WASI-II
Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence
The WASI is the short version of the Wechsler tests. It is used to screen, for example to decide whether a full WISC is needed, and some programs accept it on its own.
It has four tasks, two with words and two with pictures and blocks, which give a verbal score, a nonverbal score and an overall estimate.
- Ages
- 6 to adult
- How it is given
- One-to-one with a psychologist or trained examiner
- How long
- About 30 minutes, or about 15 for the two-task form
What it measures
- Vocabulary: explaining what words mean
- Similarities: saying how two things are alike
- Block design: copying a pattern with colored blocks
- Matrix reasoning: finding the picture that completes a pattern
What you can do
- Talk about words at home: what they mean and how two things are alike (an apple and a banana are both fruit).
- Play with pattern blocks and copy simple designs.
- Do picture-pattern puzzles for fun.
Practice for the same skills
None of these is the WASI-II. Each one builds a general skill it draws on, in a short, friendly format your child can try at home.
- Matrices-style practicePicture puzzles: find the piece that completes the pattern. No words, no clock. Kindergarten to Grade 8.Try it
- Word analogies lessonHow word pairs relate, step by step: a free lesson that builds vocabulary and verbal reasoning.Try it
- CogAT practiceVerbal, number and picture reasoning in three parts. Up to Grade 2, every question is a picture and is read aloud.Try it
- Free brain testTwenty puzzles with words, numbers and shapes for ages 5 to 13. No account needed, and not an IQ test.Try it
Practice the skills, not the test
These tests are given in person by a trained examiner, and their questions are kept private: publishers do not sell them to families, and nobody can lawfully offer the real items. Nothing on this site is taken from them.
Drilling a child on copies of the questions would not help either. A result is only meaningful if the questions are new to your child, so a rehearsed score can place them in a program that does not fit, and a psychologist may set it aside.
Other tests
- WISC-V
- WPPSI
- Stanford-Binet 5
- KABC-II
- KBIT-2
- RIAS-2
- Woodcock-Johnson and WIAT
- Bracken (BSRA)
- SAGES-3
- Raven's
- Spatial Test Battery
- Torrance and CAP
Test names belong to their publishers and to the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. Scholar Tests is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them, and nothing on these pages is taken from a test. Ages and times are the publishers' published ranges; editions change, so check the details with the person giving the test.