Can You Study for an IQ Test?

Can you study for an IQ test? Yes—you can raise your score with practice, but it won’t make you smarter. Discover how to prepare for an IQ test the right way without hollow gains.

Dr. Russell T. WarneChief Scientist

Yes, it is possible to study for an IQ test, and doing so will raise a person’s score. However, this does not mean that the person is actually more intelligent. This distinction matters more than most people realize.

“Studying for an IQ test” includes a range of preparation techniques. At one end of the scale, examinees might prepare for an IQ test by becoming familiar with the format of the test’s tasks and the time limits. This is an acceptable form of test preparation because it will allow the examinee to focus on answering questions, instead of wasting all their mental effort on figuring out what to do.

At the other extreme, “studying for an IQ test” might mean memorizing the answers to specific questions. This is cheating, and a person who raises their IQ score in this way is clearly not more intelligent because of this preparation.

Most studying strategies fall in between these two extremes. More intensive, short-term preparation strategies will likely increase scores, but these will often result in what psychologists call "hollow gains." The person’s score goes up, but their actual ability to reason, solve novel problems, and think abstractly -- the things that intelligence tests are designed to measure -- hasn't changed.

What Happens When You Study for an IQ Test

The most common form of "studying" is simply retaking the test. This creates a practice effect, where familiarity with the format gives you an advantage. Research shows that practice effects raise scores by about 5 points on the second testing and roughly 3 points on the third.

Another method is learning the rules that govern how questions are constructed. Many items follow patterns or logical rules. For instance, matrix reasoning tasks are based on rules that determine the patterns that the examinee must identify in order to answer questions correctly. One study found that a 15-minute instructional video about these rules raised scores by 15 points on a matrix reasoning test.

The limitation of these strategies is specificity. Strategies for solving matrix problems won't help examinees solve vocabulary questions, working memory tasks, or other subtests. A comprehensive test like the Reasoning and Intelligence Online Test includes multiple different task types, making it much harder to "game" through strategic studying.

The Difference Between IQ and Intelligence

Intelligence is the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, and learn from experience. IQ is simply the number used to measure that ability. According to a consensus statement signed by over 50 leading researchers, intelligence is "a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience."

Raising your IQ score through studying is like adjusting the bathroom scale so that it underestimates a person’s weight. The number changes, but the actual weight stays the same.

Can You Actually Increase Intelligence?

The most effective known method to increase your intelligence is education. Research indicates an extra year of schooling raises IQ by about 1-2 points. However, this measures the effect of the last year someone completes, not early education or the cumulative effects of schooling. The IQ gains from schooling seem to be lasting, though. That makes sense if one considers schooling as being preparation for an IQ test: a long-term program to improve skills and knowledge. This type of “studying” for an IQ test would lead to more meaningful IQ gains than short-term preparation programs.

Adoption studies provide another perspective. When children are adopted into stable, reasonably affluent homes, their scores increase by about 3 points compared to expected outcomes with birth families. But researchers can't isolate which specific factors better healthcare, higher-quality schools, more books, and greater stability, produce this increase.

How to Prepare the Right Way for an IQ test

You can prepare for an IQ test in ways that help you demonstrate your actual abilities without creating hollow gains:

Be well rested. Fatigue impairs cognitive performance. Get plenty of sleep beforehand, and take breaks if allowed. The Reasoning and Intelligence Online Test lets examinees pause between subtests for as long as needed, even completing different sections on different days.

Understand the instructions. Many tasks seem strange on first encounter. Confusion about expectations can depress scores even with adequate ability. The RIOT addresses this by posting instruction videos on YouTube, allowing familiarization with task types without practicing actual items.

Manage your time. Rushing causes careless errors; running out of time means missing answerable questions.

Stay engaged. While research shows that extra effort doesn't increase IQ much, low effort and carelessness definitely lower scores.

Reduce anxiety. Test anxiety can depress performance. The testing environment, whether a psychologist's office or an online platform, is designed to help you perform at your best.

All of these strategies have one thing in common: they make the measurement of intelligence more accurate. When examinees aren’t confused about what to do, or crippled by anxiety, the IQ score that a test produces is more accurate. This is the crux of studying strategies: they should make IQ scores more accurate without inflating them with hollow gains.

Watch “What Does an IQ Test Measure?” on the Riot IQ YouTube channel to discover why studying might not help as much as you think.