Named tests
OLSAT: Otis-Lennon School Ability Test
In short
The OLSAT 8 (Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, Eighth Edition) is a school ability test by Arthur Otis and Roger Lennon, sold by Pearson, for kindergarten through grade 12. It covers verbal, nonverbal and quantitative reasoning in five clusters, is untimed with a 75-minute maximum, and reports a School Ability Index. Schools use it alongside achievement tests.
Want your own number? The test is 25 visual puzzles, about 12 minutes, no sign-up.
What the OLSAT measures
Pearson credits the OLSAT 8 to Arthur S. Otis and Roger T. Lennon (Pearson: OLSAT 8). The Buros Center lists publication dates of 1977 to 2003 and quotes the test's purpose: to measure the verbal, quantitative and figural reasoning skills most closely related to school achievement (Buros OLSAT 8 listing). That is the key idea behind the name: school ability, not a general life IQ.
The five clusters
| Cluster | Scale | Item types |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal Comprehension | Verbal | Following Directions, Antonyms, Sentence Completion, Sentence Arrangement |
| Verbal Reasoning | Verbal | Aural Reasoning, Arithmetic Reasoning, Logical Selection, Word/Letter Matrix, Verbal Analogies, Verbal Classification, Inference |
| Pictorial Reasoning | Nonverbal | Picture Classification, Picture Analogies, Picture Series |
| Figural Reasoning | Nonverbal | Figural Classification, Figural Analogies, Pattern Matrix, Figural Series |
| Quantitative Reasoning | Nonverbal | Number Series, Numeric Inference, Number Matrix |
Source: Pearson's OLSAT 8 brochure (Pearson OLSAT 8 brochure), which groups Pictorial and Figural Reasoning on the nonverbal side. Pearson's sample parent report describes a Verbal Scale and a Nonverbal Scale (Pearson OLSAT 8 sample report). Many of these item types, such as analogies, series and matrices, are the same families used on IQ tests; see figure analogies, number series and matrix reasoning.
Levels, format and norms
- Levels A to D cover kindergarten through grade 3, one grade at a time; Level E covers grades 4 and 5, Level F grades 6 to 8 and Level G grades 9 to 12 (Pearson OLSAT 8 brochure).
- It is untimed with a 75-minute maximum, has a single form with seven levels, and can be given individually or to groups (Pearson: OLSAT 8).
- The online version is available only for grades 2 to 12 (Pearson OLSAT 8 brochure).
- Norms are fall and spring, age and grade based, and drawn from 40,000 students nationally (Pearson: OLSAT 8).
Reading an OLSAT score
The main score is the School Ability Index (SAI). Pearson's sample parent report says most SAI scores fall between 90 and 110 (Pearson OLSAT 8 sample report). We did not find the SAI's standard deviation in Pearson's own materials, so we do not convert SAI scores to percentiles here; the score report itself gives percentile ranks. For a reference point at the top: American Mensa accepts a Total SAI of 132 on the OLSAT (American Mensa: qualifying scores).
When the OLSAT is given with the Stanford 10 achievement test, schools also get an Achievement/Ability Comparison, which compares a student's achievement with that of students of the same measured school ability (Pearson OLSAT 8 brochure). That comparison is often more useful to teachers than the ability score alone.
OLSAT vs other school tests
The OLSAT sits between two other common screeners. The CogAT also mixes verbal, quantitative and nonverbal batteries, while the NNAT3 is entirely nonverbal. See CogAT vs NNAT for how the other two compare.
Preparing a child
The aim is familiarity, not drilling: a child who has seen a figure series or an analogy before is less likely to lose points to confusion. Our figure analogy and number series practice tests use original items of those types. They are not OLSAT items and do not predict an OLSAT score.
IQ Octopus is not affiliated with or endorsed by Pearson or any other publisher named here. Test names are used only to identify and describe the tests. Our free practice tests are not copies of any published test, and no score on IQ Octopus predicts a score on another test.
Try one · Abstract Reasoning
Which tile completes the grid?
Tap the option you think is right, or show the answer.
Show the answer
The missing tile has one outlined diamond (option 3).
How to solve it
- Start with the first row and name what changes from tile to tile.
- Every row and every column contains each shape (diamond, triangle and square) exactly once.
- Every row and every column contains each number of shapes (three, one and two) exactly once.
- The fill (outline) stays the same in every tile.
- Check the rules on the second row, then apply them to the third.
- So the missing tile has one outlined diamond.
That was 1 puzzle. The full test has 25.
Sources
- Pearson. Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, Eighth Edition (OLSAT 8), product page. 2003. www.pearsonassessments.com/store/usassessments/en/Store/Professional-Assessments/Academic-Learning/Otis-Lennon-School-Ability-Test-%7C-Eighth-Edition/p/100000003.html
- Pearson, OLSAT 8 Overview Brochure with Scope and Sequence, PDF, 2025 www.pearsonassessments.com/content/dam/school/global/clinical/us/assets/olsat8/olsat8-overview-brochure.pdf
- Pearson, OLSAT 8 Student/Home Report sample, PDF www.pearsonassessments.com/content/dam/school/global/clinical/us/assets/olsat8/olsat8-student-home-report-sample.pdf
- Buros Center for Testing, Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, Eighth Edition, test listing marketplace.unl.edu/buros/otis-lennon-school-ability-test-eighth-edition.html
- American Mensa. Qualifying test scores. www.us.mensa.org/join/testscores/qualifying-test-scores/