CAT4 scores explained for parents

A guide for parents at British and international schools in Riyadh · 6-minute read

Many international schools in Riyadh give pupils the CAT4 test at the start of the year. The report that comes home is full of numbers and charts. Here is what they mean, and what they don't.

What CAT4 is

CAT4 (the Cognitive Abilities Test, fourth edition, published by GL Assessment) measures how a child reasons, not what they have been taught. There's no syllabus behind it. That's why schools use it alongside attainment tests: it gives a sense of a child's potential, which can then be compared with how they're actually doing in class.

The four batteries

• Verbal reasoning: thinking with words, such as spotting relationships between them.
• Quantitative reasoning: thinking with numbers and number patterns.
• Non-verbal reasoning: working out patterns in shapes and figures.
• Spatial ability: picturing and turning shapes in the mind.

Reading the scores

• Standard age score (SAS). The headline number. 100 is average for the child's age. Around two in three children score between 85 and 115. Above 115 is above average, and above 130 is well above.
• Stanine. A 1 to 9 scale. Stanines 4 to 6 are the average band, 7 to 9 above it, 1 to 3 below it.
• National percentile rank. A percentile of 75 means the child scored as well as or better than 75% of children their age.

The profile matters more than the average

The report also shows a profile: whether a child leans towards verbal or spatial thinking. A child with a strong spatial bias may understand maths and science well but struggle to explain it in writing. A child with a verbal bias may write fluently but find diagrams and geometry harder. This tells you how a child learns best, which is often more useful than the overall score.

When CAT4 and school results don't match

This is the most useful comparison. If CAT4 says a child is well above average but their progress tests or reports are average, something is getting in the way. It's often one specific gap, such as slow number facts, weak written methods or reading stamina, rather than a general problem. Finding that gap is usually the quickest win.

Can you prepare for CAT4?

Not in the usual sense, and you shouldn't try to drill it. Familiarity with the question types helps a child feel calm, but the real value of CAT4 is an honest picture. Inflating it only makes the picture less useful.

What to do next

• Ask the school for the full report, not just the summary, including the profile.
• Compare it with this year's progress test results in English, maths and science.
• If there's a gap between the two, that's worth looking at closely.