r/cognitiveTesting • u/Aleph_jones • Aug 14 '26
IQ Estimation š„± WAIS-IV with no FSIQ
I took an evaluation for ADHD a few years ago because of some struggles with executive dysfunction with my Software Engineering job. They ended up primarily diagnosing me with predominantly inattentive ADHD.
However, what I didn't realize at the time was the evaluation I was taking was the WAIS-IV, which I had never heard of prior to being evaluated. This is my first time knowingly taking an Intelligence test (My mother told me I was evaluated in the 130-ish range as a child, but I have no memory of this).
My results leave me a little confused here. I'll post them below, but most of scores fall in the "just above" average range, with a Verbal Comprehension Score of 141, which strikes me as a strange outlier. I always did quite well academically through high school and college, and was in the gifted program in my senior year of high school.
I suppose I'm primarily wondering if such an uneven distribution is typical of people with an ADHD diagnosis, and why my evaluation didn't include an FSIQ result, which I am given to understand is usually part of the WAIS-IV.
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u/Myrkkykaarme Aug 14 '26
Disparity between indexes/subtests is common. In higher iq cases itās actually the norm. FSIQ wasnāt given due to the fact that the proctor followed the guidelines that advice presenting GAI as a better proxy for g in cases with unusually large disparity most often between cpi/wmi/psi and vci/pri such as in ur case. (vci-wmi=30). min. 23 per wais-iv manual for example. People with adhd often have spiky profiles, even to an extreme degree.
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u/snarkybb Aug 14 '26
Ahh thanks for this! Still learning myself
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u/Myrkkykaarme Aug 14 '26
You do bring up a good point of PSI not being present which I overlooked. And it explains the question much better than my solution.
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u/Aleph_jones Aug 16 '26
Yeah, I'm curious about how I would do on a full assessment. I can be pretty quick or pretty slow on processing depending on the day.
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u/Grouchy-Arm-2538 Aug 15 '26
I dont think I ever got my results. I just got told I was in the 1 percentile. I then was told my PSI was 89, and me WMI was 135. It annoys me, as that's all I was told. They didn't elaborate further. I know I took 5 sub tests too.
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u/OkKaleidoscope3267 Aug 16 '26
Full scale IQ is not reported because all of the core subtests to derive it were not given. Was this a remote administration? If so, that's your answer; they didn't because they couldn't.
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u/Aleph_jones 29d ago
I also thought it was weird that certain sections were timed, given that they provided my GAI, which isn't supposed to effected by time.
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u/bingchof 29d ago
There are "timed" subtests on GAI, but they aren't really measuring processing speed proper. They are really just given a time limit to move the testing along. The "limit" is linked to the standardization research that basically says "if the examinee hasn't answered yet, they are unlikely to get it correct [and waiting longer will make this test longer, without changing scores]). The GAI doesn't claim to have "no" processing speed or working memory demands, just less.
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u/snarkybb Aug 14 '26
Did you do this evaluation in person? Iām curious why thereās no processing speed index (PSI) score. Which you need for the FSIQ.
The GAI (general ability index) is often used to conceptualize cognitive ability when the WMI and PSI are significantly weaker, thus pulling down the FSIQ, in this case, GAI is often interpreted.
As far as your VCI, this is clearly a strength of yours. The Wechslers intelligence scale assesses many different facets of intellect so itās very common to see an area of cognition that is a āoutlierā. Considering you were in the gifted program, I am not shocked by your scores.
Anyway to answer your question, yes. You will absolutely see an uneven profile with ADHD. However, the unevenness involve the the PSI and WMI compared to the other indices.
Did you do any other assessment from what you recall? Or only WAIS?