"130" only means top 2% on a 15-point scale
Wechsler and Stanford-Binet 5 use SD 15. Some tests use 16, and the older Cattell scale used 24, where the same two-SD line is a different number. Mensa thinks in percentiles, not numbers. Convert any score here.
Does your 130 count?
How sure is a score near the line?
A good test's standard error is a few points, so the meaningful claim is "around the top 2%", not the exact digit. Pick an observed score to see roughly how likely the true score is 130 or above.
Speed and depth, not a party trick
The long-running Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (Lubinski and Benbow) finds that ability this far out keeps predicting outcomes, with people in the top 1–2% over-represented among PhDs, patent holders and authors. That cuts against the old "threshold" idea that IQ stops mattering above about 120. But 130 raises probabilities; it doesn't set destiny.
How fast the labels shift around 130
Bar length is log-scaled rarity. 120 → 130 crosses the gifted line; 130 → 145 is another order of magnitude, from 1 in 44 to about 1 in 740. And a 130 on recent norms is a slightly tougher bar than one on decades-old norms (the Flynn effect).
Percentiles, cut-offs and near-line odds are computed from normal distributions. Mensa rules summarised from its published admission criteria; SMPY, Columbus Group and mindset points summarise published research, not this site's data.