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Home/Historical IQ Tests/Slosson Intelligence Test
1963 · RICHARD L. SLOSSON · EAST AURORA, NY · 9 SOURCES

A Stanford-Binet in a quarter of an hour.

A brief, individually given test of verbal intelligence for ages 4 and up, made entirely of spoken questions. It is sometimes called the Short Intelligence Test, and it was designed to estimate what the much longer Stanford-Binet would find.2,7,1

See what a screener misses →Cite this page
The later SIT-R3 edition: 187 spoken questions across six areas, from vocabulary to auditory memory2

Built as a shadow of the Binet

It's an age scale of spoken questions arranged by difficulty, closely following the early Stanford-Binet style.4,3 A 1975 profile sorted its items using a scheme similar to one for classifying Stanford-Binet items.4

Everything is spoken, so it can be used with people who are blind or have reading disabilities, but not with anyone who can't hear, understand or answer in the test's language.3,8

Vocabulary
General information
Similarities and differences
Comprehension
Quantitative ability
Auditory memory
The six areas the SIT-R3's questions assess2

How closely does it track the full tests?

Our archive timeline gives one figure, r = 0.9 with the Stanford-Binet. The sources report different numbers, measured in different ways on different groups.

.979Mental ages vs Stanford-Binet L-MReported by the publisher, and used to align SIT norms with the Stanford-Binet to within four hundredths of an IQ point.9
.91With the Kuhlmann test, in 1970A study of 122 profoundly and severely retarded residents of an institution, who had previously taken a Stanford-Binet or a Kuhlmann test.5
≠Not interchangeableThe 1991 review concluded that SIT IQs can't be swapped for SB-LM, SB-IV or WISC-R IQs.1
TRY IT · A SIMULATION

Even a high correlation misplaces people

Forty simulated people are each given a "full battery" score and a "screener" score that correlate at the level you pick. Watch how many land on the wrong side of a cut-off.

Misclassified0 / 40
Typical error±6.2

Illustrative statistics only: scores on a mean-100, SD-15 scale with a fixed random seed. This is not SIT data.

↑ Screener scoreFull-battery score →
Same side of the cutMisclassified

The 1991 verdict: a screener, not a decider

HARRIS & REID, 1991
1Its items were nearly 30 years old.
2Its IQs came from an unrepresentative norm group, part of it 23 years old.
3It estimated scores on an older version of the Stanford-Binet.
4So it was unsuited to educational decisions: screening, identification and placement.
Paraphrased from the review's conclusions1
A 2026 overview calls it a legitimate, professionally published measure, but a screening one. Its scores correlate well with full batteries across a group, yet one person's score can be several points off their Wechsler or Stanford-Binet result.3
Reviewers repeatedly warn against classifying anyone on the SIT alone. They also point to its ratio-IQ scoring and to verbal items that depend on schooling.8

Five editions from one small publisher

1963SITThe original, from Slosson Educational Publications, for children and adults.1
19822nd editionPublished together with the Slosson Oral Reading Test.1
1991SIT-RRevised; takes 10 to 20 minutes to give and score, for ages 4 to adult.6
2002SIT-R3Revised by Nicholson and Hibpshman, with a mean of 100 and SD of 16 and scores from 36 to 164.3
NowSIT-4Prepared by Erford, Larson and Steven Slosson; SD 15 and a standard score for each of the six domains.3

Richard Lawrence Slosson Jr. (1910–1970) was a US psychologist.2 His publisher, Slosson Educational Publications of East Aurora, New York, says it has since tested over 4,350 people, from nursery-school children to older adults, across at least 40% of the US.1,9

References

  1. [1]Harris, K. R., & Reid, R. (1991). A critical review of the Slosson Intelligence Test. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment. SAGE Journals.journals.sagepub.com
  2. [2]Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT). APA Dictionary of Psychology.dictionary.apa.org
  3. [3]What is the Slosson Intelligence Test? Riot IQ (2026).riotiq.com
  4. [4]Stone, M. H. (1975). An interpretive profile for the Slosson Intelligence Test. Psychology in the Schools, 12(3), 330. Wiley Online Library.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
  5. [5]Carlisle, A. L., Shinedling, M. M., & Weaver, R. (1970). Note on the use of the Slosson Intelligence Test with mentally retarded residents. Psychological Reports, 26(3), 865.doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1970.26.3.865
  6. [6]Slosson Intelligence Test-Revised (SIT-R3), revised by C. L. Nicholson & T. L. Hibpshman. Publisher description, Amazon.amazon.com
  7. [7]Can scores obtained from the Slosson… (ERIC document ED049293). ERIC (PDF).files.eric.ed.gov
  8. [8]The Slosson Intelligence Test: administration, scoring, and psychometric standing. Psychology Roots (2026).psychologyroots.com
  9. [9]Slosson Intelligence Test – Original Edition (SIT). Slosson Educational Publications.slossonnews.com
HOW TO CITE THIS PAGE
What's Your IQ. (2026). Slosson Intelligence Test (1963). In Historical IQ Tests Archive. Retrieved September 30, 2026, from /en/historical-iq-tests/slosson-intelligence-1963
EDITORIAL RECORD
First published2026
Last reviewed30 September 2026
Sources9, all from visible search results
Open questionsTimeline's r = 0.9 figure; 1963 item count and norm sample; ratio vs deviation IQ in 1963
Canonical URLwhats-your-iq.com/en/historical-iq-tests/slosson-intelligence-1963

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A full battery1949
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children

One of the full tests the SIT was checked against, in its WISC-R form. The 1991 review found SIT scores couldn't stand in for WISC-R scores.

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Screening adults too1955
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

The SIT covers ages 4 to adult, so for adults the natural comparison is the WAIS. Individual SIT scores can differ from Wechsler results by several points.

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The other quick screen1959
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test

Another short test of verbal ability from four years earlier. The PPVT needs no speaking, while the SIT needs spoken answers.

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Same year, no words1963
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Group vs one-to-one1954
Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Tests

A booklet test for whole classrooms. The SIT stayed one-to-one but kept the session short.

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The non-verbal contrast1936
Raven's Progressive Matrices

A reasoning test with no spoken or written language. It sits at the opposite end from the entirely verbal SIT.

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Part of the Historical IQ Tests Archive. Editorial content under CC BY-SA 4.0. The SIT is published by Slosson Educational Publications; no test questions are reproduced.
BibTeXRIS

More than a screener. Four domains, 30 minutes.

Contemporary norms (mean 100, SD 15) and a breakdown by domain.

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