Comparability of the WISC and WISC-R with bright elementary school students

The 50 subjects had met initial screening criteria for eligibility in a special program for the intellectually gifted. These 50, enrolled in grades 3 through 5 in Broward County, Florida, public schools, were next given the WISC and WISC-R, in a counterbalanced order: half were administered the WISC first; the other half was administered the WISC-R first. The test-retest interval was approximately 9 months. Higher mean IQ scores were obtained by the total group on the WISC as compared to WISC-R. However, the results showed that when the WISC-R was administered first, subsequent student WISC performance was significantly higher on all scales. No significant performance increase was obtained on the WISC-R when the WISC was administered initially. The results indicated that the WISC-R had a facilitative effect on the WISC, and that this effect did not appear when the order of administration was WISC-WISC-R. Quite conceivably, several differences in the instructions for administration of the WISC and the WISC-R enhanced the practice effect of initial WISC-R experience as opposed to initial WISC experience.