IQ Test for Gifted Children

Most gifted programmes use age-normed tests such as the CogAT or a school reasoning test, sometimes followed by an individual assessment like the WISC-V with a psychologist. Many programmes look for scores around 130, roughly the top 2% of children the same age, but cut-offs and methods vary a lot by school, district and country.

Good identification also uses teacher observations and schoolwork, not a single number.

Gifted children do not always look gifted at school. Psychologists describe asynchronous development, where a child's reasoning runs well ahead of their emotional or physical development. Some children are "twice-exceptional": gifted and also working with a learning difference.

If school feels hard or unhappy for your child, that is worth raising with the school, whatever their ability.

A bright child can often do surprisingly well on this test, because the puzzles are visual and need no reading. But the scoring is the same for all ages and is not adjusted, so there is no fair way to turn a child's result into an IQ for their age.

• Fine as a fun challenge for a puzzle-loving child.
• Not a basis for school applications, acceleration or labels.
• Keep the result between you, or skip it entirely.

On a properly normed test, these are the standard shares of children each score beats. Very high scores are rare, and short tests become less precise at the top.