Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment ADHD Testing and question about scores.

So I just recently took the WAIS-IV as part of an ADHD assessment and was surprised at the scores. I know most people here talk about their kids, but I'm just curious about what others think. I went in for testing on less than 5 hours of sleep (which I have been struggling with lately) and I had literally just gotten out of an exam for college so my brain was fried. The scores I received are as follows.

VCI - 120 91st percentile
PRI - 111 77th percentile
WMI - 117 87th percentile
PSI - 100 50th percentile
FSIQ - 115 84th percentile

Subtest scaled scores

Vocabulary - 14
Information - 14
Similarities - 13

Matrix reasoning - 14
Block design - 11
Visual puzzles - 11

Digit span - 13
Arithmetic - 14

Symbol Search - 10
Coding - 10

My psychologist said that I had mild, inattentive type ADHD and that I struggled with visual-motor integration on timed tasks. All of the tests that weren't timed I seemed to do much better on with the exception of arithmetic. I also have a diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

What was strange was the PRI score and the scores on Block Design and Visual Puzzles. I have always excelled in mathematics and science scoring anywhere from the 90th-98th percentile on achievement tests in these areas, so I don't understand how the PRI was only 111. I did a lot of items in the visual puzzles subtest and the only item I couldn't complete in block design was the last one in the subtest (I know this since I remember reading somewhere that BD had 14 items and the last 5 were 9-block designs which I did 4 of). I would have expected the PRI to be at least 10 points higher than the VCI, not the other way around. Aside from matrix reasoning, these scores don't make sense to me on the PRI.

I've always been a fast learner. I taught myself calculus in 9th grade and my Spanish teacher wanted me to learn the 2nd year of Spanish over a summer because I breezed through the 1st year. I've always had a fairly advanced vocabulary and was using words like oscillating, excavator, and actually at the age of 3. I was reading before I was in school and I had expressed an interest in skipping grades or acceleration when I was younger, but never had any testing done to see if I could.

Could the factors I mentioned (lack of sleep, brain dead from an exam, ADHD itself, anxiety) have lowered my scores?

Welcome!

Of course they could have. That being said, though, the results are not totally inconsistent with your academic experience. PRI is a mixed measure, combining fluid reasoning (highly correlated with abstract thinking and mathematical reasoning), and visual spatial thinking (sometimes associated with mathematical thinking, but not always). You did well on the tasks associated with math (matrix reasoning and arithmetic), and less well on those associated with or affected by speed (block design, visual puzzles, coding, symbol search). Based on your PSI, you probably did not receive many bonus points for speed on block design, and may have received no credit on some of your responses in visual puzzles, if they were past time limits. Also, there are many, many items on VP, so even if you did a lot of items, there may have been others that you didn't see.

Net, your scores are not unreasonable for someone with your academic history. They may be a little bit of a low estimate, but fatigue usually affects WMI and PSI the most, so, if anything, it might have made your ADHD stand out more.

Thanks! I know this is a bit late of a reply, but I appreciate the response. I apparently was also suffering from some test anxiety during the session as well. My hands were shaking on BD and I exhibited some impulsive responses on matrix reasoning. She noted in the report that my mood was anxious. I also tend to be a rather meticulous test taker in most circumstances.

I wish I would have asked to do the assessment on a later date so I could have been performing at a more optimum level, but I had no choice really as I had to leave for Christmas break and I needed this assessment done.

My pleasure. I hope the assessment met your needs, despite the less-than-ideal conditions.

I mean I still have some more questions I guess. It was strange how some of the subtests were administered, such as information and matrix reasoning. It is my understanding that one needs to get 3 consecutive scores of 0 (which means 3 in a row correct?) in order for the psychologist to discontinue the test. My issue was that, especially on the information subtest, I knew all of the answers up until the last one and then we stopped. I am 100% certain I knew every answer until the last one so I don't understand why we stopped after 1 error. On the matrix reasoning, it's a little harder to tell since the only one I was unsure of was the last one and then we moved on after the last one. She said I demonstrated impulsive responding on this subtest, but that I corrected myself. I don't know if she counted the ones I had to correct myself on as errors even though she said in the report I got the correct response after I corrected myself. It's weird since the only one I'm sure that I got incorrect was the last one. The rest before that one were extremely easy. Similarities was also questionable, but due to the nature of that test, it's hard to tell. On vocabulary it was clear when I got 3 consecutive scores of 0. I guess I also have a case of test anxiety since my hands were shaking a little bit on block design and I'm usually not impulsive in my answers. I think it was because I didn't know when or if I was being timed and I hate timed tasks since I like to take my time and analyze other possible solutions and I'm generally careful. She noted that my mood was anxious in the report.

The discontinue rule is 3 in a row incorrect, yes. I can't speak to whether your perception that the previous answers were correct is accurate, since I don't have your actual responses, but I can note that some items on some subtests can have partial credit, in which case a correct answer may not receive full credit, if it was missing some element, or slightly too vague. (Having confidence that you were correct, obviously, is not the same thing as actually being correct.) Most likely, she did count the ones where you self-corrected, unless you did it a few items later, after you had seen subsequent items.

I also should mention that, generally speaking, your visual-spatial skills are relatively weaker than the other areas (though still comfortably average). (This is usually considered a kind of nonverbal learning difference or disability.) It is possible that some of the answers that you feel were correct on matrix reasoning were actually reversals, rotations, or inversions of the correct answer. In that case, I could see how you would perceive them as correct, (and on some level, they would have correct reasoning elements to them) but they would be marked incorrect.

All this being said, I would encourage you to be comfortable with the fact that you are an intelligent and capable individual, and address the anxiety and self-confidence first. We all have strengths and weaknesses in our learning profiles (and our overall human profiles!); this is not a mark of failure or deficiency, but of natural variation, and the complementarity of living in community with other humans. You appear to be good with language and with abstract thinking, and less strong with spatial-perceptual skills and (as a corollary) motor speed. That's okay. It probably means you benefit from giving yourself plenty of time to adjust to a new situation, and to learn the nonverbal communications of new people, and that leaving breathing room before and after tasks will help to take some of the stress out of them. Clarifying what the expectations are before you enter a new situation or begin a task will probably help you to reduce anxiety that emerges from uncertainty. Start early, pace yourself, and take advantage of opportunities to check in occasionally at reference points--say, with professors--to confirm that you are meeting expectations. And when they've approved a component, leave it alone, and move on to the next part.

I second all of aeh's insight. I'd also add that to achieve a high scaled score on block design, you are expected to correctly complete all of the designs, and do so QUICKLY (70 seconds or less, generally). The time bonuses make or break the score on the WAIS.
Your scores are nothing to be ashamed of. You're bright! And, your scores are fairly commensurate with your reported academic performance. Studies tell us that mild anxiety can cause examinees to perform better than those without any anxiety, and that the effects of ADHD on cognitive scores are not typically statistically significant, especially in adults.
Obviously I can't comment on whether you're accurate about what items you answered correctly and which ones you didn't, your ceilings, etc. In terms of the information subtest, you can give a "true" answer without it being "right"--you may have given a simplified response that, while technically a true answer, was not what the question was looking for. The same is true for similarities and vocabulary. It's not so black and white.
Were you given a CPT? A PAI?