Is 107 a good IQ for work?
Yes. An IQ of 107 is in the average range, at or just above the exact middle of the population. You score at least as high as about half of people your age, a solid result for school, work and everyday life.
Where 107 sits on the bell curve
An IQ of 107 is 7 points above the average of 100, or 0.47 standard deviations. It is higher than about 68% of people of the same age, shown by the shaded area below. This is the peak of the bell curve, where more people score than anywhere else.
On other IQ scales, the same result would be about 107 on a test with a standard deviation of 16, such as older editions of the Stanford-Binet, and 111 on the Cattell scale, which uses 24. Why scales differ.
IQ 107 meaning: a closer look
With a score of 107, about 68 people in 100 would score lower. It is three points below the start of the high average range at 110. That gap is smaller than the margin of error on professional tests, which is about five points either way. So 107 sits at the top end of average with a fair chance of being described as high average on a retest. Either way, it shows reasoning that is a little above typical for your age.
Does IQ predict job performance? A 1998 classic and a 2022 rethink
For two decades, a 1998 review by Schmidt and Hunter was the standard reference. It put the validity of general mental ability tests for predicting job performance at 0.51, among the highest of any hiring method. In 2022, Sackett and colleagues argued that the statistical corrections behind such figures had led to validities being "substantially overestimated". Their revised estimate for cognitive ability tests was 0.31. Structured interviews came out on top at 0.42, with job knowledge tests at 0.40.
Both papers agree that ability matters at work. They disagree on how much. A correlation of 0.31 is useful to an employer screening hundreds of applicants, but it is weak for predicting how any one person will do. For someone with an IQ of 107, slightly above the middle, it means skills, experience, reliability and how well a job fits you will usually say more about your performance than a few IQ points. The newer estimate rests on different corrections, so neither number is the last word.
Sources: Schmidt, F. L. and Hunter, J. E. (1998), "The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology", Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 262 to 274; Sackett, P. R., Zhang, C., Berry, C. M. and Lievens, F. (2022), "Revisiting meta-analytic estimates of validity in personnel selection", Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(11), 2040 to 2068.
For average test scores job by job, from the original studies, see our page on IQ by profession.
What 107 looks like among real people
If you lined up 100 people of your age, about 68 would score lower than 107 and about 32 would score the same or higher. The orange dot marks your place in the line.
A score here puts you in the middle of almost any group: about as many people score above you as below.
How precise is a score of 107?
No IQ test measures to the exact point. On a professional test, a result of 107 usually comes with a likely range of about five points either way: 102 to 112. That range runs from the 55th to the 79th percentile, and it crosses from average into high average.
Because this is the most crowded part of the scale, a retest could easily move you a few places either side of the middle without anything having changed.
On the Assessivo test, each correct answer is worth about 2.5 points, so 107 falls between two possible results: 105 for 20 correct answers and 108 for 21. How our score is worked out.
So if you scored 107 once, a retest on another day could reasonably land anywhere from 102 to 112. Online tests are less precise still, so treat any online result as a rough estimate.
IQ 107 and mental age in children
Early IQ tests for children worked with a "mental age", the age whose typical performance a child matched. The IQ was that mental age divided by the child's real age, times 100. Turned around, the formula shows what a score of 107 would have meant for children of different ages: working ahead of their years.
| Real age | Mental age at IQ 107 |
|---|---|
| 5 | 5 years 4 months |
| 7 | 7 years 6 months |
| 9 | 9 years 8 months |
| 11 | 11 years 9 months |
| 13 | 13 years 11 months |
The same 107 stands for a gap of about 4 months at age 5 but 11 months at 13, because the formula scales with age. That is one reason it broke down for teenagers and adults, whose test performance stops rising every year. Today's tests compare you with people of the same age instead, so a mental age is only a way to picture a child's score, never a description of an adult.
What an IQ of 107 means for you
It sits near the top of the average band, which runs from 90 to 109.
- You reason at least as well as the typical person your age on new problems.
- Almost any course or career is open at this level; what you learn and practise matters much more.
- The upper part of this range is close to high average, and practice or a different test could tip it over 110.
How far 107 is from other levels
How 107 compares with nearby scores
Want a score that isn't listed, or the share of people between two scores? Try the IQ calculator.
| IQ | Percentile | Classification | Score this high or higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 97 | 42nd | Average | 58% |
| 102 | 55th | Average | 1 in 2 |
| 107 | 68th | Average | 1 in 3 |
| 112 | 79th | High average | 1 in 5 |
| 117 | 87th | High average | 1 in 8 |
Questions about an IQ of 107
What percentile is an IQ of 107?
An IQ of 107 is at about the 68th percentile, which means it is higher than about 68% of people of the same age.
Is 107 a high IQ?
No. 107 is in the average range. High IQ usually refers to scores of 120 or 130 and above.
Can an IQ of 107 get into Mensa?
Not on its own. Mensa accepts the top 2% on an approved, supervised test, which is usually 130 or above. 107 is 23 points below that.
How common is an IQ of 107 or higher?
About 32% of people score 107 or higher, roughly 1 in 3. In a stadium of 50,000 people, about 16,000 would score at this level or above.
Does a 107 IQ predict how well I will do at work?
Only loosely. A 2022 re-analysis put the link between cognitive ability tests and job performance at about 0.31, lower than the 0.51 long quoted from 1998. That leaves most of job performance to skills, experience, effort and fit. A 107 IQ is slightly above average and suits a very wide range of work.
What mental age is an IQ of 107?
Under the old ratio formula, a 9-year-old with an IQ of 107 would perform like a typical child of about 9 years 8 months, roughly 8 months ahead. The idea only works for children: an adult who scores 107 simply did better than most adults of the same age on the test.
Is 107 above average?
Slightly above the exact middle of 100, but still inside the average range of 90 to 109, so it is described as average, not above average.
What is the difference between an IQ of 100 and 107?
A small one. Both are in the average range, and with a professional test's margin of about five points either way, their likely ranges overlap.
Is an IQ of 107 good for a student?
Yes. It is right in the middle of the population, and school results depend at least as much on effort, teaching and interest as on IQ.
See how the middle of the scale is set in our guide to average IQ, or what a good score looks like in what is a good IQ score?. To see how averages differ between countries, read IQ by country. Every score range is in the IQ range chart.
An IQ test arrives at a score like 107 by combining several kinds of task. Learn more about spatial reasoning, verbal reasoning, processing speed, fluid vs crystallized intelligence and abstract reasoning, or try the free pattern recognition test.
What would you score?
Take the free Assessivo IQ test: 36 questions, 25 minutes, and your estimated IQ score and percentile as soon as you finish.
Take the free IQ test