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What Does an 80 IQ Mean?

An 80 IQ is a little below the average of 100. About 9 in 100 people score lower than 80. Clinical reports using the WISC-V or the traditional WAIS-IV wording would call 80 Low Average.

Percentile
9.12
How rare
1 in 11 score 80 or lower
WISC-V wording
Low Average
Traditional wording (WAIS-IV)
Low Average
Distance from 100
1.33 SD below
On an SD 16 test
about 79
On an SD 24 test
about 68
Our test's usual range here
up to 93 (90%)
Where 80 sits on the IQ curveA bell curve with a marker at 80. The shaded area to the left is the share of people who score lower; 80 is at the 9.12th percentile.7010013080

What does an 80 IQ mean?

A score of 80 is 1.33 standard deviations below the average of 100. On most IQ tests one standard deviation, the typical distance from the average, is 15 points, so 80 is 20 points away.

80 sits near the bottom of the 80 to 89 band, 10 points below the next band up. About 16 in 100 people score from 80 to 89, the band that holds 80. The average band starts at 90, so a retest of an 80 can easily land on the other side of that line.

What percentile is an IQ of 80?

A score of 80 is at the 9.12th percentile. That percentile is the share of people who score lower than 80, not the share of questions right. Five points higher, 85 is at the 15.87th percentile. Five points lower, 75 is at the 4.78th percentile. Across those ten points around 80, the percentile moves by 11.09.

How rare is an IQ of 80?

About 1 in 11 people score 80 or lower. In a town of 100,000 people, about 9,100 would score 80 or lower.

For every 100 people who score exactly 100, about 41 score exactly 80. These figures for 80 come from the normal curve that IQ scales are built on, and the IQ calculator works out any other score.

What would 80 be on other tests?

Not every test would print 80 for this position. Older Stanford-Binet forms and many school tests use a standard deviation of 16; there, the same position as 80 is about 79. On a scale with a standard deviation of 24, used by the Cattell test, it is about 68. 80, 79 and 68 all mean the same percentile.

Is 80 a good IQ score?

The scale does not grade the person behind an 80; it places one result among other people’s results. As a position, 80 is a little below the average of 100. What an 80 is useful for depends on the purpose, and a single online result is too rough for decisions about school, work or support. An 80 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.

How far is 80 from the average?

80 is 20 points below the average of 100, or 1.33 of a standard deviation. About 40.9 percent of people score between 80 and 100. About 9.1 percent score lower than 80. Our average IQ guide explains why the middle sits at 100 rather than at 80.

What does an online result of 80 mean?

An online result of 80 is an estimate. When our test shows 80, the estimated range next to it usually reaches below 70, the lowest score our test reports, so it is shown as “up to 93” or close to that. That range for 80 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 80 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 80 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 80, take the free IQ test. It has 30 questions and shows an estimated range with every result.

Scores near 80

  • 78 IQ: 2 points lower, at the 7.12th percentile.
  • 79 IQ: 1 point lower, at the 8.08th percentile.
  • 81 IQ: 1 point higher, at the 10.26th percentile.
  • 82 IQ: 2 points higher, at the 11.51st percentile.

Look up any score from 70 to 160, not only those near 80, in the score explorer.

FAQ

What percentile is 80 IQ?

A score of 80 is at the 9.12th percentile. That means about 9.12 percent of people score lower.

Is 80 IQ low?

80 is below the average band. About 9.1 in 100 people score 80 or lower. A single 80 is not a diagnosis.

How many people have an IQ of 80?

On a whole-number scale, about 1.1 percent of people score exactly 80. About 1 in 11 people score 80 or lower.

Can an online test show 80?

Yes, as an estimate with a range: on our test an 80 usually comes with an estimated range shown as “up to 93” or close to that.