Frequently asked questions

A test built to measure ability far above average, where ordinary IQ tests run out of hard enough questions. High-range tests are usually untimed and use original problems, and they report scores on the same deviation-IQ scale (mean 100, σ = 15) as standard tests. Because so few people score in that range, their norms are often provisional and are refined as attempts accumulate.

Fluid reasoning is the ability to solve problems you have never seen by working out new rules and relationships, rather than by recalling what you have learned. Both tests on this site are built to measure it: every rule you need is given on the page.

If you are new to high-range testing, start with QUADRAVA-FR. It is built for the gifted range and is most informative from about IQ 125 to 170. PROTEUS is the harder test: it is most precise from about IQ 135 to 185, and its scale continues to a nominal ceiling of IQ 250. You may take both.

Anyone who enjoys hard problems: no membership, qualification or special knowledge is needed, and both tests are free to download and try. They are built to measure above-average reasoning, so most people find them very demanding. QUADRAVA-FR is most informative from about IQ 125 and PROTEUS from about IQ 135, and a score below a test's range is reported as below its floor.

Yes. Try the one-minute warm-up puzzle on the home page, or read the whole PROTEUS booklet online, free, before you decide to take it.

No. Both tests are untimed. Take as long as you need, weeks if you wish, and return to problems with fresh eyes.

No. Everything you need is on the page: no trivia, rare vocabulary or advanced mathematics. QUADRAVA-FR uses basic English, small-number counting and diagram reading. PROTEUS needs no language beyond its instructions.

Pencil, paper, a ruler and squared paper. For PROTEUS, simple physical aids such as a small mirror or paper cut-outs are also allowed. Neither test allows AI systems, search engines, published solutions, computer programs or help from another person, and QUADRAVA-FR also excludes calculators and reference material.

Email your completed answer sheet (a scan, photos or typed answers) with your PayPal receipt or transaction ID to jresquites@mensaphilippines.org. For PROTEUS, the answer helper on the Submit page formats your typed answers for you.

Downloading and attempting a test costs nothing. The scoring fee is US$30 per test, paid only when you submit your answers for an official score. Pay it through the author’s secure PayPal checkout, linked on the Submit page, and include the receipt or transaction ID in your email.

Your score report is emailed within 14 days of receiving your answers and payment.

A score report by email with your raw score and your deviation IQ (σ = 15), with its 90% interval, based on the test's current norms.

Both tests currently use provisional, model-based norms set out in the author's technical documents. Every score is reported with its margin of error, and the norms will be replaced by empirical norms as completed attempts accumulate.

IQ 250 is ten standard deviations above the mean. On PROTEUS it is a nominal ceiling on the test's own scale, not a frequency found in any population. Scores above about IQ 195, rarer than one person in eight billion, are reported as positions on the PROTEUS scale.

Each test, and each PROTEUS form, can be taken once: your first answer sheet is the one that is scored, and only first attempts count toward the norms. This keeps scores fair, because a second try at the same problems, even in an updated printing or edition, measures memory of them rather than reasoning.

Re-sending an unreadable or incomplete scan, asking for a rescore when you can show another valid answer, or correcting a clerical error does not count as a retest. To retest on PROTEUS, request Form B: 40 new problems on the same scale, emailed at least six months after your Form A was scored and reported as a separate score.

Form B is the retest form of PROTEUS: 40 new problems built on the same blueprint as Form A and scored on the same scale. It is not published online. If your Form A answer sheet was scored at least six months ago, email the author with the subject “PROTEUS Form B request”, your full name and the date of your Form A score report, and the booklet and answer sheet will be sent to you. The scoring fee is US$30, and your result is reported as a separate PROTEUS Form B score, never averaged with Form A.

Explain your reasoning in your email. Every alternative is checked against the test's rules, which for PROTEUS is the Principle of the Best Explanation, and it is accepted if it is genuinely as good as the intended answer.