RESULTS
Understanding Your Child's Results
What the scores mean, what they don't, and what to do next
How Scoring Works
Each subtest produces a raw score: the number of questions answered correctly out of the total for that subtest in your child's age tier. These raw scores are converted to percentages and grouped into performance bands.
Performance Bands
These are not IQ scores. The percentages represent how your child performed on this specific set of questions relative to perfect accuracy — not relative to a normative population sample. "Exceptional" means your child answered nearly all questions correctly; it does not correspond to a specific IQ number or percentile ranking. Clinical IQ scores require standardized administration, normative data, and professional interpretation.
Reading the Factor Profile
The most informative output isn't any single score — it's the pattern across all four factors. The radar chart in your results shows this at a glance.
Pattern Recognition
Measures fluid reasoning — the engine of learning. Strong performance here often predicts quick concept acquisition across subjects.
Relates to: mathematical reasoning, scientific thinking, reading comprehension of complex texts
Visual Puzzles
Measures visual-spatial processing — predicting how objects look when rotated, reflected, or assembled. One of the most trainable cognitive skills.
Relates to: geometry, engineering, architecture, art, navigation
Picture Logic
Measures inductive reasoning — extracting rules from examples and applying them to new cases. The foundation of scientific thinking and category formation.
Relates to: hypothesis formation, rule learning, analogical transfer
Number Sense
Measures quantitative reasoning — the intuitive understanding beneath arithmetic skill. A child can struggle with memorized procedures but still have strong number sense.
Relates to: estimation, proportional reasoning, mathematical problem-solving
What Scores Don't Tell You
Scores reflect performance, not capacity.
A child who was tired, distracted, or anxious may perform below their actual ability. If a score seems inconsistent with what you observe in daily life, trust your broader experience and consider re-administering under better conditions.
Uneven profiles are normal and informative.
Most children don't score uniformly across all four factors. Variation is the norm, not the exception. A child who scores 85% on Visual Puzzles and 40% on Number Sense has a meaningfully different cognitive profile from one who scores 62% across the board — even if their averages are similar. The profile tells you something specific about how your child thinks.
Age within tier matters.
A child at the young end of their tier (a newly turned 8-year-old in the Standard tier) will typically find the questions harder than one at the older end. This is expected and does not indicate a problem.
This cannot diagnose learning disabilities.
Learning disabilities can only be diagnosed by qualified professionals using validated clinical instruments. If you have concerns, consult a licensed psychologist or your school's special education team. This assessment can help you articulate specific areas of concern, but it cannot diagnose.
Using Results Constructively
Celebrate strengths first
Start every conversation about results by identifying what your child does well. Children who believe they're capable of intellectual growth develop faster than those who believe ability is fixed. Lead with what's working.
Frame growth areas as opportunities
A lower score doesn't mean your child is "bad at" that type of thinking. It means there's room for development — and in most cases, targeted practice produces real improvement. Visual-spatial reasoning in particular responds well to training through building, puzzles, and hands-on activities.
Look at the profile, not just the numbers
Is your child strongest in visual-spatial processing? That suggests they might thrive with hands-on, diagram-based learning. Strongest in inductive reasoning? They may benefit from being given problems to figure out rather than procedures to memorize. The pattern is the message.
Revisit periodically
Every 6–12 months is a reasonable interval. More frequently, and practice effects may inflate scores. Less frequently, and you miss the opportunity to track meaningful development.
Typical Performance by Age
These benchmarks help you understand what's developmentally typical at each level.
Junior (Ages 4–7)
Getting 60–75% correct across the tier indicates solid age-appropriate reasoning. Above 85% suggests notably strong cognitive development. Below 50% may reflect the child's age within the tier or testing conditions — a 4-year-old will typically score lower than a 7-year-old on the same questions.
Standard (Ages 8–12)
Getting 55–70% correct is a solid result. Above 80% indicates strong reasoning across all four factors. Uneven profiles — scoring well in some subtests and not others — are common and informative at this age, as cognitive strengths begin to differentiate.
Advanced (Ages 13–18)
Getting 50–65% correct reflects solid cognitive reasoning. Above 75% indicates exceptional abstract thinking. The Advanced tier is intentionally designed with a high ceiling — expert-level questions are not expected to be answered correctly by most test-takers, even older adolescents.
✅ DO
- Focus on effort and improvement rather than scores
- Use results to identify areas for enrichment or extra challenge
- Celebrate strengths while supporting growth areas
- Share results with teachers for collaborative support
- Compare your child only to their own previous performance
❌ AVOID
- Comparing scores to siblings or classmates
- Using scores as labels or limitations
- Making major educational decisions based solely on these results
- Pressuring your child to achieve certain scores
- Treating the overall average as more meaningful than the factor profile
Go Deeper with the Practice Book
The Children's Cognitive Abilities Assessment PDF includes detailed answer explanations for every question — showing exactly what each puzzle tests and why the correct answer works.
Plus a full parent guide with development activities for each cognitive factor.
View Practice Books