Has Donald Trump ever released official IQ test results to the public?
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Executive summary
Donald Trump has not publicly released formal IQ test results; reporting and fact-checkers say there is no verified public record of an IQ score he disclosed from an official intelligence test [1] [2]. What Trump has publicly cited and boasted about are cognitive-screening results (the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA) and various unverified online claims about school-era IQ scores that fact‑checkers have debunked [3] [4] [2].
1. No verified, official IQ score has been produced
There is no public, verifiable release of an official IQ test result for Donald Trump in contemporary reporting: longstanding media accounts note that Trump “has never revealed his own IQ,” and fact-checkers found no evidence for circulated specific scores such as “73” from school records [1] [2]. Full Fact’s review concluded there is no evidence that a claimed New York Military Academy IQ score of 73 exists [2]. Snopes also investigated and flagged circulating claims about old IQ test papers as unverified or false [5] [6].
2. What Trump has shared — and what it actually was
What Trump and his doctors have shared publicly are results of brief cognitive screenings, not IQ tests. Multiple outlets identify the exam he and his physicians referenced as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a screening tool for early cognitive decline — not an intelligence or IQ test [3] [4]. Reporting documents that Trump bragged about “acing” or getting a perfect MoCA score in 2018 and again in subsequent years; MedPage Today and Axios note MoCA scores reported by physicians and by Trump himself [4] [3].
3. MoCA is not an IQ test — experts and test creators say so
The MoCA’s creator and medical reporting emphasize that the MoCA screens for cognitive impairment and was not designed to measure intelligence. The test’s author told reporters there are no studies showing the MoCA correlates with standard IQ tests; journalists and clinicians say many MoCA items assess short‑term memory and executive function rather than intellectual aptitude as measured by IQ batteries [7] [3] [4].
4. Why the distinction matters politically and scientifically
Conflating a cognitive screening with an IQ score has political effects: Trump has used the “test” language to taunt political opponents and to claim superior faculties, yet the MoCA’s purpose is clinical screening, not academic ranking of intelligence [8] [3]. Medically, the MoCA can detect subtle cognitive decline; it does not place test‑takers on the IQ scale or permit comparisons with Mensa or standardized IQ norms [4] [7].
5. Viral claims about historical IQ scores have been debunked
Since at least 2016, social claims about Trump’s IQ — both inflated and deflated figures — have circulated online. Fact‑checking organizations have repeatedly found no evidence supporting specific archived IQ results attributed to his school years, and have corrected viral graphics and memes that present alleged historical scores as fact [5] [6] [2].
6. Alternative viewpoints and limits of available reporting
Media sources differ in emphasis: some outlets focus on the political optics of Trump calling the MoCA an “IQ test” and challenging rivals to take it [3] [8]; other reporting highlights how repeated public release of MoCA items and answer keys could bias later screenings [4]. Available sources do not mention Trump releasing a recognized, standardized IQ test report such as WAIS or Stanford–Binet scores; they also do not present peer‑reviewed proof that MoCA scores equate to IQ [4] [7].
7. Bottom line for readers
There is a clear distinction in available reporting: no verified public record shows Trump released official IQ test results [1] [2]; what he and others have pointed to publicly are MoCA cognitive‑screening scores, which medical experts and the test’s author say are not measures of IQ [4] [7] [3]. Claims about specific historical IQ scores circulating online have been investigated and found unsupported by fact‑checkers [5] [6] [2].
Limitations: this analysis relies only on the provided reporting; if other primary documents exist outside these sources, they are not addressed here because they are not cited in the available material.