Free IQ test
This free IQ test has 24 original puzzles: 16 matrix patterns and 8 number series, ordered from easy to hard across 5 difficulty levels. You get 20 minutes, there is no sign-up and no email, and the result shows how many puzzles you solved at each level.
Find the rule, pick the missing piece. Puzzles start easy and get harder. Wrong answers cost nothing, so guess when you are stuck, and pick a quiet moment: the clock runs once you start.
What this IQ test measures
Every puzzle tests fluid reasoning: spotting the rule behind a pattern you have never seen and applying it to the next step. Fluid reasoning is the part of intelligence that depends least on what you learned at school, which is why clinical tests and the Raven’s Progressive Matrices use the same two formats.
Matrix puzzles
A 3 by 3 grid of shapes with the last cell missing. Shape, number, shading and direction each follow one rule along the rows and down the columns, and the 8 answer options differ on 3 of those 4 features, so the only way to the answer is to work out every rule.
Number series
A row of numbers that follows one rule, from a steady step at level 1 to a step that itself changes at level 5. You pick the next number from 6 options.
There are no vocabulary or general-knowledge questions, so a non-native English speaker takes the same test as a native one. More on what IQ tests measure in what IQ is.
How the score works
Each solved puzzle is worth 1 point, a wrong answer costs nothing, so guess when you are stuck. Puzzles you have not answered when the 20 minutes run out count as unsolved. The result shows your total out of 24 and your score at each of the 5 levels, which tells you where your reasoning starts to slow down.
IQ scores are set so that the average is 100 and two thirds of people score between 85 and 115. Turning a raw score into that scale takes a norm group, a large sample of people who took the same version. The IQ scale shows every range, and how our test works explains the norming.
What is a good IQ score?
A score of 110 is higher than about 75% of people and 130 is higher than about 98%, the top 2% that Mensa admits. See where any score falls on what is a good IQ score, or read about the average IQ.
How accurate is an online IQ test?
A clinical IQ test such as the WAIS-5 is given one to one by a psychologist, covers verbal, spatial, memory and speed tasks, and is normed on a large sample chosen to match the population. An online test covers one or two of those areas, in conditions nobody controls, so read the result as a good estimate of your reasoning on this format.
If you need a score for school placement, a diagnosis or a high-IQ society, you need a formal test: official IQ tests explains which ones count and how to book one, and types of IQ tests compares them.
Other versions of the test
- IQ test for kids: the 15 easier puzzles in 15 minutes.
- Mensa practice test: the 14 hardest puzzles, for people preparing for an admission test.
IQ test FAQ
How long does the IQ test take?
You have 20 minutes for 24 puzzles. Most people use most of the time, because the last levels take longer per puzzle.
Is this IQ test free?
Yes. The test and the result are free, with no sign-up and no email address needed.
Can I take the test twice?
Yes, but the puzzles are the same each time, so a second attempt mostly measures how well you remember them. Your first attempt is the one to go by.
Why are there no word questions?
Word and knowledge questions depend on language and schooling. Matrix and number puzzles depend far less on either, so the test works the same for people with different first languages.
Does the test work on a phone?
Yes. The puzzles are drawn to fit a phone screen, and your progress is kept if the page reloads.
Is this the official Mensa test?
No. This site is not affiliated with Mensa. Mensa admits people through its own supervised test or through approved results from other tests.