What Is Tara Sharifi's IQ? The Teen Who Scored 162
In 2019, a young British schoolgirl named Tara Sharifi sat a supervised Mensa IQ test in Oxford and scored 162 - and the number went around the world because it edged past the figures usually attached to Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. So here is the honest headline first: Tara Sharifi's IQ result of 162 is a genuine, invigilated Mensa score, near the top of what that particular test can produce, and it comfortably clears the society's entry bar. It is a real achievement, not a viral fabrication.
The part the headlines skipped is what "162" actually measures. Mensa's British supervised paper is scored on the Cattell III B scale, which spreads scores far wider than the Wechsler tests most people picture when they hear "IQ." On that scale 162 sits around the 99.5th percentile - exceptional, but not two points smarter than Einstein in any meaningful sense, because Einstein's "160" was never a test result at all. Below is where the number came from, what the scale means, and how to read the comparison honestly.
What score did Tara Sharifi actually get?
Tara Sharifi scored 162 on the Cattell III B scale, the verbal reasoning paper used by British Mensa for its supervised test. She took it under timed, invigilated conditions in Oxford in 2019 while a schoolgirl at Aylesbury High School, and reported to the local press that she was "shocked" by the result and had not expected to score so well. Multiple outlets described 162 as "the highest possible mark" on that paper - the Cattell III B tops out at 161 for adults, and children can score a little higher, so 162 sits at or near the ceiling.
Here is the score in context:
| Figure | Test / scale | What it means | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 162 | Cattell III B (SD 24) | ~99.5th percentile; roughly 1 in 200 | Real, supervised Mensa result (Oxford, 2019); near the ceiling of the paper |
| 148 | Cattell III B (SD 24) | 98th percentile - Mensa qualifying line | 162 clears it comfortably |
| 132 | Wechsler / Stanford-Binet (SD 15/16) | 98th percentile - same Mensa bar, different scale | The number that means "Mensa level" on a Wechsler test |
| ~139-140 | Wechsler-equivalent of Tara's percentile | Same 99.5th percentile, rescaled to SD 15 | What 162 Cattell "translates to" on a familiar IQ scale |
| "160" | Einstein (estimate) | Not a test score at all | Assigned decades later by biographers; no exam exists |
The takeaway from the table: 162 is a top-tier score, but the "162 beats Einstein's 160" framing compares two numbers that live on different rulers.
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Why the Cattell scale makes 162 look bigger than it is
The confusion is entirely about standard deviation - the yardstick a test uses to space scores out. Modern clinical tests such as the Wechsler (WAIS/WISC) use a standard deviation of 15. The Cattell III B that Mensa uses in Britain uses a standard deviation of 24. That single difference changes what any given number means.
Think of it like temperature in Celsius versus Fahrenheit. "40 degrees" is a heatwave in Celsius and a mild day in Fahrenheit - same digits, different scale. On the Cattell scale, a score of 162 is (162 - 100) / 24 = about 2.6 standard deviations above the average. Rescale that same distance onto the Wechsler ruler and you get roughly 100 + (2.6 x 15) = about 139-140. So Tara's result corresponds to something in the high 130s on the scale most people mean when they say "IQ." That is still brilliant - roughly the top half of one percent - but it is not the "162" a Wechsler user would imagine.
This is also why Mensa lists two different qualifying numbers for the same 98th-percentile bar: 148 on the Cattell scale, or 132 on a Wechsler/Stanford-Binet test. Same door, two different keys, because the scales count differently. A "162 Cattell" and a "162 Wechsler" are not the same achievement, and the news coverage almost never mentioned which one was in play.
The Einstein and Hawking comparison, honestly
The hook that made the story travel was "higher than Einstein and Hawking." It is worth being precise about why that line is entertainment, not measurement.
- Einstein never took an IQ test. The modern IQ test as we know it, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, was first published in 1955 - the year Einstein died. His famous "160" was assigned retroactively by biographers and estimators such as Hans Eysenck, working backward from his work. Estimates for Einstein floating around the internet range anywhere from about 150 to over 200, which is the surest sign the figure is a guess rather than a reading.
- Hawking's number has the same problem. Stephen Hawking was widely quoted at "160," yet he publicly waved the whole question away, reportedly saying people who boast about their IQ are "losers." There is no verified Hawking exam result either.
- Tara's 162 is the opposite kind of number. It came from a real, timed, supervised paper with a known scale. So the irony is that the one measured, defensible score in the comparison is hers - and comparing it to two estimates on unstated scales is exactly the sort of apples-to-oranges the pillar hub above catalogues for dozens of "celebrity IQ" claims.
None of this diminishes what she did. A near-ceiling supervised result as a child is genuinely rare. It just means the correct sentence is "Tara Sharifi scored near the top of a real Mensa test," not "Tara Sharifi is smarter than Einstein" - a claim no test could actually establish.
What qualifying for Mensa actually signals
Mensa admits people who score at or above the 98th percentile on an approved, supervised intelligence test - the top 2% of the population, or about 1 in 50 people. Tara's 162 put her well past that line and qualified her for membership, which is what made the story newsworthy locally before it went global. As of 2026, the entry standard is unchanged: it is a percentile bar, not a raw-number bar, which is exactly why the scale matters so much.
A supervised score like hers is also far more meaningful than the free "your IQ is 148!" popups you meet online. Those unproctored quizzes have no invigilation, no time control, and no published norms, so their numbers are essentially decorative. A Mensa result is timed, watched, and normed - the difference between a measured height and a guess.
References
- Mensa International - IQ Test FAQs
- The Bucks Herald - Aylesbury 11-year-old scores highest possible mark in Mensa IQ test
- Russell Warne - The search for Albert Einstein's IQ
FAQ
Q: What is Tara Sharifi's IQ?
A: 162 on the Cattell III B scale, achieved on a supervised Mensa test in Oxford in 2019 while she was a schoolgirl at Aylesbury High School. It sits at or near the ceiling of that paper and around the 99.5th percentile.
Q: Is 162 really higher than Einstein's IQ?
A: Only as a headline, not as a fact. Einstein never took an IQ test; his "160" is a retroactive estimate on no fixed scale. Tara's 162 is a real Cattell-scale result, so the two numbers are not measured on the same ruler and cannot be ranked against each other.
Q: What does 162 on the Cattell scale equal on a normal IQ test?
A: Roughly 139-140 on a Wechsler-type test. The Cattell III B uses a standard deviation of 24 while Wechsler tests use 15, so the same percentile (about 99.5%) produces a much bigger-looking number on the Cattell scale.
Q: What score do you need to get into Mensa?
A: The 98th percentile - the top 2%. On the Cattell III B that is 148 or above; on a Wechsler or Stanford-Binet test it is about 132 or above. Tara's 162 cleared the Cattell bar with room to spare.
Last updated: July 13, 2026
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