How to Prepare for the NYC Gifted and Talented Test

posted by Karen Quinn, The Testing Mom - December 10th, 2014

Ever wonder why the NYC Gifted and Talented test is so hyped up? It’s because it’s super difficult and competitive! For the last several years, kids have to score in the 99th percentile just to have a shot at making it into the most sought-after NYC programs. No wonder parents start freaking out and preparing for this test months or even years in advance!

As with anything else in life, the best solution for anxiety about the NYC Gifted and Talented test is to educate yourself and get your child ready for what will be on the exam. The test is made up of questions from the NNAT® test (Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test ®) and the OLSAT® test (Otis-Lennon School Ability Test ®). Specifically, there are 30 verbal questions for the OLSAT test and 48 questions from the NNAT test. The tests are given one after the other, usually in a single block, and kids should be prepared to be sitting for a while without an opportunity to go to the bathroom or get a snack. That’s why one of the most important things to do when preparing your child for the test is to get them used to the idea of concentrating for longer stretches of time – something that most 4- and 5-year-olds haven’t done a whole lot of yet!

Once it comes time to actually go over the material that will be on the test, it’s a good idea to use a variety of materials so that your child has sufficient exposure to the skills that are measured on the test, as well as the format of the actual exam. It’s important to make sure that you practice questions from various subsections of both the NNAT test and the OLSAT test. Each test on the NYC Gifted and Talented Test has a number of subtests.

Here are the subtests on the OLSAT test:

• Aural reasoning
• Following directions
• Arithmetic reasoning

The subtests on the NNAT test are:

• Reasoning by analogy
• Pattern completion
• Spatial visualization
• Serial reasoning

NNAT®-2 and Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test® and Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices™ are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliate(s), or their licensors. TestingMom.com is not affiliated with nor related to Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates (“Pearson”). Pearson does not sponsor or endorse any TestingMom.com product, nor have TestingMom.com products or services been reviewed, certified, or approved by Pearson. Trademarks referring to specific test providers are used by TestingMom.com for nominative purposes only and such trademarks are solely the property of their respective owners.

OLSAT® – Otis-Lennon School Ability Test®, Eighth Edition® is a registered trademark of Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliate(s), or their licensors. TestingMom.com is not affiliated with nor related to Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates (“Pearson”). Pearson does not sponsor or endorse any TestingMom.com product, nor have TestingMom.com products or services been reviewed, certified, or approved by Pearson. Trademarks referring to specific test providers are used by TestingMom.com for nominative purposes only and such trademarks are solely the property of their respective owners.