High enough to excel, common enough to relate
Two things pull in opposite directions. Headroom (how many people you out-reason) rises with score. Peers (how many people think at roughly your pace, within ±10 points) peak at the middle and thin out fast at the tails. Very high scorers often describe trouble finding peers, a pattern noted since Leta Hollingworth's work in the 1930s and 40s.
Multiply the two and this toy model peaks a little above the mean, close to 110. It's an illustration of the argument, not a finding.
At or near the typical college graduate
Estimates of average IQ among graduates cluster around 110–115, depending on cohort and era. Pick a path to see how a 110 meets it.
The last score that still feels common
Read the band, not the point
A reputable test has a standard error of about 3–5 points, so a measured 110 most likely means 105–115. Free online quizzes are noisier and tend to inflate. And because of the Flynn effect, a 110 on fresh norms is a tougher 110 than one on decades-old norms. Always ask which test and which norms.
4 painters paint 6 identical rooms in 3 days. At the same rate, how many days would 6 painters take for 12 rooms?
Percentiles, quartiles and rarities are computed from a normal distribution (mean 100, SD 15). The sweet-spot chart is a toy model. Graduate IQ, SMPY, elite-occupation and Hollingworth points summarise published research, not this site's data.