Squid IQ TestFewer than 1% score 18 out of 18
One of the hardest cognitive ability tests out there. Memorize the digits on the squid's eight arms, wait out the ink and answer once it has turned. Put your g factor to the test, for free.
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Your result is the number of correct answers, not an IQ score. An IQ score needs norms from a large sample, and we do not have them.
By part
Download your certificate
A PDF certificate with the test name, your score and today’s date. Add your name and it gets a credential ID that can be verified.
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Review of every item
The picture shows the squid as it was when the question came, with the digits where the arms ended up. The green arm is the one the question was about.
Want more practice?
Take the test again, you get new digits and turns every time. The working memory test trains the same ability in Aon’s format, with dots in a grid.
How a round works
Memorize
The digits light up on the arms, one at a time.
Ink
The cloud hides the squid while it turns.
Answer
Which digit was on the arm with the question mark?
What the test measures
Working memory
Holding digits and their positions in your head at the same time.
Spatial reasoning
Turning the squid in your mind and knowing which arm is which.
Mental arithmetic
Adding two digits that you only have in memory.
The Squid IQ Test and the g factor
In 1904 the psychologist Charles Spearman showed that people who do well on one kind of thinking task often do well on other kinds too. He called the common factor g, for general intelligence. Cognitive ability tests in hiring build on the same idea: several short subtests that together say something about g.
Working memory, the ability to hold information in your head and work with it at the same time, is one of the abilities most closely linked to g. A reanalysis of 14 data sets with more than 3,100 young adults found a correlation of .72 between working memory and reasoning (Kane, Hambrick and Conway 2005). A meta-analysis the same year put the correlation between working memory and g at .48 (Ackerman, Beier and Boyle 2005). The link is strong but not the same thing, which is why the Squid IQ Test shows the number correct and no IQ score.
Three parts, six items each
- Part 1, memory: three to five digits and no turning. You answer which digit was on the arm with the question mark.
- Part 2, rotation: four to six digits, and the squid turns a quarter, half or three-quarter turn. The fins on its head show where it is pointing. Turning an image in your mind is called mental rotation, a classic part of spatial tests (Shepard and Metzler 1971).
- Part 3, arithmetic: like part 2, but two arms have question marks and you answer with the sum. Your memory then has to both hold and work with the digits.
Each digit is shown for one second. You have 15 seconds to answer in part 1, 20 in part 2 and 25 in part 3, and the whole test takes about five minutes. The items are our own and new every time. The test is built to be hard: fewer than 1% get all 18 right.
To train working memory in a format used in hiring, try the working memory test, built like Aon's gridChallenge. The IQ test mixes matrices, number series and words, and the guide to cognitive ability tests covers what employers use.
Sources: Spearman 1904, Kane, Hambrick and Conway 2005, Ackerman, Beier and Boyle 2005, Shepard and Metzler 1971.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Squid IQ Test?
A free cognitive ability test where you memorize digits on a squid's eight arms and answer after it has turned behind a cloud of ink. It tests working memory, spatial reasoning and mental arithmetic in 18 items.
How hard is the Squid IQ Test?
It is one of the hardest cognitive ability tests out there. Fewer than 1% get a perfect score of 18 out of 18. The hard part is holding on to the digits while the squid turns, and in the last part doing math with them too.
Is it a real IQ test?
It does not give an IQ score. An IQ score needs norms from a large, representative sample, and we do not have them. The test measures abilities that are linked to intelligence, and you see how many you got right in each part.
What is the g factor?
g stands for general intelligence, the common factor that makes scores on different thinking tasks go together. The psychologist Charles Spearman described it in 1904.
Does it cost anything?
No. The test, the review and the certificate are free, and you do not need an account. Your result is saved in your browser. Only if you download a certificate with your name do we store the name, the test and the score, so the certificate can be verified.
Can you get better at the test?
Yes, once you know how the squid moves and find a way to hold the digits, for example by saying them silently to yourself. That does not make you more intelligent, but you no longer spend effort on working out the format. The same goes for practicing before a cognitive ability test in a hiring process.