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Home/Historical IQ Tests/Stanford Achievement Test
STANFORD UNIVERSITY · WORLD BOOK COMPANY · 1922–23

The Stanford Achievement Test: what a child had learned, subject by subject

A psychologist, a statistician and a doctoral student built a set of school-subject tests for pupils in grades two to eight. It began as a tool for Terman's study of gifted children. Later editions of the battery are still in use a century on.

Fill in a profile sheet →1922 or 1923?
Stanford
Achievement Test
Lewis M. Terman1877–1956Professor of psychology
Truman L. Kelley1884–1961Statistician and assistant professor of education
Giles M. Ruch1892–1943Doctoral student (Stanford PhD, 1922)
WORLD BOOK COMPANY
Roles as given in the Smithsonian record of an Arithmetic Examination A from the first edition [1]; lifespans from [2].

1922 or 1923?

This archive files the test under 1923, the year most reference works give. The Smithsonian dates its copy to a 1922 first edition. Both could be right, if the booklets were printed in 1922 and the published battery is reckoned from 1923.

1922
The Smithsonian calls its Arithmetic Examination A "part of the first (1922) edition", published by World Book.[1]
Its source is the Annual Report of the President of Stanford University for 1922.[1]
1923
A measurement encyclopedia: first published in 1923 by World Book.[4]
Terman's papers list "Stanford Achievement Tests Primary and Advanced, 1923".[5]
The publisher's tenth-edition guide: the test "first appeared in 1923".[6]

From two grade levels to seven

The Stanford was developed for Terman's longitudinal study of gifted children, and at first was offered at only two elementary grade levels [4]. By the first commercial edition, it covered grades two to eight [1].

Our source doesn't say which two grades came first. The ruler marks the published range.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Grade■ covered by the first edition, grades 2–8

What the batteries contained by 1940

We haven't seen a full list of the first edition's tests. The Smithsonian's 1940 Form D booklets do list theirs [2][3]. Switch batteries to compare.

Paragraph MeaningIN BOTH
Word MeaningIN BOTH
Language UsageTHIS ONLY
Arithmetic ReasoningIN BOTH
Arithmetic ComputationIN BOTH
LiteratureTHIS ONLY
Social Studies ITHIS ONLY
Social Studies IITHIS ONLY
Elementary ScienceTHIS ONLY
SpellingIN BOTH
The Advanced Battery adds language usage, literature, two parts of social studies and elementary science to the five shared tests.

A battery's point: one sheet, many subjects

One question for each of seven subjects, set out the way the 1940 Advanced Battery divides them. As you answer, the profile fills in. The arithmetic pair mirrors the first edition's split between computation and word problems [1].

Questions written for this page, not taken from any Stanford form. No norms or grade equivalents are given.
WORD MEANINGA "vacant" house is one that is —
Choose an answer.
PUPIL'S PROFILE
Answer questions to fill the profile.

A century of revisions

1922–23First editionKelley, Ruch and Terman; World Book; grades 2–8.[1]
1929RevisionThe first of the battery's revisions.[6]
1940Form D batteriesPrimary and Advanced batteries, the Advanced with ten tests.[2]
LaterTen editionsRevised repeatedly; the tenth edition is known as Stanford 10.[6]

References

  1. [1]Standardized Test, Stanford Achievement Test, Arithmetic Examination A (first edition, 1922). National Museum of American History.si.edu
  2. [2]Psychological Test, Stanford Achievement Test, Advanced Battery – Complete, Form D (© 1940). National Museum of American History.americanhistory.si.edu
  3. [3]Psychological Test, Stanford Achievement Test, Primary Battery: Form D (© 1940). National Museum of American History.americanhistory.si.edu
  4. [4]Stanford Achievement Test. Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics. Sage Research Methods.methods.sagepub.com
  5. [5]Guide to the Lewis Madison Terman papers, SC0038. Stanford University Libraries, Online Archive of California.oac.cdlib.org
  6. [6]Stanford Achievement Test Series, Tenth Edition: Report Interpretation Guide. Arkansas Department of Education.dese.ade.arkansas.gov
HOW TO CITE THIS PAGE
What's Your IQ. (2026). Stanford Achievement Test (1922–23). In Historical IQ Tests Archive. Retrieved October 1, 2026, from /en/historical-iq-tests/stanford-achievement-1923
EDITORIAL RECORD
First published2026
Last reviewed1 October 2026
Sources6: three Smithsonian object records, a measurement encyclopedia, Terman's papers and the publisher's tenth-edition guide
CorrectionsRemoved: the nine-subtest list for 1923 (Dictation, History and Civics, Geography, Scientific Information), which we could not confirm; "first unified battery"; "directly shaped" the Iowa, California and Metropolitan tests; "widely used through the 1950s"; a "Start the test" link to a missing page. Added the 1922 first-edition date.
Open questionsThe full test list of the first edition; which two grade levels came first; the 1922 vs 1923 publication date
Canonical URLwhats-your-iq.com/en/historical-iq-tests/stanford-achievement-1923

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Terman's individual intelligence scale measured ability; the Achievement Test measured what had been learned. His gifted-children study used both.

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Terman co-wrote the NIT two years earlier, and World Book published both. Together they let a school compare a pupil's ability with their attainment.

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Burt's Memorandum III gave London teachers graded tests of reading, spelling, arithmetic and composition. It appeared within a year of the Stanford.

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Part of the Historical IQ Tests Archive. Editorial content under CC BY-SA 4.0. Current Stanford editions are commercial and copyrighted; nothing from any Stanford form is reproduced here.
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Achievement shows what you've learned. Ours shows how you reason.

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