IQ 57

On the standard scale, 57 sits 43 points under 100. You scored higher than 0.21% of people, and about 1 in 482 people score at this level or lower. It sits 13 points below 70. The label for this part of the curve is Below Average.

A score under 70 on a single online test does not mean anything clinical. Only a qualified professional, such as a clinical or educational psychologist, can assess that, using supervised tests and a look at everyday functioning.

IQ tests measure a narrow slice of thinking: spotting patterns, holding rules in mind and working fast under time pressure. They do not measure practical skill, kindness, reliability, craft or creativity, which are the things most people notice about you day to day.

If you want to understand your result, think about which questions felt hard. Running out of time, losing track of a rule and second-guessing yourself are different problems, and each one has a different fix.

Online scores are estimates with wide error bars. For 57, a 5-point window either way runs from about 52, where 1 in 1,455 score that low or lower, to 62, where it is 1 in 177.

Professional assessments combine several subtests (verbal, visual, memory and speed) and look at the pattern between them, not just one total. A single online total cannot show that pattern.

Time limits matter. Some people reason accurately but slowly, and a short, timed test turns that into a lower number than an untimed task would.

Near 57 the curve is steep, so a few points change your percentile a lot. Going from 57 to 60 would lift you from the 0.21st to the 0.38th percentile. These are the usual reasons scores swing:

• Sleep. A short night reliably hurts working memory and attention, the two things timed puzzles lean on hardest.
• Stress and mood. Worry takes up working memory. People who feel anxious about tests often score below their usual level.
• Language. Questions that rely on words or written rules favour native speakers. Visual puzzles reduce this effect but do not remove it.

Scoring 57 or lower is a 0.2% share of everyone. Scaled up to whole populations, that works out as:

The curve fills up quickly towards the middle. Moving from 57 to 62 adds about 0 percentage points of people at or below you, and moving down to 52 removes about 0.

What your 57 could really be. If you retook a well-made test, landing at 52 or at 62 would be unremarkable. That is the difference between beating 0.07% and 0.56% of people, and short online tests are noisier still.

Which scale was it on? A 57 reported on an SD 16 scale converts to about 60 on the usual SD 15 scale, and one from an SD 24 scale (seen in some Cattell-style results) to about 73. Check which scale your score report used.

Nobody famous has a verified IQ in most cases, and retrospective estimates are only made for a narrow group.

No historical figure on this site has an estimate close to 57. Retrospective estimates cluster between about 115 and 250 because they are only made for people with exceptional achievements. That is a selection effect, not a sign that famous or successful people cannot score 57.

Nearby scores and the round-number landmarks, so you can see how quickly the percentile changes around 57. Every row links to that score's page.