A comparison of the German WISC-III and WISC-IV for practitioners

This study deals with the comparison of the German WISC-IV and its predecessor, the German WISC-III, both of which are intelligence tests for children aged between 6 and 16 years. Both test versions were administered to 223 children. Substantive correlations were found for Full Scale IQ as well as Composite and Scaled Scores. The highest correlation was found between the scales in which the least changes were made in the new test version, whereas scales with more differences in the subtest structure showed lower correlations. Ranges of expected WISC-IV composite scores were calculated for selected WISC-III IQ scores to give a guideline which WISC-IV score can be expected if the WISC-III score is available. The authors recommend using the recent version of the HAWIK as a general rule. Only if the HAWIK-III was applied before an intervention or training is it advisable to administer the HAWIK-III again in order to examine the effects of the intervention or training.