Preparing for the WISC®-5 or WISC-V Test

posted by Karen Quinn, The Testing Mom - March 5th, 2015

Many parents are beginning to hear about the WISC®-5 or WISC-V test, as it’s replacing its predecessor the WISC®-IV test in many schools. The tests have many similarities but there are a few important things to remember about the newest version of the test.
First off, the Word Reasoning and Picture Completion subtests have been eliminated in the WISC-V test. The test will typically take students between 40 and 70 minutes to get through the test, so it’s important to work on your child’s attention span in addition to getting them familiar with the materials on the test. How long the test takes will depend in part on how many subtests your child is taking.

Many tests these days are being administered online, and the WISC-V test is no exception. However, it depends on who is administering the test so it’s important that you check ahead of time so you know what to expect. Importantly, the block design portion of the test uses physical objects and so is never given on a computer.

As noted previously, you should check with your school or school district regarding which subtests your child will take. There are 10 primary subtests and four secondary subtests. Secondary subtests are either substituted for primary subtests or added if psychologists need more information. Here’s a full list of the subtests on the WISC-V test:

Primary

• Digit Span
• Vocabulary
• Block Design
• Figure Weights
• Similarities
• Coding
• Visual Puzzles
• Matrix Reasoning
• Symbol Search
• Picture Span

Secondary

• Comprehension
• Information
• Letter-Number Sequencing
• Picture Concepts
• Arithmetic
• Cancellation

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children® — Fourth and Fifth Editions (WISC®-IV and WISC®-V) are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliate(s), or their licensors. TestingMom.com is not affiliated with nor related to Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates (“Pearson”). Pearson does not sponsor or endorse any TestingMom.com product, nor have TestingMom.com products or services been reviewed, certified, or approved by Pearson. Trademarks referring to specific test providers are used by TestingMom.com for nominative purposes only and such trademarks are solely the property of their respective owners.