How to Actually Improve Intelligence, According to the Evidence

Searches for ways to boost IQ typically reflect three distinct goals: raising test scores, building domain expertise, or achieving broad gains in fluid intelligence, and these are often conflated by sellers. IQ scores can shift due to practice effects, better sleep, or reduced anxiety, without reflecting a lasting change in general intelligence. Real, durable gains are more reliably seen in crystallized knowledge built through years of deliberate study in demanding fields like math, language, or music. Brain training apps may improve performance on trained tasks but rarely produce broad, lasting intelligence gains when tested against active control groups. Experts recommend prioritizing sleep and aerobic exercise, followed by sustained practice in a challenging domain, while treating any app-based score as training feedback rather than a clinical measure.