The Triple Nine Society (TNS) is an international

high-IQ society A high-IQ society or genius society is an organization that limits its membership to people who have attained a specified score on an IQ test, usually in the top two percent of the population (98th percentile) or above. The largest and oldest suc ...

for adults whose score on a

standardized test A standardized test is a Test (assessment), test that is administered and scored in a consistent or standard manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored ...

demonstrates an IQ at or above the 99.9th

percentile In statistics, a ''k''-th percentile, also known as percentile score or centile, is a score (e.g., a data point) a given percentage ''k'' of all scores in its frequency distribution exists ("exclusive" definition) or a score a given percentage ...

of the human population. The society recognizes scores from over 20 intelligence and academic aptitude tests. TNS was founded in 1978, and, , reports a member base of over 1,900 people in 53 US jurisdictions and 39 countries. Since 2010, the organization has been a non-profit

501(c)(7) organization A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)). Such organizations are exempt from some federal income taxes. Sections 503 through 505 set out ...

incorporated in Virginia, USA.

Organization

The society was founded by Richard Canty,

Ronald Hoeflin Ronald K. Hoeflin (born February 23, 1944) is an American librarian by profession, philosopher and amateur psychometrician. He is the creator of the MegaMorris, Scot. "The one-in-a-million I.Q. test". Omni (magazine), Omni magazine, April 1985, pp ...

, Kevin Langdon, Ronald Penner, and Edgar Van Vleck. All five were members of a similarly selective high-IQ society, with whose governance structure they were dissatisfied. TNS is a deliberately non-hierarchical society in which the membership is both the main source of authority and the main driver of activity. It is served by an Executive Committee of nine officers; six are elected for two-year terms, and three are appointed. In 2015, TNS established a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

subsidiary

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

, the Triple Nine Society Foundation, to provide scholarships to intellectually gifted students pursuing higher-education goals and for other charitable work.

Communication

TNS publishes a bimonthly journal, ''Vidya'', which contains articles, poetry, puzzles, and other creative content contributed by members conversant with a variety of subjects, as well as officer reports and other official business of the Society. TNS members mostly communicate online on the official TNS

Discourse Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. F ...

forum, official TNS

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

group, and a variety of unofficial venues ranging from

Discord Discord is an instant messaging and Voice over IP, VoIP social platform which allows communication through Voice over IP, voice calls, Videotelephony, video calls, text messaging, and digital media, media. Communication can be private or take ...

Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

and special groups like TNS Youth and TNS LGBTQ+. Every autumn, the society organizes an annual meeting in the United States called ''ggg999'', with "ggg" referring to "Global General Gathering". A privately organized European gathering, ''egg'', usually takes place in late spring.

Qualifying test scores

To qualify for membership, an applicant must submit a qualifying score earned on any of the standardized tests recognized by the society; these include IQ tests as well as various college admission exams and military classification tests. For IQ tests, a qualifying score corresponds to an IQ of at least 146 for tests with standard deviation of 15 (e.g., WAIS, Stanford–Binet 5), at least 149 for tests with a standard deviation of 16 (e.g., Stanford–Binet IV and CTMM), or at least 173 for tests with a standard deviation of 24 (e.g., Cattell III-B). TNS also accepts standardized test scores that have a well-established

psychometric Psychometrics is a field of study within psychology concerned with the theory and technique of measurement. Psychometrics generally covers specialized fields within psychology and education devoted to testing, measurement, assessment, and rela ...

correlation with IQ, including

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

, GRE,

LSAT The Law School Admission Test (LSAT ) is a standardized test administered by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) for prospective law school candidates. It is designed to assess reading comprehension and logical reasoning. The test is ...

, ACT, and the

Miller Analogies Test The Miller Analogies Test (MAT) was a standardized test used both for graduate school admissions in the United States and entrance to high I.Q. societies. Created and published by Harcourt Assessment (now a division of Pearson Education), the M ...

. Required score will differ depending on the year those tests were taken. TNS also accepts a

GMAT The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT ( ())) is a computer adaptive test (CAT) intended to assess certain analytical, quantitative, verbal, and data literacy skills for use in admission to a graduate management program, such as a Mast ...

score of 750 (for tests taken between 2000 and 2023) or a GMAT Focus Edition score of 705 (available since 2023), both of which correspond only to a percentile score of 98.2%.

Notable members

Robert Forster Robert Wallace Foster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019), known professionally as Robert Forster, was an American actor. He made his screen debut as Private L.G. Williams in John Huston's '' Reflections in a Golden Eye'' (1967), followed ...

(1941–2019) — actor *

Ronald K. Hoeflin Ronald K. Hoeflin (born February 23, 1944) is an American librarian by profession, philosopher and amateur psychometrician. He is the creator of the MegaMorris, Scot. "The one-in-a-million I.Q. test". Omni magazine, April 1985, pp 128-132. and Ti ...

(born 1944) — American librarian, philosopher and amateur psychometrician, co-founder of the society *

Mike Keefe Mike Keefe (born November 6, 1946, in Santa Rosa, California) is an American editorial cartoonist best known for his work at ''The Denver Post'', for which he drew cartoons from 1975 to 2011. His cartoons are nationally syndicated, and have appear ...

(born 1946) — American editorial cartoonist *

Andrew Koenig (programmer) Andrew Richard Koenig (; born June 1952) is a former AT&T and Bell Labs researcher and programmer. He is the author of '' C Traps and Pitfalls'' and co-author (with Barbara Moo) of ''Accelerated C++'' and ''Ruminations on C++'', and his name is ...

(born 1952) — computer programmer * Henry "Hammerin' Hank" Milligan (born 1958) — American retired professional boxer *

Jack Schaeffer Jack Schaeffer (born March 19, 1946, in Los Angeles, California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada an ...

(born 1946) — American musician, recording artist, record producer and arranger * Andrew York (born 1958) — American classical guitarist and composer

References

External links