I just got my Stanford–Binet results back, and I’m a bit confused about how to interpret them. My Full Scale IQ came out at 129, but the breakdowns are all over the place. My Fluid Reasoning was 134, Knowledge 122, Quantitative Reasoning 125, Visual–Spatial Processing 138, and Working Memory 113.
Not gonna lie, 113 on WM with everything else 122+ raises a flag. Did the examiner note distraction or anxiety? SB5 is sensitive to working memory dips under stress. Still valid, but I’d dig into the subtest scores
Perfectly valid profile. FSIQ isn’t an average but a normed composite. Your nonverbal IQ (FR + VS) is ~136–138 equivalent. WM at 113 is average, not impaired. This is a classic gifted + possible ADHD/ASD pattern. Check digit span and letter-number sequencing raw scores.
That’s actually pretty typical scatter - your scores range about 1.5 standard deviations which occurs in ~25% of people. Your verbal/crystallized abilities (Knowledge 122, Working Memory 113) are solid but lower than your nonverbal/fluid abilities (Visual-Spatial 138, Fluid Reasoning 134). This suggests you’re strongest in novel visual problem-solving and pattern recognition. The 129 FSIQ is a good summary since your lowest score (113) is still above average, but your profile shows clear strengths in visuospatial and fluid reasoning domains. Pretty common for STEM-oriented individuals.
SB usually has guidelines for interpreting score discrepancies between subtests. Generally, a difference of about 12-15 points between index scores is considered statistically significant, while differences of 23+ points are considered unusually large and clinically meaningful. In your case, the 25-point gap between your Visual-Spatial Processing (138) and Working Memory (113) would typically meet both thresholds, suggesting this represents a real and meaningful difference in how these cognitive abilities function for you. When discrepancies this large exist, some psychologists consider the Full Scale IQ less useful as a single summary number because it’s averaging together abilities that work quite differently. But the most important takeaway is that your cognitive profile shows distinct strengths (visual-spatial reasoning, fluid reasoning) and a relative weakness (working memory), and understanding this pattern is often more useful than focusing solely on the overall IQ score. I’d recommend discussing these specific discrepancies with the psychologist who tested you, as they can provide interpretation specific to the test manual and your individual results.