Triple Nine Society

For the television series, see Triple Nine (TV series).
Triple Nine Society
Formation1978
FounderRichard Canty, Ronald Hoeflin, Kevin Langdon, Ronald Penner, Edgar Van Vleck
TypeHigh IQ society
27-5473103[1]
Membership≈ 1,900[2]
Official language
English
Regent
Steve Condie
Websitetriplenine.org

The Triple Nine Society (TNS) is an international high-IQ society for adults whose score on a standardized test demonstrates an IQ at or above the 99.9th percentile of the human population.[3][4][5] The society recognizes scores from over 20 intelligence and academic aptitude tests.[6] TNS was founded in 1978, and, as of 2025, reports a member base of over 1,900 people in 53 US jurisdictions and 39 countries.[2] Since 2010, the organization has been a non-profit 501(c)(7) organization incorporated in Virginia, USA.[7]

Organization

The society was founded by Richard Canty, Ronald Hoeflin, Kevin Langdon, Ronald Penner, and Edgar Van Vleck.[8] All five were members of a similarly selective high-IQ society, with whose governance structure they were dissatisfied.[9]

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.[10]

In 2015, TNS established a 501(c)(3) subsidiary charitable organization, the Triple Nine Society Foundation, to provide scholarships to intellectually gifted students pursuing higher-education goals and for other charitable work.[11]

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.[12]

TNS members mostly communicate online on the official TNS Discourse forum, official TNS Facebook group, and a variety of unofficial venues ranging from Discord to Telegram and special groups like TNS Youth and TNS LGBTQ+.

Every autumn, the society organizes an annual meeting in the United States called ggg999,[13] 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).[14]

TNS also accepts standardized test scores that have a well-established psychometric correlation with IQ, including SAT, GRE, LSAT, ACT, and the Miller Analogies Test.[6] Required score will differ depending on the year those tests were taken.

TNS also accepts a GMAT 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%.[15]

Notable members

See also

  • Mensa, high-IQ society above the 98th percentile
  • Intertel, high-IQ society above the 99th pecentile

References

  1. ^ "Triple Nine Society". Tax Exempt Organization Search. Internal Revenue Service. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "What is TNS?". Triple Nine Society. 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  3. ^ Groeger, Lena (January 2015). "When High IQs Hang Out". Scientific American. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  4. ^ Cox, Jack (June 20, 2005). "Smarter than 99.9% of the rest of us". The Denver Post. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  5. ^ Collins, Terry (December 12, 2014). "Luke Millanta has become a member of the world's IQ elite after joining Mensa". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Test Scores". Triple Nine Society. 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  7. ^ "Triple Nine Society". Clerk's Information System. Virginia State Corporation Commission. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  8. ^ "Noesis - Number 134 - August 1997". megasociety.org. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
  9. ^ a b "A Letter from Kevin Langdon (including letters by May, O'Brien, & Van Vleck)". megasociety.org. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
  10. ^ "Constitution of the Triple Nine Society". Triple Nine Society. February 18, 2024. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  11. ^ "Triple Nine Society Foundation". Triple Nine Society. February 18, 2024. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  12. ^ "Vidya". Triple Nine Society. 2024. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  13. ^ "ggg999 – The annual gathering of the Triple Nine Society". Triple Nine Society. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  14. ^ Hunt, Earl (2011). Human Intelligence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-521-70781-7. OCLC 900268273.
  15. ^ gmat-total-score-concordance-table_august2024.pdf (mba.com)
  16. ^ Haring, Bruce (12 October 2019). "Robert Forster Dies". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 12, 2019. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  17. ^ Cavna, Michael (April 18, 2011). "THE PULITZERS: Denver's Mike Keefe wins for Editorial Cartooning". The Washington Post Company. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  18. ^ Nair, R B (2013) 'ANDREW R KOENIG | LBS kuttipedia'. https://lbsitbytes2010.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/andrew-r-koenig/
  19. ^ Sutter, Herb (March 1998). "What's In a Class? — The Interface Principle". C++ Report. Retrieved 21 February 2010.
  20. ^ "11 Famous Mensa Members". iq-tests.org. n.d. Retrieved February 18, 2024. Better known as Hammerin' Hank, Henry Milligan was a professional boxer.…You'd never suspect that he was a member of both Mensa and the Triple Nine Society.
  21. ^ York, Andrew (December 2016). "Bowling Balls and Binary Switches" (PDF). Vidya. Triple Nine Society. Retrieved February 18, 2024.