Are There Any Good Online IQ Tests?

Are there any good online IQ tests? Yes—one stands out. Discover the only legit, professional-grade online IQ test (RIOT) that meets real scientific standards—no more guessing with fake quizzes.

Dr. Russell T. WarneChief Scientist

In the 21st century, many psychological services have migrated to the internet, including intelligence testing. The question of whether there are any good online IQ tests is valuable to ask because psychological tests are scientific instruments that can be used to make important decisions about people's lives.

Unfortunately, most online IQ tests are created by non-professionals and fail to meet the technical and ethical standards that professional psychologists adhere to. This article explores the landscape of online IQ testing and provides guidance on identifying trustworthy tests.

The Problem with Most Online IQ Tests

The internet has made psychological testing more accessible than ever before, but it has also opened the door for non-professionals to create low-quality tests that can mislead the public. Most online IQ tests suffer from several critical flaws:

Created by anonymous or non-professional authors: Legitimate test creators disclose their identity and credentials. Professional test creators are proud of their tests and willingly attach their names and reputations to them. Anonymity helps bad actors avoid accountability.
Lack of documented technical properties: Professional tests have technical documentation, usually in the form of a test manual that explains all aspects of the test's creation and evaluation. Most online tests provide no evidence that they have received any technical scrutiny.
No independent evaluation by experts: High-quality tests are evaluated by multiple experts during development. One powerful indicator of test quality is whether it has been used in peer-reviewed research. Most online tests have never been subjected to such review.
Failure to meet technical and ethical standards: Professional tests are designed to meet professional standards, such as those published by the American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education. These standards are extensive and require significant expertise to implement.
No representative norm sample: Professional tests have documented norm samples that represent the population the test is designed for. Without a representative norm sample, it is impossible to know whether scores are above average, below average, etc. Many online tests use self-selected groups of internet users as their comparison group, which cannot produce accurate results. The non-representative norm sample makes these tests’ IQ scores distorted.

What Makes a Good IQ Test?

A good IQ test, whether online or not, has several key characteristics:

• Expert Creation: The test is created by individuals with training in psychometrics (the science of measuring psychological traits).

• Theoretical Foundation: The test is based on a scientifically-supported theory of intelligence, usually the Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory.

• Comprehensive Content: The test samples a broad range of cognitive abilities rather than relying on a single type of task.

• Reliability: The test produces consistent scores when taken multiple times by the same person (assuming no practice effects).

• Validity Evidence: There is evidence that scores from the test predict meaningful outcomes or correlate with other established measures of intelligence.

• Documented Norm Sample: The test has data from a representative sample of the population, allowing for meaningful comparisons.

• Transparency: The test's authors and their qualifications are clearly stated, and there is technical documentation available.

Are There Any Good Online IQ Tests?

Most online IQ tests were created by non-professionals who lacked the expertise to create valid psychological tests. Even when an online IQ test was created by a professional, it was suitable for research purposes only -- not for making decisions or providing in-depth insights into examinees’ mental abilities. However, the landscape is changing.

The Reasoning and Intelligence Online Test (RIOT) represents a significant step forward in online intelligence testing. Unlike most online IQ tests, the RIOT was developed following professional standards for psychological assessment. Its development included expert review, a representative norm sample of English-speaking American adults, and adherence to testing standards established by major psychological organizations.

Online testing fulfills many of the purposes of in-person testing when done properly. Computerized cognitive tests have been in use for decades, and moving the entire testing process online can significantly reduce cost.