How to Improve Your IQ Test Score

Can you improve your IQ test score?

Yes, a little. Scores go up with practice, because familiar puzzles feel easier and you waste less time working out what is being asked. That is a real gain on the test. It is not the same as becoming more intelligent, and you should not expect a big jump.

1. Learn the common patterns

Most puzzles use a small set of ideas. If you know them, you can spot the rule faster.

• Number series: check the differences between numbers first. If the differences are not steady, check the ratios. If neither works, look for two rules taking turns, as in 2, 6, 7, 21, 22, 66.
• Matrices: look along rows, then down columns. Ask what changes: shape, number, size, fill or direction. Then ask how.
• Analogies: say the link in a short sentence, such as "a glove covers a hand". Then find the option that fits the same sentence.
• Rotations: pick one odd feature of the shape, such as a long arm, and follow it around. Rule out mirror images first, since they can never match by turning.

2. Work the problem on paper

Writing differences next to a number series or sketching a turned shape frees up your head for the real thinking. Short tests like ours are untimed by default, so there is no reason to do it all in your mind.

3. Manage your time

If you use the timer, you have about one minute per question. Do not spend five minutes on one puzzle. Skip it, answer the rest and come back. The questions get harder as the test goes on, so the early ones are the cheapest points.

4. Use elimination

When you are not sure, cross out the options you know are wrong. In the rotation puzzles, one of the options is always a mirror image, so they are quick to rule out. A better guess from three options beats a blind guess from six.

5. Sleep, eat and take breaks

Poor sleep makes people worse at exactly the tasks an IQ test uses. Take the test when you are rested, fed and not in a hurry. Turn off notifications for the twenty minutes you need.

What does not work

• Brain training games. You get better at the game. Evidence that it carries over to general reasoning is weak.
• Memorizing answers. It raises a score on that exact test and nothing else.
• Paid courses that promise to boost your IQ. Be careful with any promise of a large rise.

Habits that help over the long run

Reading widely, learning a new skill, getting regular exercise and keeping up good sleep are good for your thinking in general. They will not move an IQ score much, but they are good reasons to do them anyway.

Try it yourself

If you want to see the effect of the tips, take the free IQ test once, read the method and take it again a few weeks later. Expect your second score to be a bit higher, and remember that part of the gain is just memory of the questions.