Top Mistakes Made on the WISC

posted by Karen Quinn, The Testing Mom - August 16th, 2017

You know the day is coming.  Your child is going to take the WISC V test and you know it will impact your child’s experience and placement in school. And of course you want the best for your child! So set your child up to perform at his very best level by avoiding these common WISC V mistakes.

What Are the Top Mistakes Made When Prepping for the WISC V?

1.) Not Doing Anything At All

Sending your child in cold to the WISC V is a mistake. Some prep is better than no prep at all, and we recommend a mix of everyday activities and practice questions to boost your child’s chance of success on the test. We offer thousands of Wisc V practice questions. You can sign up for 100 free questions here. We also give a small sample of question on this page. The WISC V is given in two format — paper and pencil and online — and TestingMom.com’s full program includes both printables and interactive questions you can work with.

While working on practice questions, you’ll want to focus on building “test stamina”.  It can take up to 80 minutes to complete the test, so building up the duration that your child can stay focused is very important. Make a game out of seeing how long your child can answer questions for. The first time you practice, ask him questions for 5 minutes. The next day, ask him questions for 10 minutes. Repeat this until your child can focus for an hour, or even longer.

2.)  Not Understanding How the Wisc V is Administered

The Wisc V is given one-on-one to your child by a psychologist or other education professional. An often overlooked fact about the Wisc V is that a child’s score can be related to how comfortable (or uncomfortable) she is with strangers. How many times have you seen a child not say anything when her parent asks her to say “Thank You” to a stranger. By encouraging your child to say things to strangers you encounter throughout your normal day, like clerks, cashiers, or your friends, you are helping them to be more familiar with safe strangers. This will ensure your child says something rather than nothing when asked a question during the Wisc V. One of the worst outcomes that can happen is your child scoring low because she was too uncomfortable to answer any quesitons.

3.) Thinking You’re Too Busy to Prep Your Child for the Wisc V

We live in a culture that is fast-paced, and no doubt you’re busy with your kid. You may be unsure how to fit Wisc V prep into your schedule. The good news is you are already doing things to prep your child, you just need to modify what you’re doing slightly. If you’re reading aloud with your child, make sure you ask him to define words to build vocabulary. When playing board or card games together, take breaks to focus on counting (like the number of cards left in the deck, or number of squares between to spaces). When out and about, talk about EVERYTHING!  For instance, say to your child: “See the wind blowing the leaves from the tree? What season must be coming soon?”  Make connections with your child and between your child and his environment.

These are just a few of the mistakes made when prepping for the WISC V. Avoiding them can really have an impact on your child’s score.

For further reading:

WISC® Test (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children)

What is the WISC Test?

Best Practices for WISC Test Prep

Sample WISC Questions

How is the WISC Test Scored?