How to Prepare for an IQ Test: Practical Tips With Worked Examples

By the IQScore Fun team

You can't cram your way to a higher "real" IQ in a weekend. But you can get noticeably better at IQ-style puzzles, because a lot of what these tests reward is familiarity. Once you've seen a certain kind of pattern a few dozen times, it stops being scary and starts being routine.

Here's what actually helps, with examples you can try yourself.

1. Number sequences: look at the gaps first

Most number series follow a small number of tricks. Check them in this order and you'll solve the large majority.

Step one: subtract neighbors. Take 2, 6, 12, 20, 30. The gaps are 4, 6, 8, 10. They grow by 2 each time, so the next gap is 12 and the answer is 42.

Step two: try multiplying. Take 2, 6, 18, 54. Subtracting gives 4, 12, 36, which is going nowhere obvious. But each number is the previous one times 3, so the next is 162.

Step three: multiply and add. Take 3, 7, 15, 31. Double each number and add 1: 3 becomes 7, 7 becomes 15, 15 becomes 31. So the next is 63.

Step four: look for two interleaved sequences. Take 5, 10, 7, 14, 9, 18. Read every other number. The odd positions go 5, 7, 9 (adding 2). The even positions go 10, 14, 18 (adding 4). So the next number is 11.

If you've tried these four and nothing fits, skip it and come back. Which brings us to a point about time.

2. Plan your time before you start

A 20-question test with a 20-minute limit gives you about a minute per question. That sounds fine until you spend six minutes on one stubborn puzzle and then rush the last five.

A simple plan that works for most people: on your first pass, give each question a quick look and answer the ones that click. If you're stuck after roughly a minute, make your best guess, mark it in your head and move on. Use whatever time is left at the end to go back to the hard ones. On our test you can jump between questions using the Back button or the little dots under each question.

And if a test doesn't take marks off for wrong answers (ours doesn't, an unanswered question simply counts as wrong), always guess rather than leave blanks.

3. Letter series: turn letters into numbers

Letter patterns look different but they're usually number patterns in disguise. Write down each letter's position in the alphabet (A = 1, B = 2, and so on).

Try B, D, G, K, ?. That's 2, 4, 7, 11. The gaps are 2, 3, 4, so the next gap is 5 and the next number is 16, which is the letter P.

Once you do this a few times, you won't need to write anything out. You'll see "gaps that grow by one" instantly.

4. Analogies: say the relationship out loud

For "Doctor is to hospital as teacher is to ...?", the trick is to put the connection into a full sentence first. "A doctor works in a hospital." Now apply the same sentence to the second pair: "A teacher works in a ..." school.

The common mistake is rushing to the answer that feels related. If you only think "teacher" and "student," you might pick student, because those two words go together. But the relationship in the example was person and workplace, not person and the people they serve. Always test your sentence against the first pair before you commit.

5. Odd one out: find the rule, then the exception

Take 16, 25, 36, 48, 49. Most people stare at them for a while. The faster approach is to ask "what do most of these have in common?" 16, 25, 36 and 49 are all perfect squares. 48 isn't. Found it.

Think of categories: perfect squares, primes, even or odd, shapes with straight sides, words that are verbs. Test two or three categories and the exception usually jumps out.

6. Visual patterns: check four things in order

Visual puzzles feel harder because there's no number to hang on to. Here's a checklist that makes them mechanical. Compare neighboring figures and ask:

• Shape: does the shape change? Does it follow a cycle, like circle, square, triangle?
• Count: does the number of items go up or down by a steady amount?
• Fill: does it alternate between filled and empty?
• Rotation or position: does something turn or move by the same amount each step?

Most puzzles change one or two of these at a time. Once you know which, the answer is usually the only option that matches. In 3x3 grids, also check whether each row and column contains every shape once, or whether the third cell is built from the first two (for example, adding the counts together).

7. The boring stuff that really matters

• Sleep. A tired brain is slower at exactly the kind of reasoning these tests use.
• Read twice. Many mistakes come from skimming. Words like "NOT," "except," and "second" change everything.
• Don't cram on the same test. If you take the same set of questions again and again, you're practicing memory, not reasoning. Try varied puzzles instead.
• Stay calm. If you hit three tough ones in a row, that's normal. Take a breath and move on.

A fair warning about "boosting your IQ"

You'll see websites promising to raise your IQ by 20 points in a week. Be skeptical. What you can realistically do is improve your performance on this style of test by getting comfortable with it. That's genuinely useful if you're going to sit a timed test, but it isn't the same as becoming more intelligent. Keep that distinction in mind, and you'll avoid both disappointment and hype.

Ready to try these methods? Take the free IQ test and see the explanations for every answer afterward. For longer-term habits, have a look at our guide on sharpening your thinking.