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Documentation · 1949

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC): Foundational child IQ test

David Wechsler's children's adaptation of his Wechsler-Bellevue (1939) scale. The WISC introduced the Verbal IQ + Performance IQ structure to child cognitive assessment for ages 5-15. Wechsler's child-focused subtests (Picture Arrangement, Coding, Mazes) became the standard for pediatric cognitive assessment for the next 75 years. The current WISC-V (2014) is the most-used child IQ test in the world.

Read About the Test

About the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)

By the late 1940s, the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale (1939) had become the dominant US adult intelligence test, displacing the Stanford-Binet in most clinical practices. But children needed a different instrument: the Wechsler-Bellevue items were too verbally demanding and culturally adult-oriented for use with school-age children. David Wechsler set out to create a children's version.

The 1949 WISC covered ages 5-15. It had the same Verbal + Performance structure as the Wechsler-Bellevue, with 12 subtests grouped into Verbal Scale (Information, Comprehension, Arithmetic, Similarities, Vocabulary, Digit Span) and Performance Scale (Picture Completion, Picture Arrangement, Block Design, Object Assembly, Coding, Mazes). The Picture Arrangement, Coding, and Mazes subtests were specifically designed for children.

The WISC went through revisions in 1974 (WISC-R), 1991 (WISC-III), 2003 (WISC-IV), and 2014 (WISC-V, current). The current WISC-V covers ages 6 to 16:11 and reports five composite scores: Verbal Comprehension, Visual Spatial, Fluid Reasoning, Working Memory, and Processing Speed. The WISC family has been administered to hundreds of millions of children worldwide over the past 75 years. It is the most-used child IQ test in the world and is the standard instrument for school giftedness identification, learning disability diagnosis, and pediatric neuropsychological evaluation.

Copyright note: WISC items are copyrighted (Pearson). This page documents the test's history.

The 2 subtests

#1
Verbal Scale (6 subtests) Information, Comprehension, Arithmetic, Similarities, Vocabulary, Digit Span.
Copyrighted
#2
Performance Scale (6 subtests) Picture Completion, Picture Arrangement, Block Design, Object Assembly, Coding, Mazes.
Copyrighted

Sample Items (Illustrative)

Items on the WISC are presented as direct questions or tasks, and responses are typically scored based on accuracy or completion. Some subtests involve verbal responses, while others require manipulation of physical objects or visual problem-solving.

Sample 1 · Information
What is the capital of France?
Example response: Paris
Sample 2 · Comprehension
Why is it important to brush your teeth regularly?
Example response: To prevent cavities and maintain oral health.
Sample 3 · Arithmetic
If you have 3 apples and you buy 2 more, how many apples do you have in total?
Example response: 5
Sample 4 · Picture Completion
Look at this picture of a house. What important part is missing?
Example response: The door.
Sample 5 · Block Design
Use these colored blocks to recreate the pattern shown in this picture.
Example response: The blocks are arranged to match the pattern accurately.

These are illustrative samples, not actual items from the protected test.

Source

All test materials and historical content on this page are transcribed from:

David Wechsler (1949). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC).

WISC, WISC-R, WISC-III, WISC-IV, and WISC-V are under Pearson copyright. We document the test's history and significance.

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This page is part of the Historical IQ Tests Archive. Editorial content, transcription notes, and curation are released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). Public-domain primary sources retain their public-domain status. BibTeX · RIS · CSL JSON

Historical test materials are obsolete and are not valid modern IQ assessments. This page is preserved for educational, research, and historiographic purposes.

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The instrument documented above is a historical document. Modern IQ scoring uses contemporary norms (mean 100, SD 15). Our free full IQ test is available separately.