IQ score guide
Percentile
99.6%
Rarity
1 in 261
this high or higher
Classification
Very superior
On the standard scale (mean 100, SD 15), a score of 140 sits 2.7 standard deviations above the mean — the 99.6th percentile, meaning it matches or beats about 99.6% of the adult population. Test manuals file it under "very superior" (about 1 person in 44).
What a score like this predicts, statistically: faster learning of novel, abstract material, and easier entry to intellectually selective paths. What it does not predict for any individual: outcomes. Within any profession, once past its entry demands, conscientiousness and accumulated expertise dominate — the tailwind is real, but modest.
By any statistical standard, yes — 140 is in the top 0.4% of the population, past the usual gifted and high-IQ-society thresholds. The practical caveat: at this rarity, test measurement error and test ceilings matter as much as the number itself.
About 1 person in 261 scores 140 or higher — it marks the 99.6th percentile, 2.7 standard deviations above the mean.
Almost certainly, by a little. Even excellent tests carry ±3–5 points of measurement error, online tests more, and the same person swings several points between good and bad days. Read 140 as "probably between 133 and 147" from a good test — wider from a casual one. Any result quoted without an error range is overclaiming.
Nearby scores: IQ 135 · IQ 139 · IQ 141 · IQ 145 · or see the whole scale.
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