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Home/Historical IQ Tests/WAIS-5
2024 · NCS PEARSON · AGES 16:0–90:11 · 9 SOURCES

Digit Span, unbundled.

Earlier adult editions combined the forward, backward and sequencing digit tasks into one Digit Span score. In the WAIS-5 each is a separate subtest, joined by a new one, Running Digits.3 The edition also moved adults to five primary indexes.1

Build a session →Cite this page
WAIS-IV · 2008Digit Span
1 subtest score
3 tasks inside
↓
SECONDARYDigits Forward
SECONDARYDigits Backward
PRIMARYDigit Sequencing
NEW · PRIMARYRunning Digits
Running Digits and Digit Sequencing are primary subtests. The combined Digit Span total survives only as a process score.3,7

Five in, two out

Two of the five new subtests came from the Wechsler Memory Scale. Spatial Addition and Symbol Span were introduced in the WMS-IV as its visual working memory tasks.8

WMIRunning Digits
NEW · PRIMARYAn auditory working memory task. Pearson describes it as mimicking a real-world rate of speech.1
FRISet Relations
NEW · SECONDARYDesigned to measure logical deductive reasoning, fluid intelligence and simultaneous processing. It may also draw on working memory and crystallised knowledge.1
PSINaming Speed Quantity
NEW · SECONDARYA timed naming task with quantities, grouped with the processing-speed subtests.6
WMISymbol Span
FROM THE WMS-IVA visual working memory subtest from the WMS-IV, now secondary in the WAIS-5. Pearson says adding visual working memory improves clinical usefulness.2
WMISpatial Addition
FROM THE WMS-IVThe second visual working memory subtest from the WMS-IV, also secondary.3
Picture CompletionWAIS-IV supplemental
Not among the WAIS-5's 20 primary and secondary subtests.3
CancellationWAIS-IV supplemental
Also absent from the 20-subtest line-up. Coding and Symbol Search remain the primary speed subtests.3
EXPLORE · SESSION BUILDER

What does each extra question cost?

Start with the ten primary subtests, then add ancillary indexes. The builder marks which of the ten secondary subtests each one would need.3,2

Add ancillary:
VCI · Verbal Comprehension
SimilaritiesPRIMARY
VocabularyPRIMARY
Information
Comprehension
VSI · Visual Spatial
Block DesignPRIMARY
Visual PuzzlesPRIMARY
FRI · Fluid Reasoning
Matrix ReasoningPRIMARY
Figure WeightsPRIMARY
Arithmetic
Set RelationsNEW
WMI · Working Memory
Running DigitsNEW
Digit SequencingPRIMARY
Digits Forward
Digits Backward
Letter-Number Sequencing
Symbol Span+ ADDED
Spatial Addition+ ADDED
PSI · Processing Speed
CodingPRIMARY
Symbol SearchPRIMARY
Naming Speed QuantityNEW
12subtests: 10 primary + 2 secondary
5 + 1primary + selected ancillary indexes
8secondary subtests left unused

Primary and secondary roles follow the independent validity study.3 The four ancillary indexes shown are named by Pearson, but their subtest make-up here is inferred from those names and should be checked against the Technical Manual.1,2 There are 15 ancillary indexes in all.5

2,020 adults, matched to the 2022 census

The norm sample covers ages 16 to 90 in 13 age groups, stratified by sex, education, race/ethnicity and region. It closely matched 2022 US census estimates.3 A later study used the normative data to look at cognitive ageing across 11 adult age groups.9

20subtests: 10 primary, 10 secondary
5primary indexes
15ancillary indexes
13process scores
Counts from Pearson's scoring documentation.5
THE PUBLISHER'S CASEPearson says separating the Visual Spatial and Fluid Reasoning indexes gives greater interpretive clarity. It also added a quantitative reasoning index and expanded crystallised and fluid indexes.1
THE WISC-V PATTERN AGAINThe WAIS-5 attempted the same split of Perceptual Reasoning that the WISC-V had made, into five first-order factors.3
INDEPENDENT REANALYSISExploratory and confirmatory analyses of all 20 subtests in the 2,020-person norm sample favoured four first-order factors under a general factor. The strongest factor combined perceptual and fluid reasoning. The study also noted a mislabelled higher-order factor in the Technical Manual's figure.4

References

  1. [1]Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition: features and test framework. Pearson Assessments.pearsonassessments.com
  2. [2]A guide to WAIS-5 ancillary index scores (flyer). Pearson (PDF).pearsonassessments.com
  3. [3]McGill, R. J., et al. Construct validity of the WAIS–5 (manuscript, 2026, PDF).rjmcgill.com
  4. [4]Canivez, G. L., et al. (2026, February). Construct validity of the WAIS-5, with appendix (PDF).ux1.eiu.edu
  5. [5]Entering WAIS-5 scores. Pearson Q-global help documentation.qglobal.pearsonclinical.com
  6. [6]New subtests of the WAIS-5 (webinar handout, 2024). Scribd.scribd.com
  7. [7]WAIS-5 sample score report with demographically referenced scores. Pearson (PDF).pearsonassessments.com
  8. [8]Drozdick, L. W., Holdnack, J. A., & Hilsabeck, R. C. Essentials of WMS-IV Assessment, Chapter 1. Wiley (excerpt, PDF).catalogimages.wiley.com
  9. [9]Cognitive aging revisited: a cross-sectional analysis of the WAIS-5. PubMed Central.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
HOW TO CITE THIS PAGE
What's Your IQ. (2026). WAIS-5 (2024): Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Fifth Edition. In Historical IQ Tests Archive. Retrieved October 1, 2026, from /en/historical-iq-tests/wais-5-2024
EDITORIAL RECORD
First published2026
Last reviewed1 October 2026
Sources9: Pearson documents and scoring help, a webinar handout and two independent validity studies
Open questionsFull Scale IQ subtest list and administration times; the exact subtest make-up of each ancillary index
Canonical URLwhats-your-iq.com/en/historical-iq-tests/wais-5-2024

Related historical tests

The edition it replaced2008
WAIS-IV

The WAIS-IV had four indexes and ten core subtests, with Digit Span scored as one subtest. The WAIS-5 split both Perceptual Reasoning and Digit Span, and dropped Picture Completion and Cancellation.

ReferenceRead more →
Where two subtests came from2009
WMS-IV

Spatial Addition and Symbol Span first appeared in the fourth memory scale as its visual working memory tasks. The WAIS-5 brought them into the intelligence battery as secondary subtests.

ReferenceRead more →
Five indexes, a decade earlier2014
WISC-V

The children's Wechsler moved to five primary indexes ten years before the adult test. Independent factor analyses challenged that split, and the same question now faces the WAIS-5.

ReferenceRead more →
Where Digit Span began1939
Wechsler-Bellevue

Digit Span has been part of Wechsler's scales since his first battery in 1939. The WAIS-5 is the first adult edition to score its parts as separate subtests.

ReferenceRead more →
Sixty-nine years of adult norms1955
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

The 1955 WAIS was the first adult Wechsler with its own norms. The WAIS-5 is the fifth adult edition, with a norm sample closely matched to 2022 US census estimates.

ReferenceRead more →
Part of the Historical IQ Tests Archive. Editorial content under CC BY-SA 4.0. WAIS-5 is a registered mark of its publisher; no test items are reproduced.
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