Score bands · Reviewed 2026-09-23
What is a good GAI score?
A good GAI score depends on the question. On the usual Wechsler metric, 100 is the mean and 15 is the standard deviation. 130 is about the top 2 percent. This page is the chart. It does not place you in a program, and it does not re-score a test.
The scale GAI shares with IQ
General Ability Index and Full Scale IQ are both standard scores. The mean is 100. The standard deviation is 15. A score of 100 is the middle of the reference group on a real Wechsler, not a grade of 100 percent. A score of 115 is one standard deviation up. A score of 85 is one standard deviation down. GAI uses that same ruler. It is not a percent-correct.
“Good” is not a band in the manual. People use the word for three different hopes: at or above average, high enough for a program cutoff, or higher than their own Full Scale IQ. Those are different questions. The chart below answers the first. Cutoffs are on the gifted testing note. A gap between the two composites is on GAI vs FSIQ.
GAI score chart
These labels match the descriptive bands used throughout this laboratory. They are the ordinary Wechsler words for ranges. They are not a diagnosis and they are not a school’s admission rule. Percentiles below are the normal-curve anchors for a mean of 100 and an SD of 15, rounded so you can remember them. A published Wechsler table can differ by a point at the tails.
| GAI | Usual label | About this percentile |
|---|---|---|
| 130–160 | Very superior | 130 is about the 98th |
| 120–129 | Superior | 120 is about the 91st |
| 110–119 | High average | 110 is about the 75th |
| 90–109 | Average | 100 is the 50th |
| 80–89 | Low average | 85 is about the 16th |
| 70–79 | Borderline | 70 is about the 2nd |
| 40–69 | Extremely low | Needs a clinician, not a chart |
Most scores land between 90 and 109. That is what “average” means on this metric. A GAI of 108 is not a disappointing IQ. It is the middle of the range where most people score. A GAI of 118 is high average, about the top quarter, not a gifted cutoff. A GAI of 132 is in the range many programs circle, and the program still decides.
What 120 and 130 usually mean
120 is superior on the descriptive scale, roughly the 91st percentile if the score really is a Wechsler standard score. It is strong. It is not, by itself, the number most selective programs print as the line. 130 is about two standard deviations above the mean, roughly the 98th percentile, often called very superior. Many gifted rules of thumb start there. Some start at 125, some want a composite from a named test only, and some look at achievement as well as GAI.
The nine-task estimate on this site uses the same 100 and 15 so you can read the chart against your estimate. That does not turn the estimate into a percentile from a census. Say “about,” and do not quote the percentile to a school. Official percentiles belong on the examiner’s report.
A high GAI can still be a messy profile
GAI leaves out working memory and processing speed. A GAI of 125 with a Full Scale IQ of 108 is not “really 125” in every classroom hour. It says reasoning indexes sat higher than the indexes that were left out. The full-scale number was pulled down. Whether that gap matters is a reading of the profile, which starts on why GAI is higher than IQ.
The reverse happens too. A GAI of 96 and an FSIQ of 108 means efficiency is carrying the average. Calling 108 the “real” ability and ignoring the lower reasoning composite is the same mistake in the other direction. Neither number replaces the index scores behind it. If you have VCI, VSI, FRI, WMI, and PSI, the index calculator shows the peak and the drag. Those index means are not official GAI or CPI.
If you already have the number
Paste official GAI and Full Scale IQ into the calculator. Gap equals GAI minus FSIQ. The tool accepts standard scores from 40 to 160. It will not tell you the percentile from Pearson’s norms, and it will not convert a raw subtest score into GAI. That lookup is in the manual, which we do not reprint.
If you do not have a score yet, the chart is not something to memorize before the nine tasks. Sit them, then come back and place the free GAI in a band. The band is a description. It is not a rank we can defend against a normative sample.
What a low GAI asks for
A GAI under 70, on a real Wechsler, is a clinical conversation, not a webpage. The same is true if the number is being used to explain school failure, a head injury, or a benefit. Bring the report to a psychologist or a physician. Do not average it with an online estimate to “pull it up.”
A single low index can also pull GAI down even when other reasoning skills are fine. Vocabulary and similarities can lag a fluid score, or the reverse. The composite hides that. Read the subtests with the person who gave the test before you treat GAI as the whole of reasoning.
Common questions
What GAI is average?
About 90 to 109 on a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. 100 is the 50th percentile on that normal curve.
Is a GAI of 120 gifted?
120 is superior, roughly the 91st percentile. Many programs look nearer 130. The cutoff belongs to the program.
Is GAI 130 the same as IQ 130?
They use the same scale. They are not the same composite. IQ in ordinary speech means Full Scale IQ, which includes working memory and processing speed. GAI does not.
Can this chart classify a nine-task estimate?
You can see which descriptive band the estimate falls in. You should not quote it as a census percentile or a clinical classification.
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
Already have both official scores?
Paste GAI and Full Scale IQ. The gap is one subtraction.