IQ score guide
Percentile
99.9%
Rarity
1 in 1,455
this high or higher
Classification
Very superior
On the standard scale (mean 100, SD 15), a score of 148 sits 3.2 standard deviations above the mean — the 99.9th percentile, meaning it matches or beats about 99.9% 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 — 148 is in the top 0.1% 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 1,455 scores 148 or higher — it marks the 99.9th percentile, 3.2 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 148 as "probably between 141 and 155" from a good test — wider from a casual one. Any result quoted without an error range is overclaiming.
Nearby scores: IQ 143 · IQ 147 · IQ 149 · IQ 153 · or see the whole scale.
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