IQ 134: why high scores are uneven
Yes. An IQ of 134 is in the very superior range, the top 2% or so of the population. It meets the usual entry level for Mensa on a supervised test.
Where 134 sits on the bell curve
An IQ of 134 is 34 points above the average of 100, or 2.27 standard deviations. It is higher than about 99% of people of the same age, shown by the shaded area below. Past 130 the curve is almost flat against the axis: only about 2 people in 100 reach this far.
On other IQ scales, the same result would be about 136 on a test with a standard deviation of 16, such as older editions of the Stanford-Binet, and 154 on the Cattell scale, which uses 24. Why scales differ.
IQ 134 meaning: a closer look
An IQ of 134 is higher than about 99% of people, with only about one in 85 scoring at this level or above. In a city of one million, roughly 12,000 people would score 134 or higher. This is a high score by any common standard. If it came from an online test, keep in mind that many online tests inflate high scores, and a careful supervised test is needed for a reliable figure.
Spearman's law of diminishing returns: why abilities spread out at 134
In 1925, the psychologist Charles Spearman described a law of diminishing returns: in people of higher general ability, the different mental skills seem less tightly bound together. A 2017 meta-analysis by Blum and Holling tested this using 106 articles containing 408 studies published over a century. It found that the average correlations between ability tests, and how strongly they load on general ability (g), "decrease with increasing ability", yet increase with age. These effects were nearly constant across the decades studied.
For someone with an IQ of 134, this suggests that the subtests behind the score may be more uneven than for someone nearer the average. You might be outstanding at verbal reasoning and only good at spatial puzzles, or the other way round. That is normal at this level, and it is one reason the index scores in a full report tell you more than a single number. The finding is not settled in every detail: a 2021 paper noted that only a little over half of the studies directly confirmed Spearman's hypothesis, and methods are still debated.
Sources: Blum and Holling (2017), "Spearman's law of diminishing returns. A meta-analysis", Intelligence; Spearman (1925), "Some Issues in the Theory of g (including the Law of Diminishing Returns)", Nature; Korneev et al. (2021), "Sources of Artifacts in SLODR Detection", Psychology in Russia: State of the Art.
What 134 looks like among real people
If you lined up 100 people of your age, about 99 would score lower than 134 and about 1 would score the same or higher. The orange dot marks your place in the line.
In a room of 100 people, typically only about 2 would score 130 or higher.
How precise is a score of 134?
No IQ test measures to the exact point. On a professional test, a result of 134 usually comes with a likely range of about five points either way: 129 to 139. That range runs from the 97th to the 99.5th percentile, and it crosses from superior into very superior.
Scores this high are rare, so tests have fewer people to compare you with and become less precise. Two good tests can disagree by more than they would near 100.
On the Assessivo test, each correct answer is worth about 2.5 points, so 134 falls between two possible results: 133 for 31 correct answers and 135 for 32. How our score is worked out.
So if you scored 134 once, a retest on another day could reasonably land anywhere from 129 to 139. Online tests are less precise still, so treat any online result as a rough estimate.
IQ 134 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 134 would have meant for children of different ages: working ahead of their years.
| Real age | Mental age at IQ 134 |
|---|---|
| 5 | 6 years 8 months |
| 7 | 9 years 5 months |
| 9 | 12 years 1 month |
| 11 | 14 years 9 months |
| 13 | 17 years 5 months |
The same 134 stands for a gap of about 1 year 8 months at age 5 but 4 years 5 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 134 means for you
It sits near the bottom of the very superior band, which runs from 130 to 145.
- You likely find abstract reasoning, patterns and complex problems easier than almost everyone around you.
- This is the level many schools and societies use as a benchmark, such as Mensa's top 2%.
- A high score doesn't measure creativity, emotional understanding or persistence, which matter just as much.
How far 134 is from other levels
Famous names reported near 134
Very few famous people have published IQ scores, and most numbers online are invented. These are the ones with a documented report or a published estimate. Each is labelled so you can see what kind of figure it is.
Scored 135 on a test compiled by Hans Eysenck, given by Der Spiegel in Baku in 1987. Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices in the same session gave 123, a 12-point gap the magazine called normal for IQ tests.
Tested score · Der Spiegel, "Genieblitze und Blackouts" (1987)Rated by psychologist Catharine Cox in 1926 from records of his early life: about 125 for childhood (to age 17) and 135 for ages 17 to 26. Estimates like these are rough, and he never took an IQ test.
Published estimate, not a test · Cox, Genetic Studies of Genius, Vol. II (1926)How 134 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 124 | 95th | Superior | 1 in 18 |
| 129 | 97th | Superior | 1 in 38 |
| 134 | 99th | Very superior | 1 in 85 |
| 139 | 99.5th | Very superior | 1 in 215 |
| 144 | 99.8th | Very superior | 1 in 596 |
Questions about an IQ of 134
What percentile is an IQ of 134?
An IQ of 134 is at about the 99th percentile, which means it is higher than about 99% of people of the same age.
Is 134 a high IQ?
Yes. 134 is a high IQ by any common definition, in the top 1% of the population.
Can an IQ of 134 get into Mensa?
On most tests, yes. Mensa accepts people who score in the top 2% on an approved, supervised test, which is 130 or above on tests that use a standard deviation of 15. Online test scores are not accepted.
How common is an IQ of 134 or higher?
About 1% of people score 134 or higher, roughly 1 in 85. In a stadium of 50,000 people, about 585 would score at this level or above.
Why are my subtest scores so different with a 134 IQ?
Uneven subtests are common at high scores. Research on Spearman's law of diminishing returns finds that different abilities are less tightly linked in higher-ability groups, so a person with a 134 IQ may be far stronger in one area than another. Look at the index scores as well as the total to see your own pattern of strengths.
What mental age is an IQ of 134?
Under the old ratio formula, a 9-year-old with an IQ of 134 would perform like a typical child of about 12 years 1 month, roughly 37 months ahead. The idea only works for children: an adult who scores 134 simply did better than most adults of the same age on the test.
Should I take a professional test with a score of 134?
If you want an official result, for example to join Mensa or for a school programme, yes: only an approved test given under supervision counts. A psychologist can give one, and Mensa runs its own supervised testing sessions.
Is 134 a gifted IQ?
Often, yes. There is no single definition, but 130, two standard deviations above average, is a common benchmark for giftedness. Schools also look at more than one score.
Is an IQ of 134 genius?
No test uses the word genius. In everyday use people usually mean 140 or more, but the label says little: real achievement depends on much more than a score.
Our guide to what counts as a good IQ score covers the high-IQ societies, Mensa IQ requirements lists the qualifying score on each test, and IQ of famous people shows where well-known names really stand. Every score range is in the IQ range chart.
An IQ test arrives at a score like 134 by combining several kinds of task. Learn more about processing speed, fluid vs crystallized intelligence, abstract reasoning, spatial reasoning and verbal reasoning, or try the free pattern recognition test.
Many famous IQ figures are guesses. See what is really known about Garry Kasparov's IQ, Terence Tao's IQ, Einstein's IQ, Isaac Newton's IQ, Nikola Tesla's IQ, Stephen Hawking's IQ, Bill Gates' IQ and Elon Musk's IQ.
What would you score?
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