The IQ test in Canada: Mensa, psychologists and online options, with costs and the norms question

0 The short answer

In Canada the right IQ test depends on who has to accept the result: Mensa Canada runs a supervised test for 90 dollars that reports a percentile and invites anyone at or above the 98th percentile to join, a registered psychologist gives a full assessment whose price lists we read run from 800 to 2,937.50 dollars, and a normed online test is a personal estimate that no institution treats as a credential. Whichever route you choose, ask which norms the score is compared against, because a study of 861 Ontario postsecondary students found that the same Wechsler raw scores produced lower standard scores under Canadian norms than under American ones. ACIS is an online, unsupervised, English only battery priced in US dollars, and it is not a route into Mensa.

1 What Counts as a Real IQ Test in Canada, and Who Decides?

No Canadian body designates an official IQ test, so a score counts only as far as the person or organization asking for it accepts the way it was obtained. None of the pages we read for this guide, from Mensa Canada, Pearson Clinical Canada or the clinics, names an official or government approved intelligence test. What they describe instead is a set of conditions. Four words on a provider page tell you which kind of result you are buying: supervised, registered, normed and accepted.

Supervised means another person watched the administration, in a room or online. Mensa Canada says its tests are supervised by volunteer proctors, and it states that unsupervised tests and tests taken over the internet are not accepted as prior evidence. That single rule explains why a result from a free website, however polished, does not open the Mensa door, and the page on how the Mensa IQ test works walks through the same logic for the society as a whole.

Registered describes the examiner. The Canadian Psychological Association says in a backgrounder created in June 2014 that there are approximately 18,000 psychologists registered to practice in Canada and that training takes from 7 to 10 years of post-secondary study. Registration is provincial. The College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario says on its notices of unauthorized practice page that only its registered members may practice psychology in Ontario, hold themselves out as qualified to do so, and use the titles psychologist and psychological associate. We opened Ontario's wording and leave other provinces to their own regulators, because the rules differ and one province's wording should not be assumed for another. The page on who can administer an IQ test explains the qualification levels behind these titles in general.

Normed means the score is a comparison with a described reference group, and it is the word that matters most in Canada, for a reason the section on Canadian and American norms develops: the same performance can convert to different standard scores depending on which country's table is used. The page on how IQ scores are normed covers the general method.

Accepted is the word buyers forget. A score is accepted by a receiving party for a stated purpose: a society, a school board, a disability office, an employer. A person who wants a number for private curiosity needs none of the first three words to be perfect. A person who needs a number for Mensa, for a school accommodation or for a clinical question needs the receiving party to say, before any money changes hands, exactly what it will take. The page on official IQ tests makes the same point about the word official in general.

This page covers adults and older teenagers who live in Canada. It does not repeat the national average, which belongs to the page on average IQ in Canada, and it does not describe how the provincial health systems work beyond what the coverage section documents.

2 Route One: Mensa Canada, Online or In Person, at 90 Dollars

Mensa Canada offers a supervised timed test, online or in person, for 90 dollars, and it reports a percentile rather than an IQ score, with an invitation to join at or above the 98th percentile. Everything in this section comes from the society's own pages, read on October 13, 2026.

The Take the Test page calls the tests a lower cost alternative to a psychologist's IQ assessment and says Mensa is not a testing company. It lists two tests: a traditional online test and a pictorial test taken in person. Both are described as standardized, multiple choice and timed, and both are supervised by volunteer Mensa proctors. The page states a result of 98 percent or above earns an invitation to join. Its wording for the report is that applicants receive a percentile score soon afterward; it does not describe an IQ score.

The fee appears on the Join page: the entrance test costs 90 dollars for an individual and 70 dollars for a student, where a student means a full-time student in December of the previous year with a student ID. Neither page names the currency. Mensa Canada is a Canadian organization, so we treat every amount on its pages as Canadian dollars and say so once here. If you have never belonged to any Mensa organization, the Join page says the verification fee includes complimentary membership for the rest of the current year. Renewal then costs 75 dollars for one year or 135 dollars for two for an individual, and 50 or 95 dollars for a student.

The rules matter as much as the fee. You must live in Canada to apply. The Join page sets a minimum age of 14, and the Take the Test page says people under 14, or with special needs, cannot take a Mensa test and are advised to use a psychologist instead. You must register for a testing date with an online or an in person proctor before you pay, using the request form for the proctor closest to you. The online test is described as available in every location and as the preferred option, with applicants expected to be fluent in English, French or Spanish.

The same page lists where in person proctors work: Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta; Burnaby, Campbell River, Grand Forks, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Vancouver, Vernon and Kelowna, and Victoria in British Columbia; Winnipeg in Manitoba; New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island as provincial entries; ten Ontario locations from Grey-Bruce to Windsor; Gatineau, Joliette, Montreal in English, Montreal in French and Quebec City; and Regina and Saskatoon. The page says pictorial test proctors are usually located in major centers. It does not state how long either test takes, so ask your proctor.

Two cautions follow from the wording. First, a percentile is not an IQ number. The society says its qualifying threshold is the 98th percentile, which on a normal curve with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15 corresponds to about 130.8; that is our arithmetic, not a figure from Mensa, and the IQ percentile calculator lets you check it. Second, a pass opens one door, membership of one society. The page on what high IQ societies require compares it with the others, and the page on IQ test certificates explains why no institution treats a certificate as a general credential.

3 Route Two: Prior Evidence, or Turning a Psychologist's Report Into Mensa Membership

Mensa Canada also accepts an existing result from a qualifying full test given through a school, a psychologist or a licensed agency, for the same 90 dollar assessment fee, and the rules for that route are stricter than most people expect. The Prior Evidence page, read on October 13, 2026, lists the accepted tests and the minimum score for each.

The procedure has five conditions that decide most applications. The test must have been given through a school, a psychologist or a licensed agency, and the page says unsupervised tests and tests taken over the internet are not accepted. The result must come from a full test with all subtests given, and modified school screening tests are not accepted. A Full Scale IQ must show at least the 98th percentile. The report must show the full test name, the score, the percentile rank, the test date and location, and the full name and age of the person tested. A private psychologist's report must be on clinic letterhead and include the psychologist's license or certification number from the province or state.

The minimums show something the society's percentile rule hides. Mensa Canada lists a Wechsler (WAIS, WISC or WPPSI series) Full Scale IQ of 130 with the full battery given, a Stanford-Binet 5 IQ of 130, and a Cattell IQ of 148, among many others. The same percentile therefore appears as 130 on one scale and 148 on another. The reason is the size of the scale's standard deviation, which the page on the standard deviation of 15 explains. It is also why you should never compare two scores from different instruments without checking which scale each one uses.

The page also says what it does not take. The ASVAB is listed as not accepted, several college admission tests are accepted only before stated cutoff dates, and school screening assessments done by primary school boards are accepted only if they provide a Full Scale IQ score. The Wechsler General Ability Index is accepted only for the WISC-IV, WISC-V, WAIS-IV and WAIS-V, and only when the full test was given and two index scores differ by one and a half standard deviations or more. The page does not state how long processing takes and sets no age limits beyond requiring the age on the documentation.

The practical consequence is a planning order. If you expect to pay for a psychologist anyway, for a clinical, educational or workplace question, ask the clinician before testing whether the planned instrument is on the Mensa Canada list and whether the report will state a Full Scale IQ and percentile. Then the report can serve two purposes for one fee. If your only goal is membership, the 90 dollar supervised test is the direct path, and paying a clinic hundreds of dollars for membership alone is the expensive way round.

4 Route Three: A Registered Psychologist, and What an Assessment Costs

A registered psychologist gives a full assessment with an interview, an individually administered battery, a written report and a feedback session, and the price lists we read run from 800 to 2,937.50 dollars depending on how much the assessment covers. This is the route that answers a clinical, educational or workplace question, and the only route in this guide where a person with a regulated title interprets the result for you.

The instrument most psychologists in Canada use for adults is a Wechsler scale. Pearson Clinical Canada lists the WAIS-IV Canadian edition for ages 16 years 0 months to 90 years 11 months, says it includes normative data for ages 16 to 90 based on a fully stratified representative Canadian sample, and gives it a qualification level of C, which the page says enables a buyer to purchase all of its assessments. The page lists kits from 3,014.90 dollars. That is the price a practice pays for materials, not what a client pays, and we mention it only because it shows why an assessment is not sold like a quiz. The section on Canadian and American norms returns to what the Canadian edition's norms mean for your score.

The fees below were read on October 13, 2026 from the pages of three practices in three provinces. None of the pages states whether tax is included, and none names the currency, so as with Mensa we treat the amounts as Canadian dollars. Two of the three do not describe exactly what the cheaper services contain, which is itself a lesson: always ask.

Three readings follow from the table. First, the lowest adult cognitive fee we read, 800 dollars, comes with no stated contents. A cognitive profile may or may not be a full Wechsler administration with a Full Scale IQ, and that difference decides whether Mensa Canada's prior evidence rule, which requires a full test with all subtests, could ever use it. Second, the comprehensive packages cost three to four times as much because they add academic achievement testing, interview, record review and a longer report, which a reader who only wants an IQ number may not need (our arithmetic on the listed fees: 2,475 and 2,937.50 against 800). Third, the same service has a wide range even in our small sample, so a single quote means little. The page on what an IQ test costs by route and the page on the adult testing process, cost and wait give the general picture.

Before booking, ask six questions. Which instrument and edition will be used? Which country's norms will the scores use? Will the report state a Full Scale IQ and percentile, and the index scores? Is the quote all inclusive, covering scoring, the written report and a feedback session? What is the psychologist's registration number with the provincial regulator, which you can look up on the regulator's public register? And will the practice confirm in writing that the report meets the requirements of whoever will receive it? A practice that cannot answer the first two is not ready to sell you a number you plan to use.

The page on neuropsychological testing for adults covers the more specialized assessments that sit beyond a general cognitive evaluation. If you want to know whether a psychologist assessment suits your purpose better than an online test, the page comparing a professional IQ test with an online one sets out the differences.

5 Who Pays: Provincial Insurance, Private Benefits, Training Clinics and the Public System

In private practice the client or a private insurer generally pays for a psychological assessment, because the Canadian Psychological Association has said that psychologists' services are not funded by provincial health insurance plans, and you should check your own province and plan. The statement comes from the same CPA backgrounder created in June 2014. It is a dated source, and provincial policy can change, so treat it as a starting point and not as a rule for every province today.

The backgrounder also says that some publicly funded psychological services are available in Canada, but that they are often in short supply, wait lists are long and the criteria to access them can be restrictive. For an adult who wants an IQ score out of curiosity, the public system is therefore rarely a practical route. For a person with a clinical question, a family doctor is a reasonable first conversation about what public services exist locally. We did not open any provincial plan to document what each province covers, so this page makes no claim about any province beyond the Association's general statement.

Private insurance is a different matter, and the practices we read speak about it differently. The Calgary practice says its fees are covered under most individual insurance plans and that a receipt can be used if your plan covers psychology, psychotherapy or counselling. Both the Calgary and the Richmond Hill pages describe psychological fees that insurance does not cover as a tax deductible medical expense. These are the practices' own statements. Whether your plan reimburses an assessment, and whether it does so when the purpose is personal interest and not a clinical need, is a decision for your insurer, so ask before you book and keep the receipt.

Training clinics are the lower cost option in the table above. The University of Victoria clinic describes services delivered by graduate student clinicians under the direct supervision of a registered psychologist in good standing, and it offers a sliding scale for clients unable to pay the standard fee. That structure can make an assessment more accessible, with the trade of longer scheduling. Ask any training clinic whether your insurer covers services delivered by student clinicians, whether it is accepting adult assessment referrals, and what its fee covers, because the page we read for Victoria does not list the contents of the assessment.

If your reason is a school or workplace accommodation, the receiving body decides what evidence it needs, and often a regulated professional's report is required. An online test cannot meet that requirement, and the section on students and gatekeepers returns to it.

6 Which Norms? Canadian and American Tables for the Same Wechsler Raw Score

The same raw performance on a Wechsler scale can convert to different standard scores under Canadian and American norms, which makes the question of which norm table a result uses a real part of any Canadian IQ result. A norm table converts raw scores into standard scores by comparison with a reference group, so a different reference group gives a different conversion.

The best documented example is the WAIS-IV. Harrison, Holmes, Silvestri and Armstrong examined WAIS-IV scores from 861 postsecondary students at schools across Ontario, in a 2015 paper in the Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment. Their abstract reports that raw scores systematically produced lower standardized scores under Canadian norms than under American norms, and that the differences do not appear to be due to cultural, educational or population differences, because the participants acted as their own controls. They examined what the difference means for learning disability and intellectual disability diagnoses and for educational placement.

The Queen's University Gazette, reporting on the study in March 2015, gave the sharpest figures. It says that about 5 percent of people would be expected to score 75 or below, that this held with American norms, and that with Canadian norms 21 percent of the students scored that low. It adds that fewer students were identified as gifted, and more as intellectually impaired, when Canadian norms were applied. Those numbers come from a news report and not from the paper's abstract, and they describe a postsecondary student sample, not the Canadian public.

A second paper in the same issue of the journal addressed the question. Miller, Weiss, Beal, Saklofske, Zhu and Holdnack, in Intelligent Use of Intelligence Tests, say it is well established that Canadians produce higher raw scores than their U.S. counterparts on intellectual assessments, and that Canadian normative data therefore yield lower standard scores for most raw score points. Their matched sample comparisons conclude that the proportion of low scoring individuals in mixed clinical samples is consistent with published rates and not greater than expected, and they offer advice for clinicians on the appropriate use of Canadian norms for Canadian clients. Two groups of researchers therefore agree that the conversions differ, and they disagree about what the difference should lead a clinician to do. We do not settle that dispute here, and nothing in either abstract lets a layperson convert a score from one table to the other.

The current state of the instrument matters too. Pearson Clinical Canada's page for the WAIS-5 U.S. version, read on October 13, 2026, says it is currently available for use when the examiner determines that U.S. norms are clinically appropriate, or for training in advance of the Canadian edition, and that the WAIS-5 Canadian edition is currently in standardization. In plain terms, a psychologist in Canada may today be administering a Wechsler scale scored with Canadian norms, with American norms, or choosing between them, which is why the question belongs on your six item list.

Professional guidance expects exactly this attention. The American Psychological Association's Guidelines for Psychological Assessment and Evaluation, approved in March 2020, say that using a test designed, developed and normed in one country or region in a different country or region is a deviation psychologists should strive to understand and acknowledge in their interpretation. Their guideline on test selection adds that psychologists should cultivate knowledge of norms when more than one normative set is available. The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA and NCME, 2014), in Standard 5.8, require that norms refer to clearly described populations, and put the responsibility for using norms appropriately on the test user.

For a buyer, this has three consequences. The Mensa Canada pages we read do not say which country's reference group its percentile uses, so ask your proctor. RIOT IQ's own page says all versions are normed on U.S.-born, native English speakers aged 18 and older, which a Canadian reader should weigh. And no rule of thumb converts a score from one table to the other, and neither abstract offers one. The page on the Flynn effect explains one more reason norm tables age, and the page on reliability and validity separates the questions of precision and meaning that a norm choice leaves open.

7 Route Four: A Normed Online Test at Home, and What It Can and Cannot Do

A normed online test taken at home is a personal estimate, and it differs from Mensa and from a psychologist on three counts: nobody supervises it, nobody outside the provider vouches for the examiner, and no institution treats it as a credential. That is not the same as saying it is worthless, and the useful question is what the product documents.

Third party products are best described by what their own pages say. RIOT IQ's page, read on October 13, 2026, lists a Full IQ Test at 50 dollars, shown struck through from 150, a Basic test at 25 dollars struck through from 50, and a Custom test at 10 dollars per subtest. It describes the Full test as 15 subtests taking about 52 minutes and says all versions are normed on U.S.-born native English speakers aged 18 and older. The page does not name a currency code, and it states no refund policy on that page. Our review of the RIOT IQ test covers its design, and the page on free versus validated tests gives a checklist for any provider. Many free sites exist, and what they publish about norms, precision and conditions varies, so ask of every one what its reference group is.

ACIS is one concrete option in this class, and we sell it, so read this paragraph with that interest in mind. It is a self administered online battery of 20 subtests in six CHC domains, reported as a Full Scale IQ and six primary indices. The standard scale has a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, scaled subtest scores run from 1 to 19, and the report gives percentiles and a 95 percent confidence interval. Adult norms cover ages 16 to 90. The forms and the prices below were read on October 13, 2026 and are in US dollars, with a one time payment and no subscription.

Breaks are allowed, a buyer has 30 days to complete a form, and the offer includes a 5 day quality guarantee and a free trial with no card. Because the charge is in US dollars, the amount a Canadian card pays depends on the exchange rate on the payment date and on any fees your bank adds. We therefore do not state a Canadian dollar price: converting without citing a rate and date would be a guess.

ACIS is not a clinical or diagnostic instrument, it is not accepted for hiring, school accommodations or admission to high IQ societies such as Mensa, it is unsupervised, and it is in English only. The page makes no claim about how an ACIS comparison would differ for a Canadian reader. The technical manual is the place to read how the scores are built, and the page on what makes an IQ test accurate lists the questions to ask of any provider, ours included.

8 Every Canadian Option Side by Side: Cost, Time, Report and Acceptance

The options sell different services at prices that cannot be ranked against each other, so the table compares what each one hands you and who accepts it, not only what it costs. Fees for Mensa Canada, the clinics and RIOT IQ were read on October 13, 2026 from the pages cited earlier. ACIS prices are in US dollars, as read on October 13, 2026, and are not converted. Each cell states what the source says, including when it says nothing.

Read across the rows, three things stand out. The cheapest supervised route, Mensa, is also the narrowest, because it answers one question about one threshold and reports a percentile instead of the profile of scores a psychologist produces. The most expensive route is the only one a school, a clinician or a workplace is likely to treat as evidence about a person's functioning, and even then each receiving party sets its own rules. And the online routes cost the least and are accepted by the fewest organizations, which makes them suitable for a decision that belongs only to you.

Prices are not the whole difference. A 90 dollar Mensa session and an 800 dollar clinic assessment do not sell the same report, and the page on where to take an IQ test, in person and online makes the same point for the general case. Establish the evidence you need first, and compare fees only among routes that produce it.

9 Students, Young People and Other People Who Ask Whether They Qualify

Age, student status and language change which route is open to you: Mensa Canada starts at 14 and has a student fee, a school screening can count as prior evidence only if it reports a Full Scale IQ, and ACIS reports adult norms for ages 16 to 90. The facts below are from the Mensa Canada pages already cited and from the ACIS fact sheet read on October 13, 2026.

For a full time student the Mensa Canada fee is 70 dollars instead of 90, provided the person was a full time student in December of the previous year and has a student ID, per the Join page. Students who want to know what kind of test to take for their own interest, and how to read the result against the people around them, will find the full treatment in the page on IQ tests for college students.

For people under 14, the Take the Test page says they cannot take a Mensa test, and it points to a psychologist. For a child who has already been assessed at school, the Prior Evidence page says screening assessments done by primary school boards are accepted only if they provide a Full Scale IQ score, and that modified school screening tests are not accepted. A parent holding an old school report should therefore check whether it names a Full Scale IQ and a full test before assuming it counts. For a young adult who was labeled gifted as a child and wants a current number, the page on IQ tests for former gifted kids explains why a childhood score is not today's number. ACIS adult norms cover ages 16 to 90, so we do not offer it as a route for anyone younger.

Language is the other gate. The Mensa Canada online test expects fluency in English, French or Spanish, and the proctor list includes Montreal in French. ACIS is available in English only. A reader whose first language is French and who would be taking an ACIS form in English should read the page on IQ tests for non-native English speakers, which explains which parts of a score move with the language of the test and which do not. For older readers, the page on IQ tests for seniors covers what a score means at older ages, and Pearson describes its Canadian WAIS-IV edition as giving special attention to older adults.

Some people ask whether an employer, a school or a government office will ask for an IQ score. The honest answer is to ask the office. ACIS is not accepted for hiring or school accommodations, and the page on pre-employment cognitive tests explains how workplace ability tests differ from the tests on this page. Where an office does require a measured score, it will name the professional and the instrument it accepts, and a result from any unsupervised online test will not meet that requirement.

10 What No Route Removes: Measurement Error, Thresholds, Practice and Aging Norms

Every route in this guide leaves the same four limits in place, and a careful reader plans for them before paying: a score is an estimate with error, a threshold score is the least informative, practice can move a retest, and norm tables age. None of these is a defect of one provider.

A score is an estimate. The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA and NCME, 2014), in Standard 5.1, say that test users should be provided with clear explanations of the characteristics, meaning and intended interpretation of scale scores, as well as their limitations. A percentile or an IQ number looks exact because it is a single figure, and the page on IQ scores versus percentiles explains why the two cannot be averaged or swapped casually. A report that gives a confidence interval, as the ACIS report does at 95 percent, is telling you how far the number could move; a report that gives a bare number is telling you less.

A threshold score is the least informative. If your result lands close to Mensa's 98th percentile line, the single supervised sitting is the thinnest evidence about which side of the line your ability falls on. That is our reasoning from how cutoffs work, and not a figure from Mensa. The practical advice is to avoid reading a near miss as a verdict. The Mensa Canada pages we read did not state a retest policy, so ask your proctor before relying on a second attempt.

Practice and familiarity matter. The page on how to prepare for an IQ test describes what helps and what hurts, and the page on whether you can improve your IQ covers what training really moves. Familiar item types can raise a retest score through experience with the format and not through any change in ability. That is a reason to space tests apart and to avoid taking several tests in a week and comparing the numbers.

Norm tables age. The APA guidelines say the agedness of the norms is an important consideration in test selection, and the Flynn effect is one documented reason. For a Canadian reader, the norms question has a second layer, because the country of the reference group changes the conversion, as the earlier section showed.

11 Ten Minutes of Checking Before You Pay Anyone in Canada

A short checklist, done before payment, catches most of the mistakes that buyers of IQ tests make in Canada, and each item uses only information a provider has to publish or tell you. Work through it in order.

1. Name the receiving party. If a society, a school, a disability office or an employer needs the score, ask what it accepts and get the answer in writing.
2. Check the provider's own page for a statement of supervision. Mensa Canada says its tests are proctored; its prior evidence rules exclude unsupervised and internet tests.
3. For a psychologist, look up the registration on the provincial regulator's public register. The title and practice rules differ by province.
4. Ask which instrument and edition, and which country's norms. Expect a plain answer.
5. Ask whether the report will state a Full Scale IQ, a percentile and the index scores, and whether it will cite the confidence interval.
6. Ask for an all inclusive quote that covers scoring, the written report and the feedback session, and ask whether tax applies.
7. For Mensa, register with a proctor first. The Take the Test page says registration comes before payment, so do not pay in advance of a confirmed date.
8. For insurance, call the insurer before booking and ask whether a psychological assessment is covered when the purpose is personal interest, and whether student clinician services are covered.
9. For any online test, read what the provider publishes about its reference group, its precision and its conditions, and treat a provider that publishes none of the three as an unverified estimate.
10. Decide what you will do with each possible result before you take the test. If no outcome would change a decision, the cheapest honest option is to wait.

12 Where ACIS Sits, and What a Buyer Should Do

ACIS is a normed, self administered online battery for personal assessment, it is not a clinical report or a route into Mensa, and which route a buyer should choose follows from who has to accept the result. We sell ACIS, so this section carries a commercial interest, and the limits below are stated as plainly as the strengths.

The strengths are specific. ACIS offers 20 subtests in six CHC domains, and the report gives a Full Scale IQ, six primary indices, scaled subtest scores, percentiles and a 95 percent confidence interval. Forms start at 15 US dollars for Quick and rise to 50 US dollars for the Full Scale, paid once, and the free trial needs no card. A buyer has 30 days to complete a form, breaks are allowed, and a 5 day quality guarantee applies. For a reader in Canada who wants a profile across domains for personal understanding at a fraction of the clinic fees above, though for a different purpose than a clinical report, that is a reasonable fit, and the page on IQ tests for adults covers how to choose among the forms.

The limits are equally specific. ACIS is online and unsupervised, so no examiner observed the session. It is not a clinical or diagnostic instrument, and no result should be read as a statement about health, a learning difference or a disability. It is not for hiring, school accommodations or admission to high IQ societies, so it will not satisfy Mensa Canada. It is in English only. The prices are in US dollars, and your card issuer sets the Canadian dollar amount. The technical manual describes how the scores are built, and we make no claim here about it beyond pointing you to it.

The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA and NCME, 2014), published jointly by the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association and the National Council on Measurement in Education, give the test-taking public a useful rule: the interpretation of a result depends on the conditions of the administration and on the group it is compared with. The Standards say unproctored administrations, where standardization cannot be ensured, call for caution in interpretation, and that the interpreter should be told if a test was unproctored. The APA's Guidelines for Psychological Assessment and Evaluation add the expectation that norms be appropriate to the person tested. Applied to Canada, that means a personal online score is a useful estimate and not a credential, and that a formal decision should rest on a supervised administration by a registered psychologist.

What to do follows from the purpose. If the purpose is Mensa membership, take the Mensa Canada supervised test, or submit an eligible full test report as prior evidence. If the purpose is a clinical, educational or workplace question, book a registered psychologist, ask the six questions from the psychologist section, and confirm what the receiving party accepts. If the purpose is personal understanding or curiosity, an online battery is the proportionate choice, and the free trial lets you see the format and the report before paying anything. If a number would not change a decision, it is also reasonable to not test.

13 Sources Behind This Page

Web pages were opened and read on October 13, 2026. Fees and product details can change, so check the provider before paying. Amounts without a stated currency are treated as Canadian dollars because the providers are Canadian.

1. Mensa Canada. Take the Test (tests offered, proctoring, eligibility, online option, fees page links, proctor locations). Web page. https://mensa.ca/take-the-test/
2. Mensa Canada. Join (entrance test, student and prior evidence fees, renewal fees, minimum age). Web page. https://mensa.ca/join/
3. Mensa Canada. Prior Evidence (accepted tests and minimum scores, procedure, report requirements, fee). Web page. https://mensa.ca/prior-evidence/
4. Canadian Psychological Association. Backgrounder, "What is a Psychologist?" and "Issue: Access to Psychological Services." PDF, created June 4, 2014 according to the file metadata. https://cpa.ca/docs/File/Access/backgrounder_leave_behind-final.pdf
5. College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario. Notices of Unauthorized Practice (who may practice psychology and use the titles in Ontario). Web page. https://cpbao.ca/public/discipline/notices-of-unauthorized-practice/
6. Pearson Clinical Canada. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition: Canadian (WAIS-IV-CDN), product page (age range, Canadian norms description, qualification level C, kit prices). Web page. https://www.pearsonclinical.ca/store/en/ca/p/P100008003
7. Pearson Clinical Canada. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition: U.S. Version, product page (use in Canada, U.S. norms, WAIS-5 Canadian edition in standardization). Web page. https://www.pearsonclinical.ca/store/en/usd/p/P100113000
8. Advanced Psychology Services, Richmond Hill, Ontario. Fee schedule for assessments (cognitive profile, gifted and psychoeducational assessments). Web page. https://mail.psy-ed.com/fees.php
9. Alberta Counselling Centre, Calgary, Alberta. Fees (comprehensive psychoeducational assessment, insurance wording). Web page. https://albertacounselling.ca/fees.html
10. University of Victoria Psychology Clinic. Fees (psychoeducational assessment, sliding scale, supervised graduate student clinicians). Web page. https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/psychologyclinic/fees
11. Harrison, A., Holmes, A., Silvestri, R., and Armstrong, I. (2015). Implications for Educational Classification and Psychological Diagnoses Using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition, With Canadian Versus American Norms. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 33(4), 299 to 311. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282915573723
12. Miller, J., Weiss, L., Beal, A., Saklofske, D., Zhu, J., and Holdnack, J. (2015). Intelligent Use of Intelligence Tests. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 33(4), 312 to 328. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282915578577
13. Craig, A. (2015, March 17). A flawed system. Queen's Gazette, Queen's University. https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/stories/flawed-system
14. RIOT IQ. Home page and price list (Full, Basic and Custom tests, subtests, time, norm group description). Web page. https://www.riotiq.com/
15. American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and National Council on Measurement in Education. (2014). Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association. Open access files: https://www.testingstandards.net/open-access-files.html
16. American Psychological Association, APA Task Force on Psychological Assessment and Evaluation Guidelines. (2020). APA Guidelines for Psychological Assessment and Evaluation. https://www.apa.org/about/policy/guidelines-psychological-assessment-evaluation.pdf

14 Frequently Asked Questions