Triple Nine Society facts for kids
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| Formation | 1978 |
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| Founder | Richard Canty, Ronald Hoeflin, Kevin Langdon, Ronald Penner, Edgar Van Vleck |
| Type | High IQ society |
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Membership
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≈ 1,900 |
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Official language
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English |
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Regent
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Steve Condie |
The Triple Nine Society (often called TNS) is a special club for adults who are super smart. To join, you need to score very high on a test that measures how smart you are, like an IQ test. Your score needs to be in the top 0.1% of all people. This means only about 1 in 1,000 people qualify!
TNS accepts scores from more than 20 different intelligence and school tests. The society started in 1978. As of 2025, it has over 1,900 members. These members live in 53 different places in the United States and 39 other countries around the world. Since 2010, TNS has been a non-profit group in Virginia, USA. This means it uses its money to help its members and achieve its goals, not to make a profit.
Contents
How the Society Works
Starting the Society
The Triple Nine Society was created by five people: Richard Canty, Ronald Hoeflin, Kevin Langdon, Ronald Penner, and Edgar Van Vleck. They had been part of another smart-people club called ISPE. But they weren't happy with how ISPE was run, so they decided to start their own society.
Leaders of TNS
The Triple Nine Society is led by someone called the "Regent." There is also an Executive Committee. This committee includes the Regent and eight other officers. All these leaders are chosen by the members and serve for two years.
Helping Others with the Foundation
In 2015, TNS started a special part of their group called the Triple Nine Society Foundation. This foundation is a charitable organization. Its main goal is to give scholarships to smart students. These scholarships help students go to college and reach their higher education dreams. The foundation also does other good work to help people.
Connecting with Members
The Vidya Journal
TNS publishes a journal every two months called Vidya. This journal is filled with interesting things. Members write articles, poems, and puzzles for it. They share their creative ideas and knowledge on many different topics. The journal also includes reports from the society's leaders and other official news.
Online Hangouts
Most TNS members talk to each other online. They use the official TNS Discourse forum. There's also an official TNS Facebook group. Members also connect in other places like Discord and Telegram. Some groups are even made for specific interests, like TNS Youth or TNS LGBTQ+.
Annual Gatherings
Every autumn, the society holds a big meeting in the United States. It's called ggg999. The "ggg" stands for "Global General Gathering." It's a chance for members from all over the world to meet in person. There's also a separate meeting for European members. This one is called egg and usually happens in late spring.
How to Join: Qualifying Scores
What Tests Are Accepted?
To become a member of the Triple Nine Society, you need to show a qualifying score. This score must come from one of the special tests that TNS recognizes. These tests include IQ tests, as well as many college entrance exams and military tests.
IQ Test Scores
For IQ tests, the score needed depends on the test. For example, if a test has a "standard deviation" of 15 (like the WAIS or Stanford–Binet 5), you need an IQ of at least 146. If a test has a standard deviation of 16 (like the Stanford–Binet IV), you need at least 149. For tests with a standard deviation of 24 (like the Cattell III-B), you need at least 173.
Other Accepted Tests
TNS also accepts scores from other well-known tests. These include the SAT, GRE, LSAT, ACT, and the Miller Analogies Test. The exact score you need for these tests can change. It depends on the year you took the test.
For the GMAT test, a score of 750 (for tests taken between 2000 and 2023) is accepted. For the GMAT Focus Edition (available since 2023), a score of 705 is needed. These scores show you are in the top 98.2% of test-takers.
Famous Members
- Robert Forster (1941–2019) — an actor
- Mike Keefe (born 1946) — an American cartoonist who draws for newspapers
- Andrew Koenig (programmer) (born 1952) — a computer programmer
- Henry "Hammerin' Hank" Milligan (born 1958) — an American retired professional boxer
- Andrew York (born 1958) — an American classical guitarist and composer
Other Smart Societies
- Mensa, a high-IQ society for people in the top 2%
- Intertel, a high-IQ society for people in the top 1%
See also
In Spanish: Triple Nine Society para niños
