Vibe coding an IQ test using GPT5

The purpose of IQ tests is to measure cognitive ability NOT knowledge per se. Education should not be about memorizing test answers (even though it often is). The idea of IQ test prep is even worse, as it defeats the entire purpose of psychometrics; yet evidence of efforts to increase one's IQ are everywhere  online. Sometimes, it is unclear whether the goal is increasing intelligence, or just getting better IQ test results! 

After a brief peek into this world, I found myself taking a timed online IQ test developed by GPT5.

reddit brain training

reddit offers multiple subreddits for users who are intent on increasing their IQs. First, I read this morose post in r/cognitiveTesting: I took mensa's online IQ test and got 95 despite thinking all my life that Im smart: (make some allowance for English as a second language... maybe?)

Throughout all my life, I was told i was intelligent and my relatively low grades didnt reflect poor cognition but rather, laziness. In secondary school... I was painfully mediocre, bordeline on below average, though teachers said ''if you specifically study more, you'd excel'' And always coped by saying ''its because im lazy, not because im dumb;;

In reality, i was both.

Dont know how i managed to get into a good uni. At uni, Im not the perfect student and Im a bit dissatisfied that study isnt easy.  I just wish I was more intelligent

I know its mostly biological, but can i naturally increase my IQ?

redditor Yonderboy responded:

Look up quad n-back (QNB). I can’t vouch for it personally, and most people will tell you it’s not possible (without ever having tried it), but there are a few cases of people dramatically improving test scores, school performance, and subjective feelings of cognitive ability after very prolonged (> 6 months) and regular (> 3.5h/wk) QNB training.

What is N-back training?

N-back tasks are often used in psychology and cognitive neuroscience assessments to measure working memory. The n-back task consists of reading a series of letters to the test subject. The subject indicates whenever a letter repeats some number of letters previously. The n in n-back is the number of letters. n = 3 is typical.

Some redditors and, admittedly other, less unhappy people, enjoy doing n-back tasks as a game. The IQ test redditors are interested in them as a means for improving memory, memory capacity, and increasing fluid intelligence. There is scant, if any, evidence that n-back "training" has any such beneficial effects.

Dual n-back is when two n-back tasks (e.g. one auditory and one visual) are administered simultaneously. Of course, there is a subreddit devoted to that, r/DualnBack. It is easy to misread it as Dual In Back. Multiple phone apps are available for dual n-back enthusiasts.

At the end of his post, Yonderboy (see above) linked to a Google Group, which described a redditor who supposedly had impressive results from n-back training, going from baseline SAT and ACT scores of 900 and 16, respectively, to FSIQ (full-scale IQ? full spectrum IQ? some sort of IQ!) of 148. I followed the bread crumb trail. This is the post associated with those impressive cognitive gains. Emphasis is mine. 1000 sessions - awfuly slow progress (sic)

Hi there!

I really love the concept of improving your cognition through sheer mental will. Unfortunately, based on the available studies and anedoctedal evidence in this community, my improvement is absurdely low. I improved 2.0 points in average in over 1000 sessions in 2 years spam (Doing 6 sessions / day)

My recall and working memory always have been low. Concernig performance on IQ tests, I have done 3-4 different ones Over the span of 3 years and my IQ improved roughly 20 points (scoring 115-120 now). I attribute this increase to a general improvement in a mental health diagnosis (psychosis), and Im questionig what has been the influence of dual n back - because I'm hardly improving score in-game.

Thoughts? Anyone with similar performance who kept pushing and saw results? Any tip to help improving?  Thanks!

I think "...over 1000 sessions in 2 years spam" is supposed to be "in 2 years' span". Everything else is verbatim. Do any of these wannabe reddit geniuses know how to spell or use a spell checker?!!  

There is an accompanying time series plot that looks like it came from a mobile phone; the Fresnel bands are photograph artifacts, not part of the analysis. I don't fault him for effort, and hope he continues recovering from his psychosis. 

Progress after 2 years

The amount of time that is spent on improving results on IQ tests is concerning and sad. Multiple redditors who were were receptive to n-back and other methods agreed that any IQ increase or other cognitive improvement due to brain training would be transitory unless the training regimen were maintained. If neglected, expect regression to the initial (baseline) state.

My overall impression is a combination of Flowers for Algernon and Clavicle.

Gwern

The Google Group, Dual N-Back, Brain Training & Intelligence has 3412 threads including a few by practitioners of Quad N-Back. Yes, that means doing four n-back tasks simultaneously. 

The intensity makes redditors seem like casual hobbyists in comparison!  My personal opinion on this (whether n-backs or any other methods of IQ test "training") is this:

It's pseudoscience garbage. IQ is static; it cannot be changed.

Punished redditor: Sad but typical fate

By now, I was unsurprised that the Google Group pinned post, dated October 2010, had over 14,000 views. Its only content was a single link to a webpage on Gwern Branwen's website, "Gwern's N-back FAQ". 

Could brain training (that Google Group's URL) get any stranger? 

GPT-5 arrives

This thread, Inject Your Preferences: Apps and Live websites caught my eye. A helpful group member, Michael, was taking requests for digital preservation (or copying) online brain training resources:

Yo, share what apps and websites you want live for a more or less permanent basis? I've just spent a little time figuring out GitHub for the first time, easier than I thought. That means, I'll be able to keep websites live indefinitely.... I'm going through a phase where I'm testing out the coding abilities of AI, and with that, app and live website generation...

This is the best, and only answer:

I don't know. I want to be a genius though. In whatever way is possible through online training.

Artificial intelligence Intelligence Quotient

I didn't see links to any replicated websites or apps. but let's pause here, at Michael's Draft Cognitive Benchmark Site entry: 

GPT5 as I'm just now finding is just super, super good at re-creating pre-existing ideas. Genuinely impressed... AI creativity will obviously take more time.... all I simply asked GPT5 was this precise prompt 

"in HTML create a website that's designed to test a whole range of cognitive benchmarks and finish with an aggregate IQ score". 

And here was the result, again a reminder that only for a test run I've put it on codepen, the final site will be placed on a GitHub link... https://codepen.io/qvmbioip-the-typescripter/full/ZYbJKjx

Between now and next Sunday (not this coming Sunday) I'll have to decide whether or not to have the final 'aggregate IQ score' spit out, which may or may not be accurate.

Go ahead and try it. I've worked my way up to an IQ of 54 after a few more tries following my initial attempt in early May 2026, see below.

*Since I don't trust any website with iframes and embedding, it was simply common sense to type this out.

 

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