IQ 117

117 is 17 points above average and 1.13 standard deviations up. You score higher than 87.1% of people, so in a class of 30 you would typically be one of the top 4. It sits 2 points into the above-average band, 13 short of the 130 mark often used for gifted programmes.

The gap between you and the average person is real but modest. On any single task, effort, experience and knowledge can easily outweigh it.

Scores here are well within what standard tests measure precisely, so a 117 from a good, supervised test is a meaningful signal rather than noise.

No job requires a 117, and no score guarantees one. What research does show is that general reasoning ability predicts training speed and job performance, most strongly in complex roles. Large meta-analyses such as Schmidt and Hunter (1998) are the usual reference.

Fields that reward this profile include engineering, analysis, teaching, nursing, law, finance, software and skilled technical trades, where learning new material is part of the job.

In most careers the advantage shows most at the start, when there is a lot to learn quickly. Later on, experience and judgement matter more.

Here is how a 117 tends to show up outside a test, bearing in mind that plenty of people at this level notice none of it:

• New tools and apps feel intuitive faster, because you infer how they work.
• Long instructions are easier to hold in mind without writing them down.
• Quick reasoning does not protect against bias. It can make a confident wrong answer more persuasive.

If IQ follows the standard bell curve, 13% of people score 117 or higher. Here is what that share means across whole populations:

Compare the neighbours: 112 or higher is about 1 in 5, 117 or higher is 1 in 8, and 122 or higher is 1 in 14. Each point up here adds roughly 12% to the rarity.

What your 117 could really be. If you retook a well-made test, landing at 112 or at 122 would be unremarkable. That is the difference between beating 78.8% and 92.9% of people, and short online tests are noisier still.

Which scale was it on? A 117 reported on an SD 16 scale converts to about 116 on the usual SD 15 scale, and one from an SD 24 scale (seen in some Cattell-style results) to about 111. Check which scale your score report used.

Retrospective estimates for historical figures rarely go this low, because they are only made for people with exceptional achievements. A few sit near 117. Every figure below is a retrospective estimate, not a measured score. Open a profile to see the evidence and how confident anyone can be.

Our degree, university and job profiles carry rough IQ benchmarks. These are the ones within a few points of 117. The education figures are derived from admissions-test averages, not from IQ testing.

How 117 stacks up against the scores just around it and the round numbers people usually ask about. Each score links to its own page.

People with an IQ of 117 typically score about 1240 on the SAT and about 24 on the ACT composite. Scores vary a lot from person to person, so the range shows where about four in five land.