The Wonderlic Test: What’s on It, What a Good Score Is, and How It Compares to IQ

What questions are on the Wonderlic?

Expect word problems, number series, logic puzzles, vocabulary and analogies, which is the list on Wonderlic’s own test-taker page.

Wonderlic describes the cognitive section as a test of problem-solving skills where you give as many correct answers as you can in exactly 12 minutes. The items are short, so the test rewards fast, clean reasoning more than deep thought. If you want a closer look at the first two types, the guide to number series and analogy questions shows how they are built.

Try four original items in the same style, written for this page, at about 14 seconds each.

1. Series: 2, 5, 11, 23, ? (Answer: 47. Each number is the one before it doubled, plus 1.)
2. Analogy: Knife is to cut as pen is to ? (Answer: write.)
3. Word problem: A jacket costs $48 after a 20% discount. What was the price before the discount? (Answer: $60, because $48 is 80% of the original and 48 ÷ 0.8 = 60.)
4. Vocabulary: Which word is closest in meaning to “scarce”: rare, loud, heavy or early? (Answer: rare.)

Wonderlic gives you 50 questions in 12 minutes. That is 720 seconds, which leaves 14.4 seconds per question. That arithmetic is the real difficulty of the test. Each item is easy once you see it, and the clock decides how many you reach.

What is a good Wonderlic score?

A good Wonderlic score is the one the role asks for, because Wonderlic sets no universal pass mark.

On the classic 50-question test, Wonderlic puts the average score at around 20. That is 40% of the questions answered correctly, so anything above 20 beats Wonderlic’s own stated average. Wonderlic also says employers compare your result with the profile that predicts success in the specific role, which is why the same number can be strong for one job and short for another.

Wonderlic Select goes further. The candidate FAQ says there is no passing or failing grade and that the test does not provide a singular numerical cognitive ability score. It also says test takers are not expected to complete all 50 questions in the time allowed. Leaving questions unanswered is part of the design.

To find your target, ask the recruiter two things: which version you are taking, and whether the role has a score profile. An average only means something next to the group that produced it, which is the idea behind how test scores get their meaning.

Is the Wonderlic an IQ test?

The Wonderlic measures general cognitive ability, and Wonderlic publishes no IQ conversion for it.

Psychologists have studied the Wonderlic as a quick estimate of general intelligence since at least 1981 (Dodrill, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology). That research is why people ask for a conversion. Wonderlic’s own test-taker page and Select FAQ contain none, and Select returns no single score to convert. Conversion charts online come from third-party sites.

A full IQ test works differently. The WAIS-5 reports a Full Scale IQ from 7 subtests that take about 45 minutes. Its five index scores come from 10 subtests and about 60 minutes, and an examiner with qualification level C gives it. For more on that route, see a full clinical IQ test like the WAIS-5.

How does the Wonderlic compare with the WAIS-5 and IQMog?

The Wonderlic is an employer-sent race against 12 minutes, the WAIS-5 is an examiner-given clinical IQ test and IQMog is a 20-puzzle self-test.

Read across a row and you see why the numbers do not swap. A Wonderlic score counts correct answers in a race against 12 minutes. An IQ score places your result against a reference group on a scale where 100 is average, the idea explained in what an average score of 100 means.

How do you prepare for the Wonderlic?

Prepare by taking Wonderlic’s free practice test, learning the five question types and training yourself to answer in about 14 seconds.

Wonderlic’s free practice test gives you 72 seconds for 5 questions, which is 14.4 seconds each. The real cognitive section, 50 questions in 12 minutes, works out to the same 14.4 seconds a question (720 ÷ 50). Practising at the real pace is the fastest way to find out whether you need to speed up your arithmetic, your vocabulary or your pattern spotting.

Pace matters more here than on an untimed test. Wonderlic’s advice on the cognitive section is not to skip around or spend too much time on any one question. Pick your best answer and move on. The guide to pacing a timed test covers soft time caps that fit this approach.

• Drill number series until you spot doubling, adding and alternating rules at a glance.
• Refresh percentages, fractions and simple ratios, since word problems lean on them.
• Read a page of dense text a day to keep vocabulary quick.
• Open your invitation link when you have a quiet 35 minutes, the average time for the whole Select test. Wonderlic says links generally last up to 14 days, so you have time to practise first.

Practice raises your score on this format because the format becomes familiar, and when the clock is the hard part, that gain is worth having.

What happened to the Wonderlic in the NFL?

The NFL stopped giving the Wonderlic at its scouting combine in 2022, and clubs can still ask prospects to take it.

A memo to clubs said the NFL would eliminate the Wonderlic from future scouting combines, and The Hill reported on 5 January 2022 that league spokesperson Brian McCarthy confirmed clubs can still use the test in their own meetings with prospects. Defector reported on 4 March 2022 that a follow-up memo made clear teams could still ask prospects to take the Wonderlic or another cognitive assessment.

A 2025 paper in Frontiers in Psychology adds the wider picture. Its authors write that the league dropped every psychological assessment at the combine, giving concerns about over-burdening players as the stated reason. They also write that Wonderlic scores have not shown strong predictive validity for NFL player performance, citing Kuzmits and Adams (2008), which studied quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers drafted from 1999 to 2004, and Lyons, Hoffman and Michel (2009).

What if you want an untimed read on your reasoning?

IQMog gives you an untimed read on your reasoning: 20 pattern puzzles in about 10 minutes, with no strict time limit.

The Wonderlic races the clock. IQMog lets you take each puzzle at your own pace, and every correct answer is worth 3 points on a 70 to 130 scale (How IQMog scores shows the full count). You finish with an IQ estimate, the score range around it and your percentile. The test is free to take, and the full report is a one-time $4.99.

The puzzles are Raven-style visual patterns, so they test abstract reasoning without vocabulary or arithmetic.