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Home/Historical IQ Tests/Stanford-Binet 1937
Reference entry · 1937 · Stanford University11 cited sources

Stanford-Binet 1937: two parallel forms, L and M.

Lewis Terman and Maud Merrill's revision of the 1916 scale added a second, equivalent set of items as a safeguard against coaching, extended the range down to toddlers and up to superior adults, and was standardized on roughly 3,000–3,200 examinees.1,2,4 It remained in use until the 1960 Form L-M.2,10

Test, then retest →Cite this page
AT A GLANCE
AuthorsLewis M. Terman (1877–1956) and Maud A. Merrill (1888–1978) 5,11
Published1937, Houghton Mifflin, with the book Measuring Intelligence 5
FormsL and M, designed to be equivalent 2
Sample≈3,000–3,200 examinees, 1½ to 18 years 1,4
RangePre-school (mental level ≤4) to "superior adult" (>18) 2
ScoreRatio IQ (MA ÷ CA × 100) 10
FormatIndividually administered, age-level tasks with a kit 3
Replaced byForm L-M, 1960 2,10
1 · WHAT CHANGED FROM 1916

Broader, deeper, and harder to coach

Two parallel formsForm L and Form M, the first time the scale offered a second set of different questions.2
Lower floorMore non-verbal preschool tasks using miniature objects, beads, form boards and coloured cubes, down to about age two.2
Higher ceilingBetter accuracy at the "superior adult" level — a mental level above 18 years.2
Less rote recallGreater coverage of non-verbal abilities and less emphasis on recall memory.1
More objective scoringMore objectified scoring methods than the 1916 scale.1

The popularity of the 1916 scale in inter-war America is what made coaching a real risk; Form L stayed closer to the 1916 content while Form M was new material designed to be equivalent to it in difficulty, range, reliability and validity.2

2 · STANDARDIZATION

Larger and more representative — by 1930s standards

≈3,200ExamineesAged 1 year 6 months to 18 years; another account gives "3,000".1
1930Census usedSampling was matched to 1930 census figures.4
IN · KYRural testingPortions of the sample were collected in Indiana and Kentucky.4
broaderGeography and SESTerman aimed at wider regional and socioeconomic coverage than in 1916.1
Limitation. Using 1930 census figures, the sample was restricted to American-born white children; the manual discusses only parents' nationality of origin.4 Scores were still ratio IQs (mental age ÷ chronological age × 100); the deviation IQ did not arrive in the Stanford-Binet until 1960.10

Note on the sample size: secondary sources give "3,000" and "3,200"; the often-repeated 3,184 could not be traced to a primary source here. Confirm against Terman & Merrill (1937) before quoting an exact figure.1,4

3 · WHAT AN EXAMINATION LOOKED LIKE

Age levels of short tasks, with a kit of toys

TYPICAL TASKS
Word namingComprehensionMemory for digitsExplaining proverbsRecognizing absurditiesDefining abstract terms
As listed for the Form L kit in the Smithsonian collection.3
THE FORM L KITA wooden box held a large paper doll, a green form board with triangle, circle and square cut-outs, object cards with miniature items — a toy car, a penny, a doll-house cup — plus beads and cubes for the preschool tasks.3
4 · ANALYSIS AND DEBATE

One general factor — or several?

McNemar's analysis1942
Quinn McNemar, a Terman student, published the book-length analysis of the standardization data and reported evidence for a general factor.6
Jones's factor study1949
Re-analysing standardization scores at ages 7, 9, 11 and 13 (200 subjects each), Lyle Jones found no general factor — instead, meaningful group factors — and urged caution with a single IQ.7
Terman's viewcareer-long
Terman held that intelligence was a single quantity, measurable independently of context and personality.3
5 · BEFORE AND AFTER

The Stanford-Binet line

1916
Stanford Revision of the Binet-Simon ScaleTerman's original, with the ratio IQ as a composite of general intelligence.10
1937
Revised Stanford-Binet, Forms L and MTerman and Merrill.5
1942
McNemar's standardization analysisThe technical companion to the revision.6
1956
Terman diesLewis Terman (b. 1877) dies; Merrill carries the revision forward.11
1960
Form L-MThe best items from Forms L and M merged into one scale; a deviation IQ replaced the ratio IQ, but the scale was not restandardized.10
1972
Thorndike renormingRobert L. Thorndike restandardized Form L-M on 2,100 people, items essentially unchanged.10
6 · TRY THE PARALLEL-FORMS IDEA

Take Form L. Then retest on Form M.

Each age level has a twin item of matched difficulty. Remembering the Form L answer doesn't help on Form M — the point of the design.

Form LFIRST TEST
What is foolish? "He walked backwards so he could see where he was going."
Form MRETEST — ANSWER L FIRST
What is foolish? "She shut her eyes to read the sign more clearly."
Items written for this page in the style of the task types above; the 1937 items remain under publisher copyright. The real test was oral and individually administered.
7 · REFERENCES

Sources cited on this page

  1. [1]Standardization of Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale — secondary summary citing Terman & Merrill (1937) and Roid (2003). Assignment Point.assignmentpoint.com
  2. [2]Science Museum Group. Test materials for Revised Stanford-Binet tests (Forms L and M).collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk
  3. [3]Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Complete Test Material for Form L, Revised Stanford-Binet Scales.americanhistory.si.edu
  4. [4]Kuhlenschmidt, S. Stanford-Binet 1937 and others (manual excerpts and notes). Western Kentucky University.people.wku.edu
  5. [5]Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Record Booklet — Form M for the Revised Stanford-Binet Scale (Houghton Mifflin, 1937).americanhistory.si.edu
  6. [6]McNemar, Q. (1942). The revision of the Stanford-Binet Scale: An analysis of the standardization data. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. NLM Catalog.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog
  7. [7]Jones, L. V. (1949). A factor analysis of the Stanford-Binet at four age levels. Psychometrika, 14(4), 299–331.doi:10.1007/BF02289194
  8. [8]Stone, J. S., III (thesis). The Stanford-Binet, Form L-M, and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. University of North Texas Digital Library.digital.library.unt.edu
  9. [9]Wikipedia contributors. Quinn McNemar (accessed 29 Sept 2026).en.wikipedia.org
  10. [10]Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test. In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Abnormal and Clinical Psychology (2017). SAGE.sk.sagepub.com
  11. [11]Science Museum Group. 'Form M Revised Stanford-Binet Scales', IQ test, United States, 1937 (object record).collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk

Primary source: Terman, L. M., & Merrill, M. A. (1937). Measuring Intelligence: A Guide to the Administration of the New Revised Stanford-Binet Tests of Intelligence. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.5

HOW TO CITE THIS PAGE
What's Your IQ. (2026). Stanford-Binet 1937 (Terman–Merrill revision, Forms L and M). In Historical IQ Tests Archive. Retrieved September 29, 2026, from /en/historical-iq-tests/stanford-binet-1937
EDITORIAL RECORD
First published2026
Last reviewed29 September 2026
Sources11 cited, plus Terman & Merrill (1937)
Open questionExact sample size (3,000 / 3,184 / 3,200)
Canonical URLwhats-your-iq.com/en/historical-iq-tests/stanford-binet-1937
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Part of the Historical IQ Tests Archive. Editorial content under CC BY-SA 4.0. The 1937 items are not reproduced; our public-domain 1916 page has original items.
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