The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence: Difficulty order of subtest questions

Abstract

Theoretically and pragmatically the subtest questions of the Wechsler Pre-school and Primary Scale of Intelligence are assumed to be ordered from least to most difficult. The purpose of this study was to test whether or not the order was appropriate for a sample other than that used for standardization. Data consisted of test records of 89 females and 62 males tested at a private school over four years. Mean Full Scale IQ of the sample was 118. Calculation of proportion of the sample passing each item and Guttman Reproducibility Coefficients for each subtest suggested changes in the order of questions of the Vocabulary, Picture Completion, Similarities, and Comprehension Subtests. However, though questions were misordered for the present sample as a result of presenting them in the order prescribed in the test manual, the misordering was not great enough to seriously affect subtest scores or the interpretation of intratest scatter.