Nonverbal IQ Tests: TONI-4, Raven’s 2, Culture Fair Tests and Where to Take One

Which nonverbal IQ tests exist?

This page compares eight nonverbal tests: five clinical tests in English, one German-language test and two online tests anyone can take.

Read the table as a map of access. Pearson sells the TONI-4 and Raven’s 2 at qualification level B, PRO-ED lists the CTONI-2 and UNIT2 at test level C, and Stoelting lists the Leiter-3 at level B. Each publisher sets its own levels, so the letters do not line up across companies. The CFT 20-R comes with its own norms: Hogrefe reports more than 4,300 children and teenagers in the age norms and 5,858 adults in the part 1 norms.

The Stanford-Binet also has a nonverbal side. Our Stanford-Binet guide covers the SB5 and how its nonverbal score sits next to its verbal one.

Who should take a nonverbal IQ test?

A nonverbal test suits anyone whose language, hearing, movement or schooling could distort a test built on words.

That is how the publishers describe their own tests. PRO-ED calls the TONI-4 ideal for people with language, hearing or motor impairments, or people unfamiliar with mainstream American culture. Stoelting says the Leiter-3 evaluates nonverbal cognitive, attentional and neuropsychological abilities in typical and atypical children, adolescents and adults. The UNIT2 offers an entirely nonverbal stimulus-and-response format.

Readers often ask for an IQ test made for ADHD. None of the publisher pages above sells its test as an ADHD test. The Leiter-3 is the one that pairs reasoning scales with attention scales (Attention Sustained, Nonverbal Stroop and Attention Divided, listed by Stoelting). A clinician chooses the tests when attention is the question, so book that assessment if you want one.

If English or German is your second language, a pattern test is a fair place to start. IQMog’s puzzles are visual, which lowers the load on vocabulary and schooling.

Is a nonverbal IQ test culture-free?

No nonverbal test is culture-free: “culture fair” is a name and a design goal, and patterns reduce the language load without removing every cultural effect.

Corentin Gonthier’s 2022 review in Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications finds the assumption that visual reasoning tests are culture-fair dubious, because cultural habits run deep even in abstract stimuli. One example: people who read left to right tend to scan images from left to right, and the reverse holds for right-to-left readers. The review notes that this applies even to abstract stimuli.

Education matters too. Rosselli and Ardila (2003) reviewed non-verbal neuropsychological measures and found education level strongly associated with performance on common non-verbal tests. PRO-ED builds the TONI-4 from abstract figures with no cultural symbols so that background should not strongly affect results. That is the design intent, and the reviews above show that background still matters.

Online tests use the label too. 123test calls its test culture fair because it avoids cultural and language biases. IQMog says it plainly: visual patterns lower the load on vocabulary and schooling, and no test is fully culture-neutral.

What is a normal nonverbal IQ score?

A normal nonverbal IQ is 100, on the same scale as other IQ scores, and about two thirds of people score between 85 and 115.

Pearson reports TONI-4 standard scores with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. PRO-ED gives the UNIT2 composites the same mean and standard deviation. On a normal curve, 68.27% of people fall within one standard deviation of the mean, which is 85 to 115 on this scale. The IQ score ranges page shows what each band above and below that means.

A nonverbal score and a full-scale score can differ for the same person, because the nonverbal one covers a narrower slice of ability. That is why the Stanford-Binet reports both. IQMog’s number is a nonverbal estimate on a 70 to 130 scale: each correct answer adds 3 points, so 14 correct answers is 70 + 3 × 14 = 112, shown with a range of about 12 points either side (illustration; method on How IQMog scores).

Can you take a nonverbal IQ test online?

The clinical tests (TONI-4, Raven’s 2, CTONI-2, UNIT2 and Leiter-3) are given by a qualified examiner, in person or, for Raven’s 2, over video; on your own, you take an online estimate from a matrix test.

The publisher pages state the access rules: level B for the TONI-4, Raven’s 2 and Leiter-3, level C for the CTONI-2 and UNIT2, and proof of eligibility for the CFT 20-R. For Raven’s 2, Pearson lists Q-global Video Proctoring as available, so an examiner can run the session over video. Two nonverbal tests are open to anyone without an examiner.

IQMog’s puzzles come from RAVEN-FAIR, an MIT-licensed set of Raven-style matrices. Results appear right after you finish, and the range around the estimate is part of the report. The one-time $4.99 report costs $8 less than the $12.99 123test full test, and IQMog takes about 10 minutes where 123test allows 30. For a closer look at the other option, read our 123test IQ test review.

Ask one question of any online test: which group are the scores compared with? IQMog answers it on its method page: a fixed reference of 10 correct answers out of 20 on average, with a standard deviation of 5, an assumed norm rather than a measured sample.

How do you do well on a nonverbal IQ test?

Check three things in every matrix: what changes along each row, what changes down each column, and whether something grows, shrinks or turns by a fixed step.

• Cover the missing cell and predict its content before you look at the answer choices.
• Name the rule for the row, then test it on the column. A real answer fits both.
• Count and compare: number of shapes, size, shading and rotation each often move by a fixed step.
• Cross out choices that break a rule instead of hunting for the one that looks right.

Accuracy beats speed. The TONI-4 orders its items from easy to difficult, so a careful start protects your score, and IQMog has no strict time limit. Practice on a familiar format can raise your score on that format, which is why seeing a few matrices first helps. The page on how Raven’s matrices work breaks down the rule types with more examples.