What does an 121 IQ mean?

Answer 1

An IQ of 121 or more can be expected in about 1 of every 10 people, drawn at random from the population. That is, an IQ of 121 is almost exactly in the top 10% (90.5 percentile, assuming population standard deviation of 16 and mean of 100).

The IQ predicts, fairly well, how well people do in school. All other things being equal, people with an IQ of around 120, or above, tend to do well in high school as well as in college, and often enter occupations requiring advanced training. As a practical matter, people in the the professions (medicine, law, engineering, computing, pharmacy, etc) tend to have IQs around 120 or above, as do students in selective 4-year colleges.

There are many exceptions, of course. A Nobel prizewinner may have an IQ of 105 (true!), while a death row convict may have an IQ of 140. In the final analysis, it is up to you what you do with your life and the talents you have.

Also, there is a widely accepted, but narrowly applied, theory of multiple intelligences which states that IQ is only one portion of the spectrum. This means that your IQ often does not include your creativity or other aspects of the cognitive process, thus misrepresenting your overall intelligence.