SCAT Test Prep | Improve Scores

Know How the Test Works

The best way to prepare for the SCAT test is to hone in on these verbal and mathematical skills below, both in educating your child and in practicing similar questions from the test.

Sample Practice Questions

Look for examples that test the skills found below in our 100 free practice questions.

VERBAL: Analogies

An analogy is a comparison between two things that may be different in in most respects.  The analogy points out the similarity between the two things.  Teaching your child to solve analogies, such as those assessed on the SCAT test, will help build logical thinking and vocabulary skills.  To work though these practice questions, tell your child to:

• Try to identify the relationship between the first pair of words. Look for the same relationship between words in the answer choices.
• Immediately eliminate word pairs that don’t have the same relationship to narrow down your answer choices.
• Try to put the first pair into a sentence. For example, “hat: head.”  A hat goes on your head.  If an answer choice is “shoes: feet” – Shoes go on your feet.  Or, “George Washington: one-dollar bill.” George Washington is on the one-dollar bill.  If an answer choice is “Abraham Lincoln: five-dollar bill” – Abraham Lincoln is on the five-dollar bill.”
• Consider the parts of speech being used and look for an answer that is consistent. For example, “radio” (noun): “listen” (verb): “TV” (noun): “watch” (verb).
• Look for the best answer. Often, there may be more than one answer that seems like it might be right, but the right answer is the one that best completes the analogy.
• Work on vocabulary skills as well as knowledge/information abilities – this is what your child will need to do well on these analogy questions. For example, vocabulary skills would be needed to identify analogies with words that are synonyms or antonyms. Knowledge/information abilities would be needed to identify analogies that utilize geography, history, science, the arts or other subjects.
• In everyday life, find opportunities to help your child make connections between seemingly unconnected things or ideas. For example, if you see an army of ants “marching” in the dirt, talk to your child about what other groups of creatures might be called such as a pride of lions or a herd of cattle.  If you see someone giving a stranger a seat on a train, talk to your child about other ways people are polite and considerate of each other. Making connections and comparisons is the essence of understanding analogies both for this test and for everyday critical thinking.

MATH: Quantitative

Any student taking the SCAT Quantitative Test must have super strong core math skills. Remember that this is an “above grade level” test, so 2nd and 3rd graders will be asked to solve math questions through the 6th grade level.  4th and 5th graders will need to solve problems meant for 6th – 9th graders.  Students in 6th grade and above will be asked to solve problems through the 12th grade level.  The way the test works is that the child will “solve” two problems, and then do a comparison between the different answers.

Test Prep Tips

These tips will help familiarize your child with different types of analogies:

Things that go together – peas and carrots, salt and pepper

Opposites – big and small, tall and short

Synonyms – big and large, unhappy and sad

Classifications – blue and color, banana and fruit

Object and characteristic – sky and blue, lemon and sour

Object and location – car and garage, Rocky Mountains and Colorado

Object and function – pencil and write, shovel and dig

Object and action – snow and fall, car and drive

Object and group – dog and pack, fish and school

Object and outer covering – banana and peel, bird and feathers

Performer and action – surgeon and operate, author and write

Performer and product – baker and bread, tailor and suit

Cause and effect – overeat and stomachache, spin and dizzy

Problem and solution – itch and scratch, hungry and eat

Effort and result – write and book, bake and cake

Differences in degrees – smart and brilliant, big and mammoth

Tools of trade – carpenter and hammer, entomologist and insects

Part and whole – finger and hand, petal and flower

Steps in a process – cook and eat, earn and spend

Hierarchy – penny and nickel, city and state

Ingredient and end product – flour and cookie, eggs and omelet

Symbols and what they represent – American flag and freedom, 4-leaf clover and luck

Verb tense – eat and ate, build and built

Rhyme – Bled and instead, greed and speed

Sound alike words (homophones) – hair and hare, addition and edition

Information analogies (i.e. history, geography, science, etc.) – capital city and state, inventor and invention

Tell us about your experiences

5 Responses

marie saywell

As far as I can see, there is no test for student in grade 10. you only seem to cater of lower grades with birthday years post 2005

Could you tell me where I can find sample tests for grade 10

many thanks

Marie

London

Manisha

Good Morning. My son is taking the SCAT in April. I would like better prepare him for the test. Although he is in 7th grade he is required to take the advanced SCAT test, which I believe tests abilities at the high school grade.

Do you offer a reveiw specific for the SCAT -Advanced level?

Zhang

Hi, my son is in grade 7 and he need take advenced scat. how can i get some practice questions for advented level?

clee79@yahoo.com

Do I have to be a member to receive the 100 sample questions? Can I just buy the 100 sample questions instead of becoming a yearly member? Thanks

TestingMom.com

Hi Clee,

Our 100 Free Questions are a great sampling from many of the tests we support. Here are step-by-step instructions on how to access the 100 Free Practice Questions (No purchase necessary):

Go to www.testingmom.com and log in using your email address and password.
Once you are logged in, click the “100 FREE QUESTIONS” button on the left-hand side of the page Or, you can follow this link: 100 Free Questions.
Once redirected, you will see a large, blue box that reads “FREE QUESTIONS.” Click the orange button that reads “UNLOCK NOW.”

We look forward to having you onboard with us!

Best regards,

Marcus

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