practice strategies for the WAIS III intelligence test.

Are there any practice strategies I can use in the future to help myself get a higher score on this IQ test?

Book reference please...

The next time I take a physcoeducational evaluation I want my IQ to be at a respectable level, that way I won't be deemed barely educable.

Hi there,

Which subtests did you have problems with?
Please post your results here and then I will be able to offer some advice.

I took it recently too and am waiting for results.

Pls folks, if you *must* compromise the test... think twice! I'm not sure about this, but you might end up getting LD OnLine in trouble.

The tests are standardized based on people who *didn't* know the questions ahead of time. The folks who make the test could really have a hizzy fit if subtest details got on a public forum. So while I totally sympathize with you wanting and needing to get a higher score, you might be opening up a big can of worms.

(NOte: I don't work for LD ONLine, I have no power over what you post and what happens to it! That's why I'm posting this publicly instead of sending private messages... )

Sue J, webmastress www.resourceroom.net

Sorry Sue,

I was not going to divulge any questions that were on the test... I just wanted to see which subtests he had problems with.. I know that going through PACE or Brainbuilder, for example, can increase IQ score because it trains working memory and processing speed... I personnaly had trouble with math and picture arrangement subtests. Maybe I have LD.

That would make a lot of sense. I should have known :-) Sorry for being nervous when there was no need!

For those cognitive skills, you might look at Lexia Learning's Cross Trainer that has visual thinking and logic in it. ( http://www.lexialearning.com )

Sue J, webmastress www.resourceroom.net

General reading skills have a lot to do with written IQ tests. General information is important. Read, read, and read some more.

Victoria is right, some of the words in Vocabulary subtest are not used often, except in books, so if you don't read quite a bit, you are going to miss lots of them. There are 30 words or so and you have to define them. Information subtest questions were very easy, but I managed to screw up one of them... If someone is interested in WAIS III, you can make a search on the Web and find the info about the kind of subtests in this test. In a year or so instead of WAIS III there is going to be WAIS IV with more complicated questions and maybe even different subtests.

Absolutely, READ ;-) Books on tape would serve the same purpose, *especially* if you look for new words along the way, and think about the background knowledge that books will give if you let 'em.

Sue J, webmastress www.resourceroom.net

"In a year or so instead of WAIS III there is going to be WAIS IV with more complicated questions and maybe even different subtests"

if it's anthything like the WISC IV my IQ will drop 5 to 10 points, which will diqualify me from earning a college degree. :(

How can IQ disqualify you from getting a college degree? I teach college and I don't know what my students' IQs are. Getting a college degree depends on being able to pass your classes. This likely has a relationship to IQ but is certainly not the same thing. I get a lot of bright students who don't do what they are supposed to do, for example.

On your original question, search the internet. I found information on IQ tests earlier when I was interested because of my son. What I found told you what skills were being assessed which can help you figure out what to do to strengthen your weak area. My son, for example, did poorly at tests require parts to whole reasoning.

Beth

Agree... your iq score doesn't disqualify you at least not in the U.S. It doesn't mean college is the right place, either - nothing's that simple :-)

Sue J, webmastress www.resourceroom.net

lack of mental ability can disqualify *me* from getting a college degree. and as I already said if I were to retest and my Full scale were to be in the 70's wouldn't that be equal having the mental capacity of a 12 year old?

Lack of mental ability certainly can prevent you from getting a college degree but realize that a new IQ test does not "make" you any less smart (or more) smart than you already are. So you are wasting your energy worrying about that. In my experience, few students don't make it through college because they don't have enough "ability". Study skills and choosing an appropriate major seem to me to be the most important predictors of success. I mean I loved geology but when I learned how much math was required, I wisely decided it wasn't for me.

Beth

Right. The test changed. YOu didn't. You're as smart as you were before the test.

And maybe you aren't smart enough. And maybe you are, but college isn't for everybody.

I do work with people who study really hard, but they really don't have the mental ability **for college.** It DOES NOT mean they have the mental ability of a 12 year old. There is a lot of learning that isn't measured in an IQ test.

There's more to the question than "do you have the ability?"

YOu might have the ability, but how much time would it take? Is it the best way to spend that time? It could be that any of the college courses would be as hard and painful for you as the math would be for Beth.

That can still be worth it if it's to do something you really want to do - so it's worth getting good help & guidance figuring out what you want to do before starting off in college.

Sue J, webmastress www.resourceroom.net

Honestly all I really want is to become independant and have a marketable skill doing something that I enjoy doing... I have yet to find my niche. My self confidence has been shattered, but some of us were born with Mcjob ig's and I guess I must accept that and move on.

Forgive me for being so negative but more and more companies are starting to cut back on health coverage and other things, I have a right to worry....

Well, what are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? One route that a lot of people with LD take is to work with their hands. Of course, it depends what your specific LD is. My son, who is LD, has nonverbal abilities and as a result doesn't have great visual skills so I don't see that as an option for him (which worries me, of course, since school is not is forte either). But for those with ADHD and dyslexic type profile, various trades are a good option. I had a neighbor of mine's brother doing a whole bunch of electrical work around my house. He is hyper as anything and I can't imagine him in a class room but he remodels houses and it works for him. I know he is dyslexic as well (from my friend--her son is too and we were talking about family history).

Where I live good trades people are in cosntant demand. I waited six months to have my porch screened. Having just sufferred the wrath of hurricane Wilma, roofers are practically revered!!

Beth

I have poor visual skills as well, since I was 7 years old i've been wearing bifocals. I've always enjoyed talk radio and have considered a career in communications before. All I want is a lousy associates degree in this field, that's all that's really required to work for a local tv affiliate or radio station. Right out of high school I did study this program but quickly bailed out once the courses became more complicated. My first semester in college I got a 3.0 and thought that I was smart enough to float by without any academic help, boy was I wrong.

oh well

*mixes drink*

I don't particularly enjoy college, I struggle immensely and ALWAYS did in school despite always getting good grades for EXCRUCIATING effort. However, my family has a college at any cost, by any means attitude. I am in my junior year and will plod along till the end. I am barely coping but coping. Actually, I am glad that my mother has this attitude. I wouldn't have come as far along if she didn't. Yes, my college diploma would just mean sweat and tears and drive rather than incredible mastery, but it is still a very good thing that I will have it, for my self-esteem if not for much else at least. Just my rant.

Okay, what courses did you take and get that 3.0 average?

Another angle for you to take is to get into the school and focus on excelling at the stuff *in your major,* and making contacts in the professional field and looking for a "side door" into the business. That way, even if there are courses that are your nemesis and you don't pass them, you could still end up with what you want - a career in what you're good at and enjoy.
And keep at it, itsmethere :-) Can you see that light at the end of the tunnel yet??

Sue J, webmastress www.resourceroom.net

Good idea Sue thanks for the advice!

And "itsmethere" I'm sure you'll make it, you should be very proud of your cognative strengths, there are some of us who don't really have that much upstairs, and I'm one of them.

Unfortunately, I am not too happy with my IQ either. It's very mediocre, at best. I would also do anything so that my brain works more effictively and efficiently.

I do most things by rote, despite TRULLY TRYING to understand but in vain. At times, it feels like college isn't for me, but I persevere.

"A person"--I am sure you can do better on the WAIS next time. Certain subtests are especially amenable to practice. For instance, for digit span, just make up a strategy--anyone can improve greatly at that after initial exposure. For symbol search--with a strategy you might not perform stellar, but a ten is totally possible. Vocabulary-just make it a habit to keep a vocabulary notebook, look up and write down an unknown word every time you encounter it. And don't be lazy to look up the same word multiple times as well as to write the very same word up multiple times in a notebook. That way, eventually you remember it. That's exactly what I do and it helps. Vocabulary is something anyone can build up and in a year/ a year and a half of agressive vocabulary building you'll see results. By the way, vocabulary has nothing to do with intelligence; all it measures is one's desire to be intelligent. As for the more reasoning based "similarities"and vocab. def. based on understanding, etc. just think about what words mean and what features and attributes the word encompasses. Make up a mental venn diagrams to see how words are related. The hardest part of those tests is that they are timed because with purposeful thinking, you can get it all.

The hardest part of PO tests is that they are timed. However, if you practice A LOT with strategies of how to attack them, esp. block design, and picture arrangement (although this doesn't go into your IQ), your score will go up. Practice and desire to improve should totally work given the structure of the current WAIS.