The 9 Subtests of the CogAT® Test

posted by Karen Quinn, The Testing Mom - March 31st, 2014

The CogAT, the Cognitive Abilities Test, is the cognitive test that is used across the country in different school districts to help identify gifted children for Gifted and Talented programs. The CogAT test is not an intelligence test or an achievement test. The CogAT test is a cognitive test, which means that it tests reasoning and problem solving abilities. This makes the test different to prepare for than intelligence tests or achievement tests. 

There are 3 different categories in which your child is tested on the CogAT: verbal, quantitative and non-verbal or spatial. These abilities are not specifically taught in schools, or at least the way they are tested on the CogAT are not the way they are taught in schools. This is why you should help your child by preparing them with CogAT practice questions. There are 9 subtests in the CogAT exam. They are verbal classification, sentence completion and verbal analogies in the verbal battery of questions. The quantitative battery of questions has the subtests quantitative relations, number series and equation building. The nonverbal batter of questions has the subtests figure classification, figure analogies, and figure analysis.

When preparing your child for the CogAT, try and start with questions from a grade level or two below their current one. That will make it easier for them to learn the skills and the practice question forms of the CogAT. They will be able to answer the questions easily, once they understand how the questions are formed, and that will boost their confidence. Once they master the questions from the grade levels below their current one, work onto CogAT questions from the grade they are currently in. Once your child feels confident in those, then move onto questions from a grade level or two above their current one. Sometimes, the CogAT test will include very hard questions to see if students can answer them. If you prepare your child, they may be able to answer those very hard questions and make it into their Gifted and Talented program.

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