CogAT 5th Grade Test Prep, Samples & Tips

• Which CogAT Level is Administered to 5th Graders?
• Test Format and Content
• Mistakes to avoid preparing for the CogAT
• How to Prepare for the CogAT

Which CogAT Level is Administered to 5th Graders?

The CogAT Form 7 levels corresponds with the students’ ages. Therefore, the CogAT Level 11 is made for 11-year-old students, who are generally in the 5th grade. Thus, the CogAT Level 11 is usually administered to all 5th grade students.

The CogAT 5th grade assesses verbal, nonverbal, and quantitative abilities of 5th graders and is frequently used to evaluate students for admissions to gifted programs. The CogAT Level 11 is beneficial when evaluating students who do not speak English as their first language, as the focus on verbal abilities is minimal. Additionally, this test is particularly useful for assessing students’ academic strength and weaknesses.

The CogAT 5th grade is comprised of fewer pictures than the lower levels. The Verbal and Quantitative Batteries include no images, while the format of the Nonverbal Battery remains similar to that of the lower levels. Once a student has reached the 5th grade, s/he is able to focus for a longer period of time and has become proficient in problem solving. S/he is now able to solve more difficult problems than in previous years. In order to be able to answer the difficult questions presented in the 5th grade CogAT, it is crucial that your child be well-prepared.

Test Format and Content

Combined, the three batteries on the CogAT Level 11 (the Verbal Battery, the Quantitative Battery, and the Nonverbal Battery) consist of 176 questions. The three batteries may be administered together or separately, depending on the needs of the administering teacher or the school. Each battery is further broken into three subtests. See the complete breakdown of the test in the table below:

CogAT Form 7 Batteries 

*Primary levels (5/6-8) contain Picture Analogies and Picture Classification. Higher levels contain Verbal Analogies and Verbal Classification.

Mistakes to avoid preparing for the CogAT

The most common mistake people make is to read the instructions too fast. Take your time to understand the question and what you need to find. If you misunderstand the question, chances are you will be picking the wrong answer. However, if you know the type of question, and you read the instructions carefully, you are already halfway through solving the question and moving forward to the next one. The test's instructions are just as important to read.

Do not rule out answers too fast. Make sure you understand why you are ruling out an answer. Ruling out an answer saves you time when either guessing or solving a question, but you need a logical reason to do so. After you see a question in the preparation pack, ask yourself whether there was an answer you could have quickly ruled out or not. If you are certain that you have a strong reason why an answer cannot be correct, then your on a good track to solve the question correctly.

How to Prepare for the CogAT

Help your child prepare for the 5th grade CogAT with TesPrep-Online’s study materials, which include practice tests and additional sample questions. Check out our CogAT practice tests.

The most important thing you want to avoid the day of the test is being surprised by a question you have not seen before. This is why our CogAT practice test includes a full-length simulation with questions from every battery and sub-test of the CogAT. You can review all the questions and check out the different strategies and solutions available.

You can learn a lot just by looking at the explanations. After you have seen some of the explanations and the logic that is most commonly used when approaching the questions, you can try looking at the questions without checking the explanations. You will notice that suddenly you are able to tell some answer choices apart, understand what you need to do to solve the question, and even improve the suggested solution.

Our solutions try to explain the easiest, most intuitive way to think of the question and the task at hand. Sometimes, another logic or reasoning can lead you to the correct answer faster. However, you can only achieve this after practicing with a few questions. 

You will also notice that the most logical way to solve the questions is usually the most efficient way for all the batteries. When you approach a question, you have a task to fulfill. The best way to do so is by having a concrete plan of how to do so. In order to create the plan, you need to know precisely what to look for, and how it answers the question. Some questions require more practice to fully master, but there are more than enough questions in each topic to truly understand the exam in its entirety.

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