IQ Test for 16 Year Olds

Why 16 is the crossover age

The WISC-V, the main children's IQ test, runs to 16 years and 11 months. The WAIS-IV and the newer WAIS-5, the main adult tests, start at 16. So a 16 year old can be tested on either, and psychologists choose based on the young person and the reason for testing.

By 16 and 17, reasoning on visual puzzles is close to adult levels for most people. Raw processing speed tends to peak a little later, around 18 or 19, according to a large study of online testers by Joshua Hartshorne and Laura Germine.

How this test works for 16 and 17 year olds

You take exactly the same test as adults: 25 questions across patterns, shapes, sequences, analogies and rules, with a 12-minute timer. The score is not age-adjusted, and at 16 that makes less difference than at any younger age.

• Take it when you are rested, not straight after a day of exams.
• Do it in one sitting without looking anything up.
• If you retake it, the second score is likely to be slightly higher from familiarity alone.

What scores mean at 16

IQ bands at 16 are the same as for adults: 100 is average and about two thirds of people land between 85 and 115. The table shows what share of people each score beats on a standard scale.

IQ and GCSE results

Reasoning ability does predict exam results. A study of more than 70,000 children in England by Ian Deary and colleagues found that reasoning scores at 11 correlated at about 0.8 with GCSE performance at 16, when both were measured as broad factors.

The same data showed plenty of students doing better or worse than their reasoning scores predicted. That gap is where effort, teaching and interest come in.