What was reported
The documented facts are few and precise. A four-year-old in Calgary, Alberta, sat an IQ test and scored 160. He was accepted into Mensa International, which CTV described as the world's oldest high-IQ society, and the result places him in the top 0.1 per cent of children his age.
The report does not name who administered the test, which instrument was used, or what the family said about it. Those absences are worth stating plainly, because a score reported without its test is difficult to interpret, and filling the gap with assumptions is how errors enter the record about a small child.
How a four-year-old joins Mensa
Mensa admits anyone who scores at or above the 98th percentile on an approved intelligence test, and it has no minimum age for membership. It does, however, have a minimum age for its own testing: the society administers its supervised paper only from 14.
Younger applicants are therefore admitted on the strength of an assessment carried out by a qualified psychologist and submitted to the society. CBC News documented that route in 2025 in the case of another Canadian child, admitted at six after his parents arranged a psychologist's evaluation. Nothing in the CTV report says which route Ali's family took, but no other route exists at that age.
What a score at four can and cannot show
Testing a four-year-old is a legitimate clinical exercise and a limited one. The assessment is administered one-to-one and depends on the child's attention, mood and willingness on the day, which at that age vary enormously. Practitioners treat results from very young children as less stable than adult scores, and re-testing years later commonly produces a different number.
That does not make the finding meaningless. Being placed in the top 0.1 per cent of an age group means a child did something on the day that very few children of that age do. It means the assessment identified an unusual profile worth paying attention to. It does not predict what he will do at fifteen, and no responsible reading of a preschooler's score claims otherwise.
What is not known
The list of unpublished details is longer than the list of published ones. No school is named. No reading age, language ability or particular skill is described. No quotation from his parents appears in the material used here, and no date of birth is given.
For a child of five, that is appropriate. Pages about very young children are the ones most likely to accumulate invented detail, because the true record is short and the appetite for the story is not. Everything on this page that is not attributed to the CTV report is general context about how the society and its tests work, and is marked as such.
Where Ali Aldalawy is now
As of August 2026 he was five years old, living in Calgary, a member of Mensa International, with a score of 160 obtained a year earlier.
That is the whole of the public record. What happens next is ordinary and unreported: school, friends, the long stretch in which an early assessment either turns into something or quietly stops mattering. The score is a description of one morning's performance, and the reason to keep it in proportion is the age of the person it describes.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elijah Kodzo Motey | Canada | Accepted into Mensa International at six | Age 2 |
| Jadon Prieto | United States | Joining American Mensa at seven | Age 2 |
| Ali Aldalawy | Canada | Accepted into Mensa International at four | Age 4 |
| Arjun Bithal | United Kingdom | He had been taking IQ tests in secret. His parents only found out when the | Age 11 |
| Cyrus Leung | United Kingdom | He scored two points off the maximum. His father entered him to help him f | Age 12 |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Scored 160 on an IQ test at four and was accepted into Mensa International (CTV News Calgary, August 2026)
- Placed in the top 0.1 per cent of children his age
- Lives in Calgary, Alberta, and was five at the time of the report
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- The test used and the professional who administered it are not named
- No family statements, school or specific abilities have been published
- No date of birth, and no reporting since August 2026
Questions people ask about Ali Aldalawy
How old is Ali Aldalawy?
He was four when he took the test and five when CTV News Calgary reported it in August 2026, placing his birth around 2021.
What is Ali Aldalawy's IQ?
A score of 160 was reported, placing him in the top 0.1 per cent of children his age. The report does not name the test used.
How can a four-year-old be in Mensa?
Mensa has no minimum age for membership, but administers its own test only from 14. Younger children are admitted on the basis of an assessment by a qualified psychologist.
Who tested him?
The source used here does not say, and this page does not guess.
What can he do?
No specific abilities, such as reading age or languages, are described in the reporting used for this page.
Where does he live?
Calgary, Alberta. No school or neighbourhood is named.
Is Ali Aldalawy on Wikipedia?
No Wikipedia article on him was identified in the research behind this page.
Does a score at four predict anything?
Not reliably. Results from very young children are less stable than adult scores and commonly change on re-testing, which is the standard professional view.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Ali’s story?
How old was Ali Aldalawy when he took the test?
What score was reported?
Why can Mensa not test a four-year-old itself?
Sources
- Calgary 4-year-old scores 160 on IQ test, accepted into Mensa — CTV News Calgary, 2026-08-21
- N.S. boy, 6, who just joined Mensa started multiplying as a toddler — CBC News, 2025-06-04
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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