Decreasing scoring errors on Wechsler Scale Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Similarities subtests: a preliminary study

Area of Science:

• Psychological assessment
• Educational psychology
• Clinical psychology

Background:

• Training graduate students in administering intelligence tests like the Wechsler scales often fails to improve scoring proficiency.
• Existing research focuses on reducing overall errors, not specifically on error-prone subtests.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the development of scoring proficiency on specific Wechsler (WISC-IV, WAIS-III) subtests during graduate student training.
• To compare scoring accuracy on early versus later test administrations to identify improvements.

Main Methods:

• Twelve graduate students in an intelligence-testing course participated.
• Scoring errors were analyzed on practice administrations of the Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Similarities subtests.
• Early and later test administrations were compared for error rates.

Main Results:

• Significant decline in scoring errors was observed across the three targeted subtests from early to later administrations.
• Despite reduced scoring errors, no significant changes were found in the resulting subtest scaled scores.

Conclusions:

• Targeted training can improve scoring accuracy on specific, error-prone subtests of intelligence scales.
• Further research is needed to understand why improved scoring accuracy does not translate to changes in scaled scores, impacting clinical instruction.