How is the IQ Revealed test scored?

You answer 40 matrix-reasoning questions. Your raw score — the number of items you solved correctly — is converted to a standard score on the conventional IQ scale, where the population mean is 100 and one standard deviation is 15 points. Your percentile is then read from the normal curve for that score. The conversion is a fixed mapping, not a comparison against a norming sample of our own.

What is the highest and lowest score the test reports?

The assessment reports scores from 55 to 145. We do not report beyond that range, because a 40-item test has no power to separate one person in ten thousand from one person in a million — printing a number above 145 would be arithmetic rather than measurement.

How is my percentile calculated?

From the normal distribution with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. A score of 115 is one standard deviation above the mean and lands at the 84th percentile; 130 is two standard deviations above and lands at about the 98th. The percentile is a statement about where you rank, not a second measurement.

Is the IQ test free to take?

Yes — the IQ test is free to take, and you do not need an account to sit it. Before membership you are told your result is ready and what the report contains; the score itself stays hidden. Membership unlocks the full report: your score with its classification band, your percentile, how many of the 40 items you answered correctly, and your ranking. It costs $1 for a 7-day trial, then $29.99 every 28 days until you cancel.

Why does IQ Revealed use matrix reasoning?

Because it minimizes the influence of language, schooling and cultural knowledge, and loads heavily on fluid reasoning — solving novel problems. It is the format used by established nonverbal instruments for the same reason, and it is what makes a test usable across countries and online.

Are the test items original?

Yes. All test items, the 16 type profiles and the career mappings are developed in-house. We do not license, reproduce or adapt any published instrument, and we are not affiliated with the publisher of any of them.

How does the career test work?

24 interest ratings across six work areas — Builder, Thinker, Creator, Helper, Persuader and Organizer. Your top areas are matched to career clusters. Interest-area models are the standard approach in career guidance because what people find engaging is related to how they perform in a field and how long they stay in it: a meta-analysis spanning more than 60 years of research found vocational interests related to performance and persistence in work and academic settings, with the fit between a person and their occupation a stronger predictor of performance than interest scores alone (Nye, Su, Rounds & Drasgow, 2012), and a meta-analysis of 74 studies and 141 samples found modest but consistent relations with performance and with lower turnover (Van Iddekinge, Roth, Putka & Lanivich, 2011). Those are group-level findings about interest measures in general — not evidence about the IQ Revealed career test, which is a 24-item self-insight instrument with no published validity data of its own.

Our Testing Methodology: How Our Tests Are Built and Scored

Q: How many questions is the IQ test, and how long does it take?

40 questions, and most people finish in about 15 minutes. Each question carries a 90-second limit — when it expires the item is committed as answered or blank and the test moves on — but there is no limit on the test as a whole. The items get harder as you progress.

Q: How does the personality test work?

24 statements rated on an agreement scale, measuring four dimensions of preference: how you direct energy, take in information, make decisions and structure your life. Your answers map to one of 16 original type profiles with strengths, blind spots and growth paths.

The IQ Revealed cognitive assessment is 40 matrix-reasoning questions, scored against the conventional IQ scale — mean 100, standard deviation 15 — and reported from 55 to 145 with a matching percentile. The personality test is 24 statements across four preference dimensions; the career test is 24 interest ratings across six work areas. All items are original. This page sets out how each test is built, how scoring works, and — just as important — what an online assessment can and cannot tell you. For the short trust-focused answer, see are IQ tests accurate.

The IQ test

The IQ Revealed cognitive assessment uses 40 matrix-reasoning questions: visual patterns where you identify the piece that completes the sequence. Matrix reasoning is the format used by established nonverbal instruments because it minimizes the influence of language, schooling and cultural knowledge, and loads heavily on fluid reasoning — the ability to solve novel problems.

Questions increase in difficulty as you progress, sampling pattern completion, serial reasoning, and spatial transformation. Each question carries a 90-second limit: when it expires, the item is committed as answered or blank and the test moves on. There is no limit on the test as a whole, and most people finish in about 15 minutes. Because the test samples fluid and visual-spatial reasoning specifically, it does not attempt the full spread of abilities a multi-hour clinical battery covers — see what an IQ test measures for how those pieces differ.

How scoring works

Your raw score — the number of items you solved correctly — is converted to a standard score on the conventional IQ scale, mean 100, standard deviation 15, the same scale used across modern intelligence testing. The conversion is a fixed mapping, not a comparison against a norming sample of our own.
Your report includes your percentile: the share of people your score exceeds. A score of 115 is the 84th percentile; 130 is the 98th. See our percentile guide for the full conversion table.
Scores are reported on a 55 to 145 range, and we stop there deliberately. A 40-item test has no power to separate one person in ten thousand from one person in a million, so printing a number above 145 would be arithmetic rather than measurement — a point we make in detail about record-breaking IQ claims.
Every score is an estimate with a margin of error. Sleep, stress, distraction and familiarity with the format all move results by a few points — treat your score as a range, not a fixed constant. On a professionally administered, well-normed test the 95% confidence interval is roughly ±5 to ±7 points; an unproctored 40-item test like this one has no published reliability coefficient, so read its error band as wider than that rather than equal to it. We explain the arithmetic in how IQ is calculated.

What our test is — and isn't

An online assessment is a self-insight tool. Your report gives you a score on the 55–145 scale with its classification band, your percentile, how many of the 40 items you answered correctly, your ranking against the general population, and a shareable certificate. It is not a clinical evaluation: formal diagnoses (such as giftedness placement or disability assessment) require a psychologist-administered instrument like the WAIS in a controlled setting. If you need a score for official purposes, see a licensed professional — and treat any website that claims to offer "official" IQ certification with skepticism.

The personality test

The personality assessment uses 24 statements rated on an agreement scale, measuring four dimensions of preference (how you direct energy, take in information, make decisions and structure your life). Your answers map to one of 16 type profiles, each with strengths, blind spots and growth paths. All items and profiles are original to IQ Revealed. Type frameworks are best used for self-reflection and communication — they describe preferences, not fixed limits.

The career test

The career assessment measures your interests across six work areas — Builder, Thinker, Creator, Helper, Persuader and Organizer — from 24 interest ratings, then matches your top areas to career clusters. Interest-area models of this kind are the standard approach in career guidance because what people find engaging is related to how they perform in a field and how long they stay in it. Interests and abilities answer different questions, and this test measures the first.

The evidence for interest measures as a class, since it is the reason the career test is built on interests: a meta-analysis spanning more than 60 years of research found vocational interests related to performance and persistence in work and academic settings, and found that the fit between a person and their occupation predicted performance more strongly than interest scores alone (Nye, Su, Rounds & Drasgow, 2012). A second meta-analysis, of 74 studies and 141 independent samples, put the overall estimates for single interest scales at .14 for job performance, .26 for training performance, −.19 for turnover intentions and −.15 for actual turnover (Van Iddekinge, Roth, Putka & Lanivich, 2011). Those are correlations on a scale where 0 is no relationship and 1 is a perfect one, so the honest reading is small but consistent; the minus signs mean that stronger interest goes with less quitting. They are corrected for unreliability in the outcome measure but not for range restriction. Two things follow, and we would rather state both: measuring interests is worth doing, and none of this is evidence about the IQ Revealed career test itself, which has no published validity data of its own.

Our principles

Honesty about limits. Online scores are estimates, and we set out here exactly what ours can and cannot support.
Original content. All test items, type profiles and career mappings are developed in-house. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or derived from Mensa, The Myers-Briggs Company, the Enneagram Institute, Pearson or any other test publisher.
Free to take, membership for the full report. Every test is free to sit, and you do not need an account to take one. Before membership you are told your result is ready and what the report contains, with the score itself hidden; membership unlocks the full report.
Transparent pricing. $1 for a 7-day trial, then $29.99 every 28 days until you cancel — the renewal price and date are shown before you pay and on your dashboard. Full details on the pricing page and refund policy.
Privacy. We never sell personal data. See the privacy policy.

How our tests are built and scored