If you ever took a professional-proctored IQ test (e.g. WAIS-R or WAIS-III), then you should be aware your full-scale IQ consists of a verbal IQ and a performance IQ. Each of them emphasizes a different aspect of general intelligence.

As you know, intelligence is much more complex than that and it cannot be summarized by a single figure.

Nevertheless, it is indicative of how smart a person can be. The IQ scores on the WAIS-III are normed to an average of 100 and standard deviation of 15 in the general population. This means that 95% of the general population would score between 70 and 130.

The Kaufman system for designating intelligence with qualitative labels is as follows:

130 and above: Upper Extreme
120-129: Well Above Average
110-119: Above Average
90-109: Average
80-89: Below Average
70-79: Well Below Average
69 and below: Lower Extreme
Saturday, August 25, 2007