IQ 62

An IQ of 62 is 38 points below the average of 100, or 2.53 standard deviations. This site classes it as Below Average. About 0.6% of people score at or below 62, which in a class of 30 is roughly one person or fewer. It sits 8 points below 70.

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.

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.

Retest gains of a few points are well documented once a format is familiar. First attempts at any unfamiliar kind of test tend to be the least representative.

Think of 62 as the middle of a window. On a second attempt the same person could plausibly land at 67, which is higher than 1.4% of people, or at 57. That is before counting the extra noise an unsupervised online test adds.

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.

Online tests are not normed the way clinical tests are. Their scores are estimates, and the people who take them are not a representative sample of the population.

Near 62 the curve is steep, so a few points change your percentile a lot. Going from 62 to 65 would lift you from the 0.56th to the 0.98th percentile. These are the usual reasons scores swing:

• 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.
• Familiarity. People who have seen matrix-style puzzles before tend to do better on them. That is a practice effect, not a change in underlying ability.

On a bell curve with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, about 0.6% of people score 62 or lower. Applied to whole populations:

About 0.6% of people score 62 or lower, compared with 0.2% at 57 or lower and 1.4% at 67 or lower. Five points here changes the share by about 1 percentage points.

What your 62 could really be. If you retook a well-made test, landing at 57 or at 67 would be unremarkable. That is the difference between beating 0.21% and 1.4% 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 62 stands as it is. If the report used SD 16 it equals about 64, and if it used SD 24 about 76. The percentile follows the converted number.

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

Our historical estimates start at 115, so nobody sits close to 62. That is not because famous people score higher. Estimates are only attempted for people with extraordinary records, which leaves ordinary scores unrepresented.

Nearby scores and the round-number landmarks, so you can see how quickly the percentile changes around 62. Every row links to that score's page.