Cognitive Abilities Test
CogAT is key to understanding
how your students learn!
™
Introduction
• What is the CogAT?
• Why is it useful for teachers &
administrators
Major features
• Measures the “Big 3” reasoning abilities
• Item construction guided by research in cognitive
and differential psychology
• Excellence in psychometrics (field of study
concerned with the theory and technique of
psychological measurement)
• Extensive support materials for teachers
• Interpretive guides for administrators, counselors,
& teachers
Distinctive Features
• Individual ability profiles keyed to
instructional strategies
• Valid and reliable screener for
gifted or at-risk students
• Reveals the potential of English
language learners
Distinctive Features (cont.)
• Age norms in 1-month intervals
(from 4 years, 11 months to 18+)
• Grade norms for Fall, Midyear, and Spring
• Individual standard errors
Distinctive Features (cont.)
• Quality scaling to measure growth in
reasoning abilities
• Common score scale for all 11 levels
Distinctive Features (cont.)
• Separate tests for each ability (V,Q,NV)
• Individual test scores reported
• Composite score
Cognitive Abilities Test
™
CogAT measures important reasoning skills:
• Comprehending
problem situations
• Classifying and categorizing
objects, events, and
other stimuli
• Detecting similarities
and differences
• Creating and adapting problemsolving strategies
• Making inferences
• Using familiar concepts and
• Making deductions
skills in new contexts
Multilevel Battery (gr. 3-12)
General Reasoning Ability
Verbal Reasoning
......
Quantitative Reasoning
.....
Nonverbal Reasoning
.....
Verbal Classification
Sentence Completion
Verbal Analogies
Quantitative Relations
Number Series
Equation Building
Figure Classification
Figure Analogies
Figure Analysis
Grade 3/Level A
• Session I: Verbal Battery
working time
Test 1 Verbal Classification
10
Test 2 Sentence Completion
10
Test 3 Verbal Analogies
10
Verbal Battery
Inductive and Deductive Verbal Reasoning
Directions: Put your marker under the boat. Look at the pictures in this row. Nicole’s mother said that
Nicole had to stay inside. Nicole looked out the window and said, “Oh well, at least this will make the
grass green.” What did Nicole see? Fill in the circle under that picture.
CogAT, Form 6, Level 1
Directions: For each question there are three words in dark type. The first two words go together. The
third word goes together with one of the answer choices. Choose the word from the answer choices that
goes with the third word.
CogAT, Form 6, Level C
Grade 3/Level A
• Session II: Quantitative Battery
working time
Test 4 Quantitative Relations
8
Test 5 Number Series
10
Test 6 Equation Building
12
Quantitative Battery
Inductive and Deductive Quantitative Reasoning
Directions: Put your marker under the key. Look at the first picture. Count the buttons in it. (Pause.)
Now look at the other pictures in this row. Fill in the circle under the one that has 2 more buttons that
the first picture.
CogAT, Form 6, Level 1
Directions: For each question, you are given some numbers and signs. Combine all of the numbers and
signs in different ways until you make an equation, or number sentence, that equals one of the answer
choices.
CogAT, Form 6, Level C
Grade 3/Level A
• Session I: Nonverbal Battery
working time
Test 7 Figure Classification
10
Test 8 Figure Analogies
10
Test 9 Figure Analysis
10
Nonverbal Battery
Inductive and Deductive Figural Reasoning
Directions: Put your marker under the fork. Think about how the the first three figures
are alike. Now, fill in the circle under the picture that goes with the first three.
CogAT, Form 6, Level 1
Directions: Look at the first pair of figures. Think about how these two figures
go together. Look at the third figure. It is the first part of the second pair. Now
look at the answer choices. Find the figure that completes the pair.
CogAT, Form 6, Level C
Scores
•
•
•
•
•
•
Raw Score
Universal Scale Score
Standard Age Score
Stanine (age and grade)
Percentile Rank (age and grade)
Profile
Profiles
• Students differ in the level and pattern
of cognitive abilities they have
developed
• Instruction can be adapted to capitalize
on their strengths and/or compensate
for their weaknesses
‘ABC’ Profile system
• “A” profiles: Confidence bands overlap for all
three scores. Scores are at roughly the sAme level
• “B” profiles: One score is aBove or Below the
other two scores, which do not differ
• “C” profiles: Two scores Contrast
• “E” profiles: Extreme B or C profiles (>=24
standard age score points)
“A” Profile
V
Q
N
SAS
PR
120
116
125
89
84
94
1
25
50
75
99
“B” Profiles
V
Q
N
V
Q
N
SAS
PR
120
116
100
89
84
50
SAS
PR
95
92
110
38
31
73
1
25
50
75
99
N-
1
25
50
75
99
N+
“C” Profile
V
Q
N
SAS
PR
120
110
100
89
73
50
1
25
50
75
99
V+ N-
Extreme “C” Profile
SAS
V
Q
N
120
107
92
PR
1
25
50
75
99
89
67
31
SAS Max – SAS Min = 28
E (V+ N-)
CogAT Home
| Support
| Scoring
This site was built to enable teachers, counselors, and parents to interpret the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) Ability Score
Profiles for their students. Click here to see A Note to Parents
TM
Directions: Enter a student's ability profile in the appropriate drop down boxes (see sample score for clarification). Once
complete, click search, and an interpretation of the score will be provided.
Sample Score
Profile:
Input Your Score Profile:
Stanine: 7
Profile: C
Relative Strength: V
Relative Weakness: Q
Profiles 7C (V+ Q-) 8C (V+ Q-) and 9C (V+ Q-)
Profile Explanation
Students who obtain these profiles have generally above-average scores with a
relatively higher score in verbal reasoning and a relatively lower score in quantitative
reasoning. They have a median age stanine for the three CogAT batteries in the high
(stanines 7 to 8) or very high (stanine 9) range. The majority of these students have a
Composite score in the top 25 percent of their age group. Although the overall level of
reasoning abilities estimated by the median stanine provides useful information (see
"General Instructional Suggestions for All Students with a Median Stanine of 7, 8, or
9," below), generalizations must be qualified by the student's relatively higher score on
the Verbal Battery and relatively lower score on the Quantitative Battery.
•
•
•
•
Characteristics of students with these profiles
Instructional Suggestions for these profiles
Instructional suggestions for ALL profiles with a median stanine of 7, 8 or 9
For additional information
Instructional Suggestions for Profiles 7C (V+ Q-) 8C (V+ Q-) and 9C (V+ Q-)
In the primary grades, the relatively less developed quantitative reasoning abilities of these students seem to
have a broader meaning and impact on achievement. Primary-grade students with V+ Q- profiles may have
difficulties thinking about mathematical problems outside of their surrounding context. Help them attend to
the specifically quantitative aspects of math story problems rather than to the story presented and the
associations it may elicit. Selectively encoding stimuli in this way will help these students learn how to
separate concepts from contexts.
This process and academic learning in general are much easier for these students than for most because of
their particularly strong verbal reasoning abilities. Capitalize on these abilities by encouraging these students
to talk about, write about, and read about the concepts they are expected to learn. For example, when
teaching them skills and strategies, encourage them to keep track of the steps in the procedure by making a
list of the required steps and committing it to memory. Then, as they execute the procedure or call up the
strategy, have them say aloud each verbal prompt as they perform the associated action.
There is a good possibility that at least some of these students have simply not practiced their basic
computation skills until they become automatic. This may be because the skills were not emphasized in the
curriculum or because the students attempted to learn them silently using work sheets or computer-based
math drills. Students with these profiles are more likely to succeed in learning math facts if the teaching
methods capitalize on their strong verbal abilities. In particular, these students often learn better if they
practice aloud and even in unison with other students, rather than silently in response to a visual stimulus. If
such practice is not helpful, computation skills may be offloaded and calculators used when these students
solve math problems.
Resources
• Interpretive Guide for Administrators (one copy
provided to each site)
– Score profiles (p. 71)
– Identification of Gifted Students (p. 121)
• Interactive Profile Interpretation System (free..
online at www.cogat.com)
• Short Guide for Teachers (free..online at
www.riverpub.com/products/group/cogat6/short.pdf)
PSD Procedures
Nuts and bolts of submitting answer
documents for scoring.
Identification Sheets
• Building Identification Sheet
Information Box: date,district,city/state
Building Name
Building Code (unnecessary)
Identification Sheets (cont.)
• Grade/ Class Identification Sheet
(Note: Only Grade information is required—not class
information)
Information Box: date, building, system, city and
state
Skip: “class name” and “class code”
Grade (3)
Form and Level: (Form 6, Level A)
Answer document count (very important to be
accurate.)
Student Answer Document
•
•
•
•
•
Date of Birth: (accuracy is extremely important)
Gender
CogAT Level (A)
Student I.D. Number
Information Box
(school, city, state and grade)
Due Date
Return answer documents with building and
grade identification sheets to Kathryn
Friesen at JSSC by December 9, 2005 at
4:00 p.m.
You are welcome to use school mail.