Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Need advice + help with interpreting test results

Hello, I am an 18 year old male who was recently given access to my testing results from a few years ago by my parents. I need some help understanding the test results in general and also the huge gap between Perceptional Reasoning (127, 96%) and Processing Speed (91, 27%), which seems to be a major issue from what I have gathered through research. My parents and everyone around me say I don�t have a learning disorder or ADHD and that I am a bright kid who just struggles at times with learning. But after finally seeing these results I can�t put the issues I have with learning on the side burner anymore, such as not catching on to certain things as quickly as the other students, not being able to remember as much leaving the classroom as I know I should, and not being able to answer questions when randomly called on as quickly and accurately as I would if given more time. I attend a local community college in normal classes and without a special education plan. I had a rough time in public school starting in 7th grade and ending when I dropped out and received a GED. I scored a 3270/4000 on that, earning honors. But previous to 7th grade I was a straight A student in advanced classes, especially math, which most around me consider my best subject (I disagree in some ways). I also took the SATs in 11th grade and scored a 580 in both critical reading and math, and a 560 in writing. Sorry for all this extraneous information, I just wanted to paint more of a full picture of my academic life.

These are my Wisc-iv results, taken shortly after my 14th birthday (i was very depressed at the time of testing, could this have effected the results at all?):
VCI 110, 75%
- similarities 13 (84%)
- vocabulary 13 (84%)
- comprehension 10 (50%)

PRI 127, 96%
- block design 17 S (99%)
- picture concepts 14 (91%)
- matrix reasoning 12 (75%)

WM 104
- digit span 10 (50%)
- letter-number sequencing 12 (75%)

PSI 91
- coding 7 W (16%)
- symbol search 10 (50%)

Composite Score Differences: (all significantly different except for VCI-WMI):
VCI-PRI: -17
VCI-WMI: 6
VCI-PSI: 19
PRI-WMI: 23
PRI-PSI: 36
WMI-PSI: 13

Do I need to look into any support services at my college? Does the fact that the WISC-IV was given at 14 years of age matter? Does any of this information make sense to an outsider looking in? Are there any strategies or methods I should utilize while doing academic work?
I apologize for the length of this. Thank you for reading this and any input or feedback is welcomed and very much appreciated. I will answer any questions as well. Thank you very much!

If PSI was an aberration, I would be more concerned, but it looks more like all your scores are pretty average, save for the PRI. 91/104/110 are all within a few points of each other and are perfectly normal and average scores. The PRI is significantly higher than the others, and in some schools might have qualified you as gifted. It may just be that you are very good at 3 dimensional/visual problems. You might also have just misunderstood the direction on the coding subtest. Were there notes or a report that came along with your test results?

I wouldn't focus on the PSI score and try to attach any big meaning to it. ADHD does tend to rear it's ugly head around middle school (when children are expected to start remembering things and organizing things on their own without the teachers help), so there's certainly nothing wrong with seeking out professional advice as to whether or not you fit the criteria.

ETA: Being depressed can absolutely effect your scores, btw. There are some who posit that IQ tests are actually better at predicting mental health than they are actual intellect.

Thank you for your response. I confirmed with my parents that there was never an ADHD diagnosis or any learning disorders either. I am glad to hear that there is not much to worry about! And yes I am very good with 3D and visual problems. It's fun finding applications where I can put that to good use.
I don't remember all of the tests, especially the coding subtest. Is it given verbally by the test administrator with verbal responses? There has been talk previously and also has now been renewed recently with my current situation that I may have auditory processing disorder. I know it severely affects my understanding of verbal communications and also the processing of them. Could that have had an impact at all with the test? It's believed to have been missed because of mental health issues at a younger age and so everything else going on was attributed to my mental health.
On that note, would depression affect the scores in any significant way? I would assume if it did then my scores could possibly be higher if the tests were conducted without the symptoms or presence of the depression? (sorry I know this is a bit overreaching to ask).
Thank you again for your response and any future responses!