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 156 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 156, take the free IQ test. It has 30 questions and shows an estimated range with every result.

Scores near 156

  • 154 IQ: 2 points lower, at the 99.98th percentile.
  • 155 IQ: 1 point lower, at the 99.99th percentile.
  • 157 IQ: 1 point higher, above the 99.99th percentile.
  • 158 IQ: 2 points higher, above the 99.99th percentile.

Look up any score from 70 to 160, not only those near 156, in the score explorer.

FAQ

What percentile is 156 IQ?

A score of 156 is above the 99.99th percentile. That means more than 99.99 percent of people score lower.

Is 156 IQ genius?

No test defines genius, so no test calls 156 genius. 156 is in the top band of the scale. Only about 1 in 11,000 people score this high or higher.

How many people have an IQ of 156?

On a whole-number scale, about 0.003 percent of people score exactly 156. About 1 in 11,000 people score 156 or higher.

Can an online test show 156?

Not reliably for 156. Our test shows anything above 145 as “145 or higher”, and a perfect score currently shows about 140.