IQ score guide
Percentile
8%
Rarity
1 in 12
this low or lower
Classification
Borderline
On the standard scale (mean 100, SD 15), a score of 79 sits 1.4 standard deviation below the mean — the 8th percentile, meaning it matches or beats about 8% of the adult population. Test manuals file it under "borderline" (about 7% of people).
A single below-average score, especially from an online test, is weak evidence about a person. Language mismatch, fatigue, anxiety and unfamiliarity with puzzle formats all depress scores. Patterns across multiple honest measurements — and real-world function — are what mean something, and interpreting those is professional work.
It is below the population average, and it is also just one number from one sitting. Sleep, stress, effort, language and test quality all move scores this far routinely. If a score like this arrived alongside real-world difficulties, the useful response is a professional assessment, which measures far more than a website can.
About 1 person in 12 scores 79 or lower; put the other way, roughly 92% of people score above it. It sits 1.4 standard deviation below 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 79 as "probably between 72 and 86" from a good test — wider from a casual one. Any result quoted without an error range is overclaiming.
Nearby scores: IQ 74 · IQ 78 · IQ 80 · IQ 84 · or see the whole scale.
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