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Is a 159 IQ Good? What the Score Means

A 159 IQ is far above the average of 100. Only about 1 in 24,000 people score this high or higher. Clinical reports would call 159 Extremely High in WISC-V wording and Very Superior in the traditional WAIS-IV wording.

Percentile
above 99.99
How rare
1 in 24,000 score 159 or higher
WISC-V wording
Extremely High
Traditional wording (WAIS-IV)
Very Superior
Distance from 100
3.93 SD above
On an SD 16 test
about 163
On an SD 24 test
about 194
Our test's usual range here
our test cannot show this score
Where 159 sits on the IQ curveA bell curve with a marker at 159. The shaded area to the left is the share of people who score lower; 159 is above the 99.99th percentile.70100130159

What does a 159 IQ mean?

A score of 159 is 3.93 standard deviations above the average of 100. On most IQ tests one standard deviation, the typical distance from the average, is 15 points, so 159 is 59 points away.

159 is 29 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 159.

What percentile is an IQ of 159?

A score of 159 is above the 99.99th percentile. That percentile is the share of people who score lower than 159, not the share of questions right. Five points lower, 154 is at the 99.98th percentile.

How rare is an IQ of 159?

About 1 in 24,000 people score 159 or higher. In a town of 100,000 people, about 4 would score 159 or higher.

For each person who scores exactly 159, about 2,300 people score exactly 100. These figures for 159 come from the normal curve that IQ scales are built on, and the IQ calculator works out any other score.

What would 159 be on other tests?

Not every test would print 159 for this position. Older Stanford-Binet forms and many school tests use a standard deviation of 16; there, the same position as 159 is about 163. On a scale with a standard deviation of 24, used by the Cattell test, it is about 194. 159, 163 and 194 all mean the same percentile.

Is 159 a good IQ score?

The scale does not grade the person behind a 159; it places one result among other people’s results. As a position, 159 is far above the average of 100. What a 159 is useful for depends on the purpose, and a single online result is too rough for decisions about school, work or support. A 159 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 159 enough for Mensa?

Only if the 159 comes from a supervised test that Mensa accepts. American Mensa accepts scores at or above the 98th percentile, and 159 is above the 99.99th percentile. On the Wechsler scales the line is a full-scale IQ of 130, so 159 is 29 points above it. A 159 from an unsupervised internet test, ours included, is not accepted. Our Mensa IQ test guide explains the supervised routes to showing a 159.

Is 159 a genius IQ?

No test or psychology dictionary calls 159 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, 159 is 19 points over it. What a person with a 159 achieves depends on far more than a test number, as what IQ is considered genius explains.

Can any test measure a score of 159?

Every test has a ceiling, a highest score it can give, and few tests are built to measure as high as 159. The WISC-V full-scale score, for example, runs from 40 to 160, so 159 sits near its top. On our own test the range gets wider on the way toward 159: about 24 points wide at 100 and about 28 points wide at 140. Our page on the highest IQ score explains why scores like 159 are hard to pin down.

What does an online result of 159 mean?

Our test cannot show a 159. A perfect score currently shows about 140, and a test of 30 questions runs out of hard questions long before 159. Results above 145 show as “145 or higher”. Our methodology shows how the range is made.

An unsupervised online 159 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 159 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 159, take the free IQ test. It has 30 questions and shows an estimated range with every result.

Scores near 159

  • 156 IQ: 3 points lower, above the 99.99th percentile.
  • 157 IQ: 2 points lower, above the 99.99th percentile.
  • 158 IQ: 1 point lower, above the 99.99th percentile.
  • 160 IQ: 1 point higher, above the 99.99th percentile.

Look up any score from 70 to 160, not only those near 159, in the score explorer.

FAQ

What percentile is 159 IQ?

A score of 159 is above the 99.99th percentile. That means more than 99.99 percent of people score lower.

Is 159 IQ genius?

No test defines genius, so no test calls 159 genius. 159 is in the top band of the scale. Only about 1 in 24,000 people score this high or higher.

How many people have an IQ of 159?

On a whole-number scale, about 0.001 percent of people score exactly 159. About 1 in 24,000 people score 159 or higher.

Can an online test show 159?

Not reliably for 159. Our test shows anything above 145 as “145 or higher”, and a perfect score currently shows about 140.