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Home/Historical IQ Tests/Differential Ability Scales
1990 · COLIN D. ELLIOTT · THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CORPORATION · 9 SOURCES

A British test, re-normed for America.

Elliott adapted his British Ability Scales for the United States. The aim was to show a child's pattern of strengths and weaknesses, not just produce one global IQ. Its headline score, General Conceptual Ability, is built only from the subtests that best measure reasoning and conceptual ability.9,2

Find the battery for an age →Cite this page
1979British Ability ScalesElliott, Murray & Pearson
1990Differential Ability ScalesUS adaptation and standardization
2007DAS-II20 subtests, 17 kept from the DAS
2023School-Age norm updateEarly Years keeps its 2007 norms

Built for differences within a child

The name says it: differential abilities. The test measures general reasoning ability, g, but it is designed to set that alongside specific abilities. The result is a profile of relative strengths and weaknesses.5

Elliott used factor analysis and the Rasch model to build it.9 For the DAS-II he defined g as "the ability of an individual to perform complex mental processing that involves conceptualization and the transformation of information".8

General Conceptual AbilityFrom the core subtests onlyM 100 · SD 15
VerbalGcNonverbal ReasoningGfSpatialGvWorking MemoryGsmProcessing SpeedGsPhonological ProcessingRecall of ObjectsGlr
DAS-II clusters and the CHC abilities they map to1,3
EXPLORE · ONE TEST, THREE LEVELS

Which battery for which child?

Slide a child's age. The explorer shows which DAS-II level fits, how many core subtests make up the GCA, and whether the batteries overlap at that age.

Lower Early Years
Upper Early Years
School-Age
Early Years norms
School-Age norms
358111417
Battery levelUpper Early Years
Core subtests in the GCA6
Both batteries normed here?Yes, 5:0–8:11 overlap

Based on the DAS-II structure.1,8 Our excerpt of the source is cut off for the number of core subtests at the School-Age level, so it isn't shown here. The original 1990 DAS's level boundaries aren't given in these sources.

Four steps from Britain to the 2023 norms

1979British Ability ScalesElliott, Murray and Pearson's British battery, the origin of the DAS.3
1990Differential Ability ScalesElliott's US adaptation, standardized for the United States. Also published: an introductory and technical handbook.7
2007DAS-IINew norms, added items and subtests, more attractive artwork, and simpler administration and scoring, based on feedback from psychologists.5
2023Norm updateA normative update for the School-Age battery. The Early Years battery keeps its 2007 norms.6
CONFLICTSThe British Ability Scales are dated 1979 in most sources and 1983 in one.3,1 The 1990 publisher is given as The Psychological Corporation or Harcourt Assessment, which one source says were the same company.9 Our archive timeline's "17 subtests" and "strong fluid/crystallized differentiation" aren't stated for the 1990 edition. We do know the DAS-II kept 17 of its original subtests.2

Still in use, and ageing

A popular batteryStill used by practitioners and included in cross-battery interpretive systems.4
Dated normsBy 2020 its norms were more than 12 years old, one reason for the 2023 update.4
A nonverbal optionA Special Nonverbal Composite for ages 3:6 to 17:11.1
In researchUsed in child studies to check general cognitive ability, alongside tests such as the PPVT-4.3

References

  1. [1]Essentials of DAS-II Assessment, chapter 1 (ISBN 9780470225202). Wiley excerpt (PDF).catalogimages.wiley.com
  2. [2]Wikipedia contributors. Differential Ability Scales (accessed 30 Sept 2026).en.wikipedia.org
  3. [3]Assessment with the Differential Ability Scales. ResearchGate.researchgate.net
  4. [4]Canivez, G. L., McGill, R. J., & Dombrowski, S. C. (2020). Factor structure of the Differential Ability Scales–Second Edition: core subtest CFA. Eastern Illinois University (PDF).ux1.eiu.edu
  5. [5]Beran, T. N. (2007). Review of Elliott, C. D. (2007), Differential Ability Scales (2nd ed.). Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 22(1), 128–132. ERIC EJ803188.eric.ed.gov
  6. [6]What is the DAS-II test? The Differential Ability Scales explained. Riot IQ (2026).riotiq.com
  7. [7]Differential Ability Scales (DAS-II). Statistics Solutions directory of survey instruments.statisticssolutions.com
  8. [8]McGill, R. J. Factor structure of the DAS-II: exploratory and hierarchical factor analyses with the core subtests (preprint, PDF).rjmcgill.com
  9. [9]Differential Ability Scales. Grokipedia (2026).grokipedia.com
HOW TO CITE THIS PAGE
What's Your IQ. (2026). Differential Ability Scales (1990). In Historical IQ Tests Archive. Retrieved September 30, 2026, from /en/historical-iq-tests/das-1990
EDITORIAL RECORD
First published2026
Last reviewed30 September 2026
Sources9, all from visible search results
Open questionsBAS 1979 vs 1983; original DAS subtest count and levels; School-Age core subtest count
Canonical URLwhats-your-iq.com/en/historical-iq-tests/das-1990

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Part of the Historical IQ Tests Archive. Editorial content under CC BY-SA 4.0. DAS-II is published by Pearson; no test items are reproduced.
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