VQN is not an average. It's a complicated formula that looks at probabilities of scoring the score you got in each. I have 2 of my 3 kids with the same VQN.

Kid 1
Q: 144
NV: 119
V: 131
VQN: 135

Kid 2
Q: 128
NV: 132
V: 134
VQN: 135

You'll note kid 2 has a higher composite than any individual score, because the likelihood of being sort of moderately good at all 3 domains (which is how I'd describe her scores) is actually not that high - about the same as being really good at one domain like kid 1.

At least as of the 2020 external report on AAP, the committee cares most about quantitative and least about verbal (and the NNAT). However all of those pale in comparison to how important the GBRS was, and I assume HOPE will be.

Does the committee look at scores scaled for age or grade? There were two sets of scores on the paper that was sent home.

I think they basically look at how many total the student got right on the entire test and compare it to others. My child's subscores were all lower than my child's composite score (i.e., all subscores were in the 130s and the composite was low 140s).

I thought it was an average of the three, but both my DS and DD's VQN score equaled their Quant scores and different from their nonverbal/verbal scores.

For example, my DD's {V,Q,N} scores are something like {133, 141, 128}, but the VQN is 141.

Both kids' Nonverbal and verbal scores were 10+ pts below their Quant scores, so it's bewildering to me how a VQN is calculated.