CogAT Kindergarten Test Prep, Sample Questions & Tips

• Which CogAT Level Is Administered to Students in Kindergarten?
• Test Format and Content
• CogAT Form 7 Batteries
• How to Prepare for the CogAT

Which CogAT Level Is Administered to Students in Kindergarten?

The level of the CogAT Form 7 administered to students corresponds with their ages, meaning that the Kindergarten CogAT is designed specifically for students who are five and six years of age. The CogAT Level 5/6 is generally administered to kindergarten students.

The CogAT Kindergarten test assesses young students’ quantitative, nonverbal, and verbal abilities, though the focus on verbal abilities is minimal. Reading is not required on the Kindergarten CogAT test, as it consists of images and figures, and the test instructions are read aloud by the administering instructor. After reading the instructions, the kindergartners then choose images from the answer choices for each question. There is an additional section that is optional: the Sentence Completion section. In this section, the instructor reads the sentence aloud and the students choose an image from the answer choices that completes the sentence. TestPrep-Online now offers audio instructions for this section. The Sentence Completion section is available in Spanish, making the CogAT accessible to students whose native language is not English.

Kindergarten CogAT test questions assess the student’s ability to utilize his/her reasoning skills when it comes to solving problems they have yet to learn. Despite the Kindergarten CogAT consisting of problems that kindergartners have not yet learned to solve, the questions are appropriate developmentally for children in kindergarten.

Test Format and Content

The Kindergarten CogAT, like all the other levels, is comprised of three batteries (the Verbal Battery, the Quantitative Battery, and the Nonverbal Battery) and consists of a total of 118 questions. The school and/or administering instructor may decide to administer the all three batteries at once or separately, since it is not required that all three batteries be administered together.

It is crucial to understand the details (number of questions, time constraints, etc.) of the test to know what to expect. Something unforeseen in the day of the test can be a bit overwhelming and affect the overall performance of your child in the test. Each battery is further broken into three sub-tests. 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. This is because at this young age, children are still learning how to read. Therefore, the test in designed in such way that the questions are very intuitive and not too overwhelming.

How to Prepare for the CogAT

Help your child prepare for the CogAT Level 5/6 with TestPrep-Online’s prep materials. These materials will allow your child to go to the test feeling ready and confident. Check out our CogAT practice tests.

Our Practice Packs contain a full-length simulation of the CogAT, including audio instructions for the sentence completion exercises. Each question has a detailed explanation of how to solve it. The idea in the explanation is to show the student the logic that should be used when approaching these types of questions. The student should read the explanation, try to understand it, and then reapply it to the question to check that everything is clear.

Once your child starts practicing, they will recognize the areas where the weakness lie. Some questions may be easier to solve while others are more challenging. The idea behind our practice packs is to give room for all sub-tests of the CogAT. Therefore, regardless of what topics need strengthening, you can rest assured that we are covering all the areas of the CogAT.

In addition, with enough practice your child should be prepared for all the questions. Every sub-test will become familiar to them and approaching the tests after a few days of reading explanations can be a completely different experience. For example, at first Paper Folding exercise may be more difficult since the child is not used to apply reasoning of that caliber. However, the exercises themselves are not different once you understand the basic points of each question. Therefore, the first few questions in the sub-test may prove to be challenging, but the remaining ones can suddenly become much easier after sitting with the material for a day.

Finally, your child can always retake any of the tests and simulations to track their progress. It is important to leave enough time to take all of the tests, review the explanations to learn new strategies, and then retake the tests to see if your child has fully grasped the concept of the test.

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