IQ 138

A 138 beats 99.4% of people. It is 8 points past the two standard deviation line, and 7 short of three standard deviations at 145.

At this level the advantage can show as speed and depth with abstract material. Standard explanations may feel slow, and working things out from first principles may feel natural.

A high score does not come with high grades attached. Motivation, study habits and fit with the teaching style decide a lot of what happens at school and work.

The 98th percentile is the line Mensa uses, and on the standard SD 15 scale it is usually quoted as 130. 138 clears it by 8 points. Entry needs an approved, supervised test. LifeScore has no connection with Mensa, and online scores are not accepted.

Other societies set higher bars. Intertel asks for the top 1%, which starts at about 135, and the Triple Nine Society asks for the top 0.1%, about 146. 138 clears the first line but not the second.

If you are curious about Mensa, the practical step is a supervised test. A result of 138 from an online test is a reasonable signal that it may be worth doing, not proof either way.

A 138 is a statistical fact, not a personality. Still, people who score in the gifted range often recognise some of these:

• Being quick is not the same as being right. Checking your working protects you from confident mistakes.
• Uneven profiles are common, for example very strong visual reasoning alongside average processing speed.
• Routine work can get boring fast, so variety and challenge tend to matter.

If IQ follows the standard bell curve, 0.56% of people score 138 or higher. Here is what that share means across whole populations:

Compare the neighbours: 133 or higher is about 1 in 72, 138 or higher is 1 in 177, and 143 or higher is 1 in 482. Each point up here adds roughly 21% to the rarity.

What your 138 could really be. If you retook a well-made test, landing at 133 or at 143 would be unremarkable. That is the difference between beating 98.6% and 99.79% of people, and short online tests are noisier still.

Which scale was it on? Score reports do not always say. On the common SD 15 scale your 138 stands as it is. If the report used SD 16 it equals about 136, and if it used SD 24 about 124. The percentile follows the converted number.

The gifted range is where many retrospective estimates for historical leaders, writers and activists land. These sit near 138, with the figures people look up most listed first. None of these are test scores. They are estimates from biographical evidence, and each profile explains its basis.

A few degree, university and job profiles on this site carry IQ benchmarks close to 138. Treat the education figures as rough estimates from admissions-test data rather than measured IQs.

Nearby scores and the round-number landmarks, so you can see how quickly the percentile changes around 138. Every row links to that score's page.

People with an IQ of 138 typically score about 1510 on the SAT and about 32 on the ACT composite. Scores vary a lot from person to person, so the range shows where about four in five land.