Short answer: An IQ of 136 is very superior: higher than about 99.2 percent of people, roughly 1 in 122. It sits inside the top 1 percent and four points below 140, the score Lewis Terman once labeled “near genius or genius.” It qualifies for Mensa with room to spare. On the SD 24 Cattell scale it reads as about 158.
Shaded: the share of people who score higher on a mean-100, SD-15 scale.
At a glance
| Percentile | 99.18th (0.82% score higher) |
|---|---|
| Rarity | About 1 in 122 |
| Wechsler classification | Very Superior (WAIS-IV) / Extremely High (WAIS-5) |
| Stanford-Binet 5 classification | Gifted or very advanced |
| On an SD 16 scale | About 138 |
| On an SD 24 (Cattell) scale | About 158 |
| Mensa eligible? | Yes, six points above the Wechsler cutoff |
What an IQ of 136 means
A 136 stands 2.4 standard deviations above the mean of 100. It ranks at the 99.18th percentile: fewer than one person in a hundred, 0.82 percent, scores higher. In a town of 10,000 adults, about 82 would match or beat it.
The WAIS-IV files 136 under Very Superior and the WAIS-5 under Extremely High. The Stanford-Binet 5 calls it Gifted or very advanced; its top band, Very gifted or highly advanced, begins at 140. Our IQ classification guide maps every band.
136 inside the top 1 percent
| IQ | Percentile | Scoring higher | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 134 | 98.8 | 1.2% | 1 in 85 |
| 135 | 99.0 | 1.0% | 1 in 102 |
| 136 | 99.2 | 0.8% | 1 in 122 |
| 137 | 99.3 | 0.7% | 1 in 147 |
| 140 | 99.6 | 0.4% | 1 in 261 |
The top 1 percent begins at about 134.9, so 136 is one of the first whole numbers inside it. See IQ 135, IQ 137, the top 1 percent IQ explained and the full IQ rarity chart.
Terman's line, and who fell below it
In 1921 the Stanford psychologist Lewis Terman began following gifted California schoolchildren for life. Using the Stanford-Binet and other tools, his assistants identified a core group of 643 children with IQs of 135 or higher. By 1928 the study, later published as Genetic Studies of Genius, held 1,528 subjects.
Two boys screened for the study were rejected because their scores fell short. William Shockley shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for the transistor effect. Luis Alvarez won the 1968 physics prize for work in particle physics. In a 2020 paper in Intelligence, Russell Warne and colleagues argued that a high selection threshold, combined with the rarity of Nobel-level achievement, made such misses likely. Terman himself concluded that intellect and achievement are far from perfectly correlated.
One caution on comparisons: Terman tested children with the 1916 Stanford-Binet, which produced ratio IQs. An adult deviation score of 136 today is not the same measurement.
Four points from the old genius label
Terman's 1916 manual reserved “near genius or genius” for scores above 140 and called 120 to 140 very superior. By the 1937 revision he had dropped the word, and no major test has used it since. A 136 would have been very superior in his scheme. The number 140 survives as internet folklore, not as a clinical category; our guide to what IQ counts as genius traces the idea, and IQ 140 covers the score itself.
Is 136 a good IQ?
It is an exceptional score by any statistical measure, and it clears every Mensa cutoff: about 138 on an SD 16 scale against a requirement of 132, and about 158 on the Cattell scale against 148. The Mensa application process is straightforward for a supervised score at this level.
What 136 guarantees is less. The Terman files show a gifted group that finished college at far higher rates than their generation, yet most led unremarkable lives, while two rejected candidates reached the summit of physics. High ability raises the odds. Interest, persistence and opportunity decide much of the rest.
Measuring a 136 properly
A 136 lies well inside the WAIS-IV's measurable range of 40 to 160, so a psychologist-administered test can resolve it with normal precision: a 95 percent confidence band of roughly 131 to 141. Online quizzes cannot. Our free IQ test is a practice screener, and are online IQ tests accurate? explains why its result is an estimate rather than a clinical score.
Frequently asked questions
Is 136 a genius IQ?
Not by any current definition. No modern test uses the word genius. Lewis Terman's 1916 Stanford-Binet manual applied “near genius or genius” to scores above 140, then dropped the term by 1937. A 136 is very superior and inside the top 1 percent. Genius, in the historical sense, is measured by achievement.
What percentile is an IQ of 136?
An IQ of 136 falls at the 99.18th percentile on the standard scale with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. About 0.82 percent of people score higher, which is roughly 1 in 122.
Is 136 in the top 1 percent?
Yes. The 99th percentile falls at about 134.9 on the standard scale, so 136 clears it. A single test still carries about five points of error either way, so a measured 136 is best read as a strong indication of top-1-percent ability rather than a precise rank.
Would an IQ of 136 have qualified for Terman's study?
On paper, 136 is above the 135 cutoff reported for Terman's core group. The comparison is loose. Terman tested children in the early 1920s with the 1916 Stanford-Binet, which produced ratio IQs, while modern adult scores use deviation norms with a standard deviation of 15.
Sources
- The Vexing Legacy of Lewis Terman, Stanford Magazine — 135 cutoff; 643 core children; 1,528 subjects; Shockley and Alvarez
- Warne, Larsen & Clark (2020), Low base rates and a high IQ selection threshold prevented Terman from identifying future Nobelists, Intelligence — Shockley and Alvarez screened and rejected
- Genetic Studies of Genius (Wikipedia) — Study start 1921; college completion; Terman's conclusion
- IQ classification (Wikipedia) — Terman 1916 table; term dropped by 1937; modern bands
- The Nobel Prize in Physics 1956 — Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain
- The Nobel Prize in Physics 1968 — Luis Alvarez
- Mensa International (Wikipedia) — Cutoffs of 130, 132 and 148
Editorial standard: IQ figures for historical figures are retrospective estimates and are labeled as such; scores for living people appear only when the person disclosed them or a reputable outlet reported them. Corrections: contact the editors.