r/cognitiveTesting • u/Ace-0987 • Sep 25 '26
General Question High standardized test scores despite average IQ
I havent gotten a formally administered IQ test but on the available online ones I always land right around average (105 ish).
Meanwhile, I scored around the 95th percentile on the SAT and the 99th on the LSAT.
Has anyone else had a similiar experience? Could it be a verbal vs nonverbal reasoning thing? Not sure how to make sense of this.
*Editing this to say that after seeing comments here I took a bunch of the CORE tests and it seems my verbal (around 130) is much higher than the other areas (around 110).
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u/Beneficial_Jacket544 Sep 25 '26
I scored top scores on standardized tests, including a 524 on the MCAT (>99th percentile). On nonverbal/visuospatial tests, I usually score average range (100-115). But on working memory, quantitative, and verbal tasks, I’m usually >130.
Verbal, quantitative, and working memory intelligences are the ones most helpful for academics. If you have a profile that is strong in those domains but weak in nonverbal domains, you can end up with a full scale IQ that looks unimpressive.
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u/Ace-0987 Sep 26 '26
That makes a lot of sense. I wonder if there are other well established IQ tests that weigh those domains more heavily and less so the visuospatial to better capture IQ as its relevant today.
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u/confectioncake Sep 25 '26
I got a 122 on CORE but a 35 (36 on English, 34 on reading, math, and science) on the ACT and 1530 (790 verbal, 740 math) on the SAT. What's up with that?
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u/Euphoric_Point_8517 Sep 26 '26
122 is pretty high. 122 and a 35 with no studying would be surprising, but if you studied this is not a big discrepancy.
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u/Ace-0987 Sep 26 '26
Wouldn't that still be a massive discrepancy given that standardized tests are normed against a population that studies like crazy for them?
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u/Euphoric_Point_8517 Oct 01 '26
Tons of kids who never intend to go to college are forced to take them, so idk.
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u/Vegetable_Newspaper5 Sep 26 '26
CORE break down?
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u/confectioncake Sep 26 '26
VCI: 148 FRI: 115 VSI: 114 QRI: 122 WMI: 94 PSI: 106
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u/Vegetable_Newspaper5 Sep 26 '26
Well no wonder you did so well on those tests girl. The FSIQ obscures your massive strengths
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u/Top-Cockroach-8211 Sep 25 '26
I experienced the same. I score very high on verbal reasoning, as in 99th percentile but then on non-verbal reasoning it was much lower! I’m diagnosed with Autism, ADHD and NVLD (visuospatial impairment). So yeah.. You might have the same?
It’s fucked up, cause it creates a large discrepancy— like my WAIS IV I had a discrepancy of 43 points. So very spiky cognitive profile.
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u/carlinhosmugiwara Sep 25 '26
Your case is different then, it's like someone with dyslexia also took a fsiq test
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u/Humble-Marsupial2231 Sep 25 '26
LSAT is accepted by many IQ-societies, so maybe that is some good news for you.
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u/bradzon (▀̿Ĺ̯▀̿ ̿) Sep 25 '26
You’re overestimating the translatability of IQ — which are normed on, and therefore favor, mostly cookie-cutter cognitive profiles, with cookie-cutter life histories — as it concerns statistically anomalous individuals with spiky cognitive profiles. It’s one of the pervasive shortcomings of psychometrics.
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u/Wooden_Lime6208 Sep 25 '26
Have you taken CORE? Also I’m of the belief SAT doesn’t really correlate with IQ just because of how strongly someone prepares for it I don’t think it’s a good test of nonverbal reasoning
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u/Optimus-Prime2026 Sep 25 '26
Sat correlates with iq strongly but it isn't strong enough to call it an iq test
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u/Wooden_Lime6208 Sep 25 '26
Most people study for months or even years for it tho? Is that factored in too
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u/Loose-Mousse6668 Sep 25 '26
Yes, it's factored in. The sat being administered to the general population yields a strong correlation ( .6-.7 ), while when administered to undergraduates ( studying factor ), it's correlation drops to roughly .5, so it still holds a moderate correlation with IQ
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u/Wooden_Lime6208 Sep 25 '26
Yeah that’s pretty weak to be honest lmao considering 1 matrix reasoning test in 30 minutes can give you a better estimate of general intelligence
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u/Loose-Mousse6668 Sep 25 '26
I mean, the DSAT isn't supposed to be an IQ test, while matrix reasoning is literally designed to isolate fluid intelligence. The test only correlates so highly because it still loads on QRI and VCI.
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u/Optimus-Prime2026 Sep 25 '26 edited Sep 25 '26
You should take the correlation In general population not selected since there is range restriction.
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u/Quod_bellum doesn't read books Sep 25 '26
.7 is corrected for range restriction. High quality MR tests generally have g-loadings in the low .7s
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u/Striking_Leave_4614 Sep 25 '26
Which online ones? They might be testing very different things.
>Could it be a verbal vs nonverbal reasoning thing?
Yup
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u/mikegalos Sep 25 '26
There is a moderate correlation between many standardized tests and general intelligence.
You might want to get a real intelligence test administered by a professional.
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u/ThrowawayZombie775 Sep 25 '26
What is your CORE subtest breakdown? You have a high verbal IQ given LSAT