Do you really have a low IQ?

Suppose you take all of that to heart, you carefully seek out the best and most reliable IQ tests, you take them after age 18 when IQ is most stable, you take multiple tests to double- and triple-check, and you find that you really, definitely, no doubt about it, have a low IQ. Now can you be miserable and self-hating?

What is the average IQ of an average person?

Among the most popular tests, the Wechsler, Cattell and Stanford-Binet tests, the average IQ is designed to be a score of 100. While a score of 100 would make you perfectly average, in general, a score within 90-110 is seen as average.

How much does IQ correlate with income?

IQ correlates with income at about 0.2 to 0.3, about the same level as parental socioeconomic status. If you’re low-IQ, you’re less likely to succeed to the same degree that a kid from a poor family is less likely to succeed.

Is 124 a good IQ for a scientist?

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman talked about getting a 124 on the only IQ test he ever took. 124 is plenty bright — but Feynman was one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century; 124 is about 30 points off the lowest remotely plausible value.

How accurate is an IQ test?

An IQ score is a rough measurement, at best, and it’s very easy to get a lower score than your best possible one. That’s why I don’t recommend even paying a trained clinician to give you a one-on-one intelligence test, which is the most valid.

Is having a low IQ a death sentence?

No. IQ predicts a bunch of things like income and success in various fields, but prediction is not prophecy. You have a somewhat reduced chance of high attainment, but you shouldn’t take it as a death sentence. Consider the gender pay gap. We know that men, for whatever reason, tend to earn more money than women.