Want to know your IQ? Compare traditional testing with online IQ tests. Learn how to spot scams and ensure your IQ score accuracy.
Dr. Russell T. WarneChief Scientist
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An IQ is a score on an intelligence test. That means that the best way to learn your IQ is to take an IQ test. There are two general options for IQ testing: traditional tests and online tests.
Traditional tests are administered one-on-one with a psychologist, counselor, or other professional who has had extensive training in psychology. This is the gold standard of IQ testing because the tests that are usually administered (like the Wechsler tests, Stanford-Binet, Woodcock-Johnson, and others) are some of the best designed and rigorously vetted tests in all of psychology. The in-person setting and undivided attention of the test administrator also allows for observations about the examinee’s behavior that may be important to consider, such as a lack of motivation or a high level of inattention. The drawback with traditional IQ testing is that it is very expensive. Depending on the qualifications of the examiner, the choice of test, and other issues, the cost of a traditional IQ test starts at about $250 -- and may get even higher.
Online testing is a much more economical option for people who want to take an IQ test. Online tests also have the advantage of convenience and the option of taking the test in a familiar environment. On the other hand, online tests are self-proctored, which means there is no one supervising examinees who take the test. As a result, the important behavioral observations are missing from online tests.
Unfortunately, it can be difficult to know if an online test is reputable. Many of the web sites touting online IQ tests are created by well-meaning amateurs. Others are created by scammers. Reputable tests will be created by a psychologist with post-graduate in testing and an extensive background in intelligence research. If a test does not state clearly who created it and what their credentials are, then it is not a reputable test. Creators of reputable tests are proud of their work and will always want to be listed as a test author.
Reputable tests will also have technical documentation, such as a manual, that provides experts with information about the development of the test and the author’s research on it. Test manuals may often have access restricted to credentialed professionals, but examinees should at least be able to determine that a manual exists. Other technical documentation, such as reports and articles published in scholarly journals, are also signs of a reputable test. Users can usually find this information on the test’s web site or by searching for the test’s name (in quotes) on Google Scholar.
The best way to test the accuracy of an IQ score is to compare it to other test scores. This is easiest if you have taken another IQ test because you can compare the IQs apples-to-apples. A perfect match between the IQs from two different tests is not realistic, due to differences in the tasks on the tests and normal fluctuations that test designers take into account. But the two scores should be within approximately 10 points of each other if both tests were taken within a few years of each other.
Most people haven’t taken an IQ test, or they don’t know their IQ. But they often know their scores from standardized tests that they took in school or for college admissions. Usually these scores aren’t convertible to IQs, but sometimes both scores are expressed as a percentile, which can be compared. Even when that information isn’t available, the results should agree with IQs in a general way. People who score above average on one test should score above average on the other and people who score below average on one test should score below average on the other. Large discrepancies that cannot easily be explained (e.g., being sick on the day of one test, an undiagnosed disability) might indicate that one test or the other is suspect.
Watch “What Is an IQ Test?” with Dr. Russell T. Warne on the Riot IQ YouTube channel to understand how IQ scores are obtained and what accuracy really means.
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