What Is the CogAT Test: Everything Parents Need to Know

The CogAT is not an IQ test. It measures how students reason and make connections, rather than what they have memorized. These reasoning skills can be strengthened through structured practice, especially when students are familiar with CogAT-style questions.

The 2025–2026 CogAT Test (Form 8) measures how well children reason using three kinds of thinking:

• Verbal reasoning
• Quantitative reasoning
• Nonverbal reasoning

Each of these is called a battery, and each battery contains 3 subtests, making 9 subtests total.

Verbal Battery

The Verbal Battery evaluates how students understand and work with language. At early levels, questions use pictures and spoken instructions to assess how children connect ideas, apply logic, and recognize relationships between words and images.

At higher levels, the battery shifts to written language and examines how students interpret meanings, identify relationships between words, and apply verbal reasoning skills.

Quantitative Battery

The Quantitative Battery assesses how students understand and work with number relationships. At early levels, questions use visual representations such as beads, dots, and object groups to help children recognize quantities and identify patterns without requiring formal math symbols.

As students progress to higher levels, the battery shifts from picture-based items to numerical ones. Students demonstrate how they reason about quantity, detect number patterns, and solve basic mathematical relationships.

Nonverbal Battery

The Nonverbal Battery assesses reasoning without relying on language. Children solve picture- and shape-based puzzles that evaluate spatial awareness, pattern recognition, and logical thinking. This battery is especially useful for students who are still developing English proficiency.

At higher levels, the questions involve more complex visual reasoning. Students analyze abstract designs, identify transformation rules, and apply logical strategies to complete visual patterns.

Explore our in-depth CogAT test prep course designed to boost your child's performance.

Each CogAT grade level is divided into batteries. This page presents one sample question per grade. To explore additional questions by grade and battery, visit our CogAT Sample Questions page.

Preparation focuses on helping students understand what CogAT questions look like and how to work through them under timed conditions. When the format feels familiar, students are better able to focus on reasoning and problem-solving rather than adjusting to unfamiliar task types.

Three facts every parent should know:

• The CogAT Test is highly coachable.
• The reason isn't memorization. It's familiarity with how to think through analogy, classification, and pattern tasks.
• Students from "test-ready" households tend to score higher.

Not because they are more gifted. But because they have richer language exposure, more puzzle/problem-solving conversations, more experience with visual reasoning tasks and have had structured practice levels the field.

Understanding Your Child's CogAT Scores

The CogAT gives your child a score profile that shows their thinking strengths across the three batteries: Verbal, Quantitative, and Nonverbal.

Each profile includes:

• A stanine number (1-9 scale) showing overall ability level
• A letter code (A-D) showing how balanced the scores are
• Plus or minus signs (like V+, Q+, or N−) highlighting specific strengths or growth areas

Scores are age-normed, which means your child is compared to other students nationwide who are the same age, not to their classmates or grade-level peers. This is very important for accurate assessment.

For example, V+ means verbal strength (great at reading and language), while Q+ indicates quantitative strength (strong problem-solver with numbers).

Most gifted programs require a composite or battery score in the 92nd–97th percentile, while highly selective districts often require 98th or 99th percentile.

Want the full details? Click here for our complete CogAT scoring guide to learn about percentiles, age scores, and how to read your child's report.

The CogAT can feel confusing because it is organized by age levels rather than grade numbers. Each test level matches the typical age of students in a grade, not the grade itself. For example, kindergarten students (ages 5–6) usually take Level 5/6, first graders (ages 6–7) take Level 7, second graders (ages 7–8) take Level 8, and this pattern continues up through sixth grade, where students ages 11–12 take Level 12. Schools choose the CogAT level based on a child’s age at the time of testing, which is why two students in the same grade may sometimes take different levels.

Each CogAT level contains 9 subtests. The number of questions varies by age.

Here's the full breakdown:

Most districts use both CogAT Form 7 and Form 8. They're interchangeable parallel forms measuring the same abilities with equivalent structure and comparable scores.

Form 8 is newer and increasingly preferred. It introduces completely new questions with no overlap, allowing schools to retest students without repeated content. It also uses updated norms from a larger, more diverse sample and emphasizes problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.

You'll see both forms in active use depending on your district's testing contract.

Most students now take CogAT Form 8 digitally, though some districts still offer paper versions for younger grades. The test is given in either fall or spring, depending on the district. It's a multiple-choice format that takes about 90–120 minutes total to complete. 

Schools use CogAT results for gifted placement, to understand student learning profiles, and for instructional planning.