Can you improve your IQ score?

Yes, your score can change. Whether your underlying reasoning ability changes is a harder question. Here is what the evidence says, split into what reliably moves scores, what probably helps a little, and what does not work.

Practice effects: the quickest change

Take the same kind of test twice and your second score will usually be higher. A large review of retest studies found average gains of about 5 IQ points, and more when the very same questions are repeated. The gains come from:

• familiarity with the puzzle types and instructions,
• better pacing and less anxiety,
• remembering rules or even specific items.

This is not “getting smarter” in a general sense; it is getting better at that test. It is the reason this site marks a second attempt in the same browser as “practice-affected”, and why we generate fresh questions every time.

Schooling: a real, slow effect

Education does raise reasoning test scores. A widely cited analysis of natural experiments estimated that each additional year of schooling adds roughly 1 to 5 IQ points. Education teaches abstract thinking, vocabulary and problem-solving habits that tests draw on.

The day of the test

Short-term conditions can easily move a score by several points:

• Sleep: tired brains are slower and make more slips.
• Stress and mood: anxiety eats into working memory.
• Illness, hunger, distraction: all lower performance.
• Device and setting: a small phone screen on a noisy bus is not a fair test.

None of this changes your ability, but it changes your result. If you want a fair estimate, take the test rested, in a quiet place, on a screen you are comfortable with.

What does not work

• Brain-training apps. A major review of the evidence found that people improve at the trained games, but there is little convincing evidence that the gains carry over to general reasoning or everyday thinking.
• “Smart drugs” and supplements marketed for IQ: no good evidence of lasting gains for healthy adults.
• Memorising answers to one specific test: it inflates that test’s score and nothing else.

Things worth doing anyway

Reading widely, learning new skills, staying physically active, sleeping well and staying curious are good for you whatever they do to a test score. And getting comfortable with puzzle types is fun in its own right:

• How to solve matrix puzzles
• Number series: common patterns
• Mental rotation explained

The bottom line

Scores move with practice, schooling and test-day conditions. Underlying reasoning ability changes slowly. Treat any single online result as an estimate, and remember that a retest score is likely to be a little higher for reasons that have nothing to do with intelligence.

Want a baseline? Take the free quick test before you practise.