What Is a Good CAT4 Score? CAT4 Results Explained (UK)
What is a good CAT4 score? A Standard Age Score (SAS) of 100 is exactly average, anything above 100 is above average, 110 or more is a strong result (roughly the top quarter), and 120 or more puts you around the top 10% for your age. CAT4 scores usually range from about 60 to 141, so there's no "pass mark," just where you sit compared with other students your age.
If your CAT4 report shows one area lagging and you want to know which kind of reasoning to work on, IQ Tester spots your weak areas and gives you a short daily drill: Find my weak spots.
What is a good CAT4 score? Short answer
Here's the cheat sheet most students and parents actually want:
| SAS | Rough percentile (NPR) | Stanine | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 89 | Below ~23rd | 1-3 | Below average |
| 89-96 | ~23rd-40th | 4 | Low average |
| 97-103 | ~40th-60th | 5 | Average |
| 104-111 | ~60th-77th | 6 | High average |
| 112-118 | ~77th-89th | 7 | Above average |
| 119-126 | ~89th-96th | 8 | Well above average |
| 127+ | ~96th+ | 9 | Very high |
So a "good" CAT4 score depends on what you mean. For most students, anything from the mid-100s up is solid. A 110+ is genuinely strong. A 127+ is rare.
What is the highest CAT4 score?
Reports usually cap the SAS at around 141. Hitting that means you scored at the very top for your age on that battery. It doesn't mean you're "maxed out" in life, just on that test.
SAS, stanine and percentile, decoded
A CAT4 report throws three kinds of numbers at you. Here's what each one means, fast.
SAS (Standard Age Score)
- Average is 100, and scores spread out with a standard deviation of 15.
- It compares you only with students the same age (down to the month), so the youngest in the year aren't penalized.
- This is the main number to look at.
Stanine
- A 1-9 scale. 5 is the middle, 1 is lowest, 9 is highest.
- Each stanine covers a band of students. About 20% land in stanine 5; only about 4% land in stanine 9.
- Useful for a quick "where am I" check.
NPR (National Percentile Rank)
- Shows what percentage of students scored the same or lower than you.
- An NPR of 80 means you did as well as or better than 80% of your age group nationally.
- It's not a percentage of questions right. Big difference.
Why "the average" is less cringe than it sounds
In Year 7 group chats, someone always says "I got 100, I'm so average 💀." But average on CAT4 means "right in the middle of every student your age in the country." That's completely normal and fine.
The four CAT4 batteries
CAT4 (Cognitive Abilities Test, fourth edition, from GL Assessment) tests four kinds of reasoning:
- Verbal reasoning: words, meanings and relationships. Think "hot is to cold as up is to ___."
- Quantitative reasoning: number patterns and relationships, not school maths methods.
- Non-verbal reasoning: shapes and patterns, finding the rule in a sequence or grid.
- Spatial ability: picturing shapes rotating, folding or fitting together in your head.
Your overall mean SAS is roughly the average of the four. But the four separate scores are the interesting part.
What does "verbal bias" or "spatial bias" mean?
CAT4 reports often describe a profile:
- No bias / even profile: your verbal and spatial scores are close.
- Verbal bias: verbal is noticeably stronger than spatial. You might learn best through reading, talking and writing.
- Spatial bias: spatial is noticeably stronger. You might learn best with diagrams, models and visuals.
Neither is better. It's a learning-style hint for teachers, not a ranking.
Here's where it gets tricky: a CAT4 report tells you what your scores were, but not what to actually practise next, and schools rarely hand you a plan. IQ Tester covers similar ground (number series, verbal analogy, logic, pattern), shows your category strengths, and its guides turn your weakest area into a short daily drill. Find my weak spots
CAT4 scores vs IQ
People often ask if CAT4 is an IQ test. The honest answer: it's similar, but it isn't marketed or used as one.
Similar because:
- It uses the same kind of scale (mean 100, SD 15).
- It tests reasoning rather than what you've memorized in class.
- Its question types overlap with many IQ tests.
Different because:
- It's designed for schools to plan teaching, not to label intelligence.
- It's taken in a school setting, often once, sometimes on a rough day.
- Results are used alongside teacher judgement and other data.
So a CAT4 SAS of 115 is roughly in the same zone as an IQ of 115, but don't treat it as your official IQ. Canadian readers: some Canadian schools and international schools use CAT4 too, and the scores read the same way. US readers might know similar school-based tests like the CogAT.
If you're curious how other tests compare, see SAT score to IQ conversion or ACT to IQ conversion.
What schools do with CAT4 results
Most UK secondary schools use CAT4 at the start of Year 7, and some repeat it later. Here's what they typically do with the results:
- Setting and grouping. Some schools use CAT4 as one input for maths or English sets.
- Spotting hidden potential. A student with high CAT4 but low grades might need a different kind of support.
- Support plans. Low scores in one battery can flag where extra help is useful.
- Indicators. GL Assessment provides predicted-outcome indicators (for example, for GCSEs) based on how similar students have done. These are estimates, not destiny.
What to ask your school
If you're a parent or a student who wants to understand your results, try:
- "Which battery was strongest and weakest, and what does that mean for my learning?"
- "Is there a verbal or spatial bias, and how will lessons account for it?"
- "Are the GCSE indicators being used to set targets, and can they change?"
How to prepare without paying for prep
Test-prep sites will happily sell you packs. You don't need them. GL Assessment designs CAT4 to measure reasoning, not memorized tricks, and heavy drilling can make results less useful for your teachers.
Free, low-stress ways to get ready:
- Know the format. Knowing there are four batteries and roughly what they look like reduces nerves.
- Read widely. Novels, news, even long Reddit threads build vocabulary for verbal reasoning.
- Do puzzles. Sudoku, logic puzzles and pattern games help non-verbal and quantitative reasoning.
- Play with shapes. Lego, Tetris-style games and origami sneakily train spatial ability.
- Sleep properly the night before. A tired brain underperforms. Not a hot take, just true.
Revision (UK) or studying (US) the night before doesn't really work for CAT4. Steady habits do.
Turn what is a good cat4 score into what's next
Knowing what is a good CAT4 score is step one; knowing what to work on is step two. In the next few minutes, IQ Tester's 20 untimed questions show your score band and three of your four category strengths, and its guides give you a short daily drill for your weak spots. It's for fun and practice, not a school assessment.
FAQ
What is a good CAT4 score for Year 7?
For Year 7, an SAS above 100 is above average, 110+ is strong, and 120+ is around the top 10% for your age. There's no pass or fail; it's all compared with students born in the same month.
What do CAT4 scores mean?
CAT4 scores show how your reasoning compares with others your age. The SAS (average 100), stanine (1-9) and NPR (percentile) all describe the same result in different ways.
What is the highest CAT4 score?
The SAS usually goes up to about 141. That's the very top for your age on that battery, reached by a tiny share of students.
Is CAT4 an IQ test?
Not officially. It uses a similar scale and similar question types, but it's designed to help schools plan teaching, not to measure IQ.
How can I prepare for CAT4 for free?
Get familiar with the four question types, read regularly, do logic and pattern puzzles, and get good sleep. Paid prep isn't necessary, and heavy drilling can make the results less useful.