Guides
Guides to online IQ tests
We build an online IQ test, so we know where these tests are honest and where they aren't. These guides answer the questions people ask before and after they take one, with the sources linked and our own test held to the same checks.
IQ results, honestly
What an IQ estimate can and can't tell you, and why a short test reports a range.
- How accurate are online IQ tests?What the margin of error of a short online IQ test really is, why 20 questions give a range and not a number, and four checks to judge any test.
- Why you got different results on two IQ testsFive reasons two IQ tests disagree: the margin of error, different norms, practice, regression to the mean and what each test asks. How to compare them.
- Fluid vs crystallized intelligence: what a matrix test measuresFluid reasoning solves new problems; crystallized knowledge is what you have learned. Which one a visual matrix test measures, and what it leaves out.
Paying for a test online
How online IQ tests charge, what to check before you pay, and how to get your money back.
- How to find an IQ test without a subscriptionHow a $1 IQ test turns into a monthly charge, the five places the renewal hides on a checkout page, and what a one-time price looks like.
- How to cancel an IQ test subscription and get your money backStep by step: cancel the renewal, ask for a refund in writing, dispute the charge with your card issuer, and report it. With an email you can copy.
- How to tell if an online IQ test is legit, and worth paying forSeven checks before you pay for an online IQ test: who runs it, the price, the renewal, the method, the margin, the refund and what the result is for.
Pattern reasoning practice
How matrix puzzles are built and how to solve them one property at a time.
- Does practicing puzzles change your IQ?What retest studies and brain-training trials found: practice makes you better at the puzzles you practice, and the evidence for a general gain is weak.
- How to solve matrix puzzlesA five-step method for 3×3 matrix puzzles, the four rule types they use, and how wrong options are built to look right. With solved examples.
Looking for puzzles to solve instead? Try the 30 practice puzzles with answers.
See where you land on 20 puzzles
The Cogniva test takes about 7 minutes and gives you a free score band. The full report with your estimated IQ range is optional.
Take the 20-question testFree to take. Report $29.90 once, tax included. 14-day refund.