Of course, that makes sense. That is true; Pearson did need to make some small modifications, but mostly local norms had to be obtained, which is why the UK and AUS/NZ versions were released later than the USA and Canada editions.
Yes, verbal knowledge is heavily influenced by vocabulary, which is what is measured by the other VCI subtests (other than similarities, which is a measure of verbal reasoning, and particular strength for your child). Sounds like your IRL observations are consistent with presumed test scores.
Strong math skills are essential to success in science, and especially physics, so their appears to be a good match between interest and aptitude.
