Former U.S. President Donald Trump recently claimed he had aced an “IQ test” during a visit to Walter Reed Medical Center — but medical experts say the test he referred to wasn’t an intelligence exam at all. Instead, it was a cognitive screening used to detect early signs of dementia.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on October 27, Trump said he had taken what he described as a challenging “aptitude test” and invited Democratic Representatives Jasmine Crockett and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to take it as well. “They have Jasmine Crockett, a low IQ person. AOC is low IQ,” Trump said. “You give her an IQ test — have her pass the exams I took at Walter Reed. Those are very hard tests. They’re really cognitive tests.”
He continued, joking about the test’s questions: “The first few are easy — like tiger, elephant, giraffe — but when you get to 10, 20, or 25, they couldn’t answer those.”
The test Trump referenced is widely believed to be the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a short screening tool designed to evaluate memory, concentration, and thinking skills — often used to detect dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Despite Trump calling it an IQ test, experts emphasize it measures mental function, not intelligence.
Dr. Ziad Nasreddine, the neurologist who developed the MoCA in 1996, told NBC News that the exam has no correlation to IQ testing. “There are no studies showing that this test is linked to IQ,” he explained. “Its purpose is to identify cognitive impairment, not measure intelligence.”
During his presidency, Trump frequently highlighted his perfect MoCA score. His physician confirmed he achieved a 30 out of 30 in 2018, and Trump later claimed to have repeated that performance in subsequent physicals. In 2020, he even challenged Joe Biden to take the same test, famously recalling one section where he had to remember the words “person, woman, man, camera, TV.”
Earlier this month, Trump visited Walter Reed again for a routine check-up that included lab work, imaging, and preventive assessments. White House physician Sean Barbabella confirmed the visit but did not specify whether the MoCA test was administered. Trump told reporters afterward that his MRI results were “perfect,” though he did not elaborate on the reason for the scan.
While Trump has often portrayed the test as proof of his intelligence, experts stress that the MoCA’s purpose is far different — it’s a medical tool designed to screen for memory or cognitive decline, not to assess how smart someone is.