Is a 118 score on an IQ test good for a 14 year old?

Question

My brother just took an IQ test and scored a 118. Is that good for a kid his age? I'm just wondering, since my mom seems to think he's a genius since he got that score and I would like to set her straight on this. Thanks ^^

Answer 1

Yes your brother has a good score.  Anything above 115 what people of above average and high intelligence score.  However 130 and up is the genius range.  Also age is not supposed to affect your IQ score

Answer 2

It depends on the test.  On the Stanford-Binet a score of 100 is average and a score for a genius is over 160 or so.  On the Weschler test the scoring is different and a score of 118 is considered "high-average".

Either way, age isn't a major factor in intelligence and intelligence tests are generally geared to account for age.  So it's irrelevant that your sib is 14.

Regardless of the type of test, IQ is harder to pin down than that and there is a lot of speculation that IQ tests actually cause a lot of problems.  One of the problems are the pressures of "labeling".  That is: would you feel pressure if you got a high score?  Would you feel stupid if you got a low scrore?  

Don't get obsessed either way.  the vast majority of people are within a few points of each other on most scales.  There are comparatively few people that are considered "genius" and comparatively few people that are mentally challenged.

Answer 3

Ever hear of the bell-shaped curve and standard deviation? For IQ 100 is generally accepted as average. 118 is considered above average. If you read online you'll find out experts don't agree on what exactly intelligence is or how to measure it. http://www.iqtest.com/whatisaniqscore.ht... Depending who organizes the information the range of numbers is different and the wording for how intelligent a person is varies. http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/IQBasics...

http://www.geocities.com/rnseitz/Definit...

http://www.extremeintellect.com/ei2007/I...

http://www.audiblox.com/iq_scores.htm

http://www.iqtest-center.com/iq-scores.p...

"The term 'IQ score' is widely used but poorly defined. There are a large number of tests with different scales. The result on one test of 132 can be the same as a score 148 on another test. Some intelligence tests don't use IQ scores at all." http://www.mensa.org/index0.php?page=10