Everything people ask

It uses the kind of puzzle IQ tests rely on most: reasoning with patterns you've never seen. Every puzzle comes from a published set whose difficulty was measured on 2,561 people who applied to German medical schools. You get a puzzle level from 1 to 10, not an IQ-style score, because that needs a comparison with the general public and we're still building one. It isn't a supervised clinical test like the WAIS, and no online test is.

Because we'd have to make it up, and you'd have no way of telling. An IQ-style score says where you sit among the general public. Our puzzles were measured on med-school applicants, a strong group, not the general public. So you get your real puzzle level now, and we'll add an IQ-style score for free as soon as our own comparison group can back it.

About twelve minutes for 24 puzzles. There's no timer on each puzzle. One clock covers the whole test, so you decide where to spend your time.

Yes, once. Each puzzle is picked to suit your answers so far, so you can step back one puzzle to change your last answer, and we'll pick a fresh next puzzle for you. Going back further would undo the path that found your level. Nothing is taken off for a wrong answer, so if you're stuck, take your best guess and move on.

Yes. iqtested is a free beta. Taking the test is free, and so is your full result, which you see as soon as you finish.

Maybe not forever. It might become paid one day. If that ever happens, we'll tell you first, and nothing will be charged without you choosing it.

Not to see your result. A free account, opened with a sign-in link sent to your email, keeps your results and adds your history, the library, Daily 5 practice, check-ins, compare and review. If you'd rather it were gone later, delete your account and everything is erased for good.

Yes, once every 30 days for a new score. We call it a check-in. Spacing tests out keeps your chart honest, because a retest soon after the last one mostly measures practice. We have 218 puzzles, 24 per test, and once you have a free account you'll never see the same puzzle twice. A free test taken before you sign up isn't linked to you, so it can repeat puzzles. Between check-ins, Daily 5 keeps you practising with puzzles made for practice.

It means you find the structure in unfamiliar patterns quickly. That goes along with a lot of useful things and misses a lot of others, like knowledge, judgement, persistence and kindness. Take your level seriously, but not too seriously.