KBIT-2 Explained: 20 Minutes, 3 Subtests, Verbal, Nonverbal and IQ Composite, What It Can Tell You (PDF)

Article 389 · USA

The KBIT-2 is the test behind a lot of first letters home: a twenty-minute screen, given by a counsellor or a school psychologist, that decides whether a child goes on to a full evaluation or a gifted assessment. Its brevity is the point and the limit. Everything below is from Pearson's product pages and flyers for the current, 2022, revision.

Download the KBIT-2 sheet (PDF) (the three subtests, the scores with percentiles, what a screener can and cannot say, and the questions to ask; two pages, free).

What it is

	KBIT-2 Revised
Authors, publisher	Alan S. Kaufman and Nadeen L. Kaufman; Pearson
Year	KBIT-2 2004; KBIT-2 Revised August 2022
Ages	4:0 to 90:0
Time	About 20 minutes
Given by	Qualification level B (graduate training in assessment; not restricted to psychologists)
Format	One-to-one, in person or remote (the 2022 norms cover both), with digital stimulus books
Norms	Collected in 2021, reflecting the most recent US census data at publication
Scores	Verbal (Crystallized), Nonverbal (Fluid) and IQ Composite standard scores (mean 100, SD 15) with percentile ranks by age; subtest scaled scores

The three subtests

Subtest	Scale	What the child does
Verbal Knowledge	Verbal (crystallized)	Points to the picture that matches a spoken word or answers a general-knowledge question; no reading or speaking required
Riddles	Verbal (crystallized)	Hears a riddle made of several clues and answers with one word; reasoning with words and knowledge
Matrices	Nonverbal (fluid)	Chooses the picture or abstract design that completes a pattern or an analogy; no words

The Nonverbal subtest can be administered in any language, with Spanish directions printed in the kit; the verbal subtests are administered in English, and correct responses in another language are credited. Pearson's comparison sheet notes that Matrices is used on its own as a nonverbal fluid-reasoning measure by gifted and talented centres, and that the revision added harder Matrices and Riddles items to measure the top end better.

The scores

Score	About the percentile
70	2nd
80	9th
85	16th
90	25th
100	50th
110	75th
115	84th
120	91st
125	95th
130	98th
140	99.6th

A report gives the Verbal, Nonverbal and IQ Composite scores with confidence intervals (90 or 95 percent) and percentile ranks, and the difference between the Verbal and Nonverbal scores, which is often the useful line: a child with Nonverbal 124 and Verbal 97 reasons well and is behind in language or English, which is a different follow-up from a child at 110 and 110.

What the 2022 revision changed

Pearson's comparison sheet: the same three subtests with minimal item refreshing; drawings modernised (a paste jar, a book of matches and other outdated art replaced); five Riddles items dropped for diversity and bias, two harder ones added; harder Matrices items added; one norm for in-person and remote testing from 2021 data instead of 2002-03; new special-group studies (gifted, intellectual disability, learning disability, speech and language, ADHD, brain injury, dementia); validity studies against the WISC-V, WIAT-4, KABC-II NU and others; and scaled-score comparison for the verbal subtests. The 2004 KBIT-2 is going out of print; a report from before late 2022 is on the old norms.

What a brief test can and cannot tell you

It can: estimate verbal and nonverbal ability in twenty minutes; flag a child for a full gifted assessment or a comprehensive evaluation; give a quick re-estimate after treatment or a significant life event; stand in for the Knowledge subtests of the KABC-II NU to save time (Pearson's substitution guidance); screen a whole grade.

It cannot: diagnose a learning disability, which needs achievement testing and a profile; give the five-index profile of a WISC-V, because it has two scales; measure working memory or processing speed, which are often where a struggling child's difficulty sits; or, on its own, qualify or disqualify a child for anything but the next step. A district that admits to a gifted programme on the KBIT-2 alone, or that denies on it alone, is using a screener as a decision test, and the question to ask is what the second measure is. The gifted page has the usual sequence; the IQ test page has what the full tests measure.

Download the KBIT-2 sheet (PDF) (the subtests, the scores, the limits and the questions; two pages, free).

Where to get help

A 1-on-1 online class with a tutor who holds a master's degree and teaches the US curriculum from Grade 1 number work to AP Calculus, chemistry and physics, at 7 am before school, after 4 pm and on weekend mornings, US time, for US$10 to $13 an hour: the evaluation report read together in the free 30-minute first class, the subtest or cluster the score is really pointing at found, and the term spent on exactly that skill, with the method written out the way the school marks it. How online tutoring from India to the USA works, or the 1-on-1 online tutoring page.

Sources: Pearson, Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test, Second Edition Revised, product page and flyer (August 2022; ages 4:0 to 90:0; about 20 minutes; qualification level B; Crystallized (Verbal), Fluid (Nonverbal) and IQ Composite standard scores with mean 100 and SD 15 and percentile ranks by age; the uses listed); Pearson, KBIT-2 Revised comparison sheet (2022): the three subtests Verbal Knowledge, Riddles and Matrices, the item changes, 2021 data and one norm for in-person and remote, the special-group and validity studies, substitution into the KABC-II NU; Pearson, KBIT-2 product page (2004 edition going out of print). Percentiles are the normal-curve reading of the scale. Fetched 9 November 2026.

Questions parents ask

1What is the KBIT-2 test?

The Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test, Second Edition (Alan and Nadeen Kaufman; Pearson), a brief individually administered measure of verbal and nonverbal intelligence for ages 4 to 90 that takes about 20 minutes. The current version is the KBIT-2 Revised (August 2022), with new norms; the 2004 original is going out of print. It is a screener, used to estimate ability quickly, not a full intelligence evaluation.

2What are the three KBIT-2 subtests?

Verbal Knowledge (pointing to the picture that matches a word or a general-knowledge question) and Riddles (answering a riddle with one word) make up the Verbal, or Crystallized, scale; Matrices (choosing the picture or design that completes a pattern) is the Nonverbal, or Fluid, scale. The Nonverbal subtest can be given in any language; the verbal ones are given in English with correct answers in other languages accepted.

3What is a good KBIT-2 score?

The Verbal, Nonverbal and IQ Composite scores are standard scores with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, with percentile ranks by age; 85 to 115 holds about two-thirds of people and 130 is about the 98th percentile. Gifted programmes that screen with the KBIT-2 set their own line, often the 90th to 98th percentile, and follow a high score with a full test.

4Who gives the KBIT-2?

Pearson lists it at qualification level B, so school psychologists, counsellors, diagnosticians and other professionals with assessment training can give it without being psychologists; that, and the 20 minutes, is why it is used to screen large groups, for gifted nomination, in clinics and institutions, and to re-check ability after treatment or a life event.

5Can the KBIT-2 diagnose a learning disability or give an IQ for an IEP?

No. Pearson describes it as a brief measure for estimating ability and for rapid screening to find people who would benefit from a comprehensive evaluation. A learning-disability determination or an IQ for eligibility rests on a full test such as the WISC-V, the KABC-II or the SB5; the KBIT-2 says whether that fuller test is worth doing.

See how we teach this, 1-on-1 online →

written by

Shobha

Founder and lead tutor, Science with Shobha

Teaching maths, science and English to children online since 2018. 500+ students, 20+ tutors, families in nine countries.

About the team →