Age norms: why everyone is scored against their own decade
Raw performance on timed reasoning tasks peaks in early adulthood and declines slowly afterwards. Age norms hold the scale steady so 100 always means average for your own age.
What rises and what falls
Processing speed and working memory fall gradually from the late twenties. Vocabulary, general knowledge and practised reasoning hold or improve well into later life.
The bands we use
14 to 17, 18 to 24, 25 to 34, 35 to 49, and 50 and above. Each has its own expected mean, so a 55-year-old is not measured against a 20-year-old.
What this means for your figure
A stable IQ across decades does not mean unchanged raw performance. It means you held your position relative to people your own age.
Scored against age, education and area norms. Free certificate with a QR code anyone can verify.
Questions people ask
Does IQ drop as you get older?
Age-normed IQ usually stays fairly stable; raw speed-based performance does decline.
Why does date of birth matter so much?
It selects the norm table, which sets the expected mean your score is measured against.