Profile · Reviewed 2026-09-23
How to read a cognitive profile
A cognitive profile is the shape behind a single IQ number: which broad abilities sat high, which sat low, and whether reasoning and mental efficiency told the same story. This page tells you how to read that shape on a Wechsler report or on this site’s estimate, without turning a pattern into a diagnosis.
Three layers: tasks, domains, composites
Start from the bottom if you have it. Task or subtest scores are the narrowest observations. Domain or index scores group them: on the map this site uses, verbal comprehension, fluid reasoning, visuospatial processing, working memory, and processing speed. Composites average those domains. Full Scale IQ uses all five. The General Ability Index uses verbal, fluid, and visuospatial scores and leaves memory and speed out. The Cognitive Proficiency Index is the memory-and-speed side.
A profile is interesting when those layers disagree. If every domain is within a few points, the overall number is a fair summary and the shape is flat. If they fan out, the overall number is a center of gravity. Quote the center if you must quote one figure, and then say which index pulled it. What a GAI vs FSIQ gap means is the size guide for the most common version of that sentence.
Two axes, nine names
This site names a free profile with two comparisons, each cut at 10 points so a small wobble stays in the middle. The first axis is verbal versus visual: verbal comprehension minus visuospatial processing. The second is reasoning versus proficiency: GAI minus CPI, using the domain averages. Three positions on each axis make nine names.
| Pattern | Reasoning ahead (GAI) | The two sides close | Memory and speed ahead (CPI) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Words ahead | Deep Reader | Steady Reader | Quick Reader |
| Words and figures close | Deep Center | Steady Center | Quick Center |
| Figures ahead | Deep Drafter | Steady Drafter | Quick Drafter |
Deep Reader means words led and reasoning sat above memory and speed. Quick Drafter means visual structure led and proficiency sat above reasoning. Steady Center means both axes were inside 10 points. The name is a headline for the shape. It is not a personality type, not a career, and not a disorder. The one-line description under the name on the result page restates the same two facts in prose.
A reading order that resists the flattering number
- Read the overall score and its band, using the score chart if you want the percentile on the normal curve.
- Read the profile name, or, on a clinic report, the index that the narrative calls a strength and the one it calls a weakness.
- Check GAI against the overall score. A large positive gap means memory or speed pulled the average down. It does not mean the higher number is the “real” IQ.
- Check GAI against CPI if both are printed. That is reasoning against efficiency, which is the second axis above.
- Only then read individual tasks. A single hard item is not a domain.
The sample report is a specimen with invented numbers, including a verbal, reasoning-ahead pattern, so you can practice the order without using anyone’s real scores. Your own domain and task numbers are the written reading, not the free line. The free line already has the overall estimate, the name, GAI, and the gap.
The nine-task test on this site prints numbers on a conventional mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15 so the parts of one sitting can be compared. That conversion is not a census norm, not age-normed, and not a diagnosis. A qualified examiner and the publisher’s manual are what a school, a clinic, a job, or a visa can use.
What a profile cannot conclude
A low processing-speed index does not diagnose ADHD. A split does not diagnose a learning disability, twice-exceptionality, or giftedness. Those words belong to clinicians and to school teams with a full file. Parents looking at a WISC should use WISC-V scores for parents, which keeps GAI, FSIQ, and the twice-exceptional question in their place. Adults who only wanted a personal name can start the free test. It takes about 30 minutes and does not ask for an account.
If the report in your hand is already a WISC or WAIS, do not translate it through this test. Paste official GAI and Full Scale IQ into the calculator. The profile page you are reading is for understanding the shape. The calculator is for the subtraction. The test is for the day you have neither a report nor a need to file one.
Common questions
What is a cognitive profile?
The pattern of broad abilities behind one IQ number: which indexes agree, and which ones pull the average up or down.
How many profile names are there here?
Nine. They come from verbal versus visual and from GAI versus CPI, with a middle cell when the two sides are within 10 points.
Does the profile name diagnose anything?
No. It is a label on a score pattern. It is not a medical or educational diagnosis.
Where to go next
The GAIvsIQ laboratory keeps one URL for each job. This note does not replace the instrument it points to.
Ready when you are
Get a name for the pattern
Free, no sign-up, about 30 minutes. The written reading of every domain is optional.