Free IQ Tests
Nov 11, 2023
Intelligence affects many areas of life, so wanting to understand your cognitive abilities without spending money makes sense. There are some free IQ tests available, but the quality varies dramatically. Before taking any free online IQ test, it is helpful to understand what you're actually getting.
What Is a Legitimate IQ Test?
A legitimate IQ test should be created by a professional with training in psychometrics (the science of psychological testing). It should have documented evidence of reliability and validity. It should have a representative norm sample, which is a group of people against whom your scores are compared. Finally, the test creator should be identifiable, not anonymous.
Unfortunately, the internet is flooded with “free IQ tests” created by well-meaning amateurs who lack proper training. Their tests are not scientifically validated, and users should not take the scores seriously. If you would not trust a blood test created by an amateur, then you should not trust an intelligence test created by an amateur.
Worse then the amateurs are the scammers that lurk in the online testing world. Their tests have no scientific basis, and their web sites are designed to collect personal information and credit card numbers. These scammers are trying to make a quick buck by giving their examinees some questions and then producing a bogus IQ score in exchange for money. Some even store the credit card information of their “customers” and covertly put them on subscription plans.
To learn more about intelligence tests, check out this video:
The Problem With Most Free IQ Tests
Test development is expensive. Creating a professional IQ test requires years of expertise, pilot testing with hundreds or thousands of people, statistical analysis, and ongoing validation research. This is why legitimate IQ tests typically charge a fee. (To learn more about the process of creating an IQ test, read Creating an IQ test.)
Common problems with free online IQ tests include:
• No norm sample: A “norm sample” is the group of people who serve as a comparison group for examinees. Low-quality tests compare an examinee’s score to other people who happened to take the test online. The problem with this is that people who seek out an online IQ test are not representative of the general population. Calculating scores by comparing a test taker’s score to an unrepresentative norm sample produces highly distorted results.
• Poor item quality: Questions may be poorly written, ambiguous, or fail to measure intelligence properly. Writing test questions is much more difficult than it looks, and professional tests try out prospective questions multiple times before adding a question to a test.Â
• No reliability or validity data: “Reliability” is the tendency for a test to produce consistent results. “Validity” is the degree to which a test measures what it is designed to test. Professional test developers gather reliability and validity evidence and publish this in a test manual (which is often only available to professionals) or on their web site.
• Anonymous creators: No way to verify credentials or hold anyone accountable for errors. Creators of legitimate IQ tests are proud to be named publicly as a test author, and their credentials should be easy to verify.
How To Test Your IQ For Free
1. School-based testing: Schools may offer cognitive testing as part of educational evaluations, especially for learning disabilities or gifted program placement. Usually conducted by school psychologists at no direct cost to families.
2. Research studies: Universities sometimes recruit participants for intelligence research and provide free testing in exchange. Some studies provide feedback to participants.
3. Free RIOT IQ test: Only one professional test developer offers a free sample IQ test, and that would be us, the Riot IQ team, and our Sample version (think of it as a demo) of our Reasoning and Intelligence Online Test (RIOT). It takes approximately 8 minutes to complete.
4. Military entrance exams: The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) functions as an intelligence test and is administered for free. The ASVAB correlates strongly with IQ and can provide meaningful information about your cognitive abilities.
The Cost Of Accuracy
A legitimate online IQ test typically costs less than $100, which is far less than the several hundred dollars for in-person testing with a psychologist.
When you pay for a professional test, you're paying for technical expertise, scientific integrity, and accurate results. The cost reflects years of development, proper validation research, a representative norm sample, high-quality online testing software, and adherence to ethical standards. In short, you get what you pay for.
The Bottom Line
Truly free, high-quality IQ tests are rare. Most free online IQ tests provide unreliable results. If you find a free test that seems legitimate, it's likely a research tool or preview version.
If you want a rough estimate and understand the limitations, some free tests may satisfy your curiosity. But if you need an accurate IQ score for educational planning, employment purposes, or personal understanding, investing in a professionally developed test is worthwhile.
If you're curious about your cognitive abilities, the Sample RIOT Free IQ Test offers a quick way to experience what a professional IQ assessment actually involves. It takes about 8 minutes and provides a general measure of intelligence, though with a wider margin of error than a full assessment. At the very least, it can give you a taste of what a professionally developed online test looks like.
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