IQ 162

A 162 is 2 points past the ceiling most major tests publish. The model rarity, about 1 in 55,900, describes about 140,000 people worldwide, which is far beyond anything a test has been checked against.

Major individually administered adult tests typically report full-scale scores up to about 160. A reported number above that usually comes from extended norms, a different scale or extrapolation.

None of this means nobody is this able. It means a single number is not a reliable way to describe them.

A 162 almost never comes from a modern, supervised adult test. It usually comes from somewhere like this:

• Ratio IQ. Early childhood tests divided mental age by real age. A 6-year-old solving puzzles like a typical 9.7-year-old got a ratio IQ of 162. Modern deviation IQs do not work this way.
• Different scales. Some tests use a standard deviation of 24, so a 162 there is about 139 on the usual SD 15 scale.
• Unnormed online quizzes. A test with no norm data can print any number. Very high outputs usually say more about the scoring than the person.

Nobody in history has a measured IQ of 162. The highest estimates on this site, for figures such as Isaac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci, come from reading their work and lives, not from tests. 42 profiles here are estimated at 160 or more.

Estimates this high mostly reflect how extraordinary the achievement was. That is a different thing from how someone would perform on a timed reasoning test.

If IQ follows the standard bell curve, 0.0018% of people score 162 or higher. Here is what that share means across whole populations:

Compare the neighbours: 157 or higher is about 1 in 13,800, 162 or higher is 1 in 55,900, and 167 or higher is 1 in 252,000. Each point up here adds roughly 34% to the rarity.

What your 162 could really be. Even a good supervised test has a margin of error of roughly 5 points either side. A true score anywhere from 157 to 167 would be consistent with a 162, which spans the 99.99th to the 99.9996th percentile. Short online tests have wider margins.

Which scale was it on? Most modern tests use a standard deviation of 15, which is what this page assumes. If your 162 came from a test using an SD of 16, it is about 158 on the SD 15 scale. From an SD 24 scale, used by some Cattell-style reports, it is about 139.

Estimates this high are reserved for a small group of scientists, artists and thinkers. These sit near 162. None of these are test scores. They are estimates from biographical evidence, and each profile explains its basis.

Nearby scores and the round-number landmarks, so you can see how quickly the percentile changes around 162. Every row links to that score's page.