How to Prepare for the CogAT

Is your child taking the CogAT? Get study tips and learn how you can ensure that your child is feeling ready to go on test day.

CogAT Practice Test

What is the CogAT?

The Cognitive Abilities Test, or CogAT, is a multiple choice standardized test often used to assess students for gifted and talented programs. The test assesses students’ reasoning skills through verbal, nonverbal, and quantitative questions. The CogAT was developed in the 1950s and has since gone through many updates. The current version is the CogAT Form 8.

The CogAT is made up of three sections, called batteries: the Verbal Battery, the Nonverbal Battery, and the Quantitative Battery. Each battery has three unique question types, adding up to a total of nine question types found on the CogAT. Most students taking the CogAT, especially younger ones, will not have encountered questions like these before.

Learn More About the CogAT

Why It’s Important to Prepare for the CogAT

Riverside Insights, the publishers of the widely used CogAT, states:

“Research shows that young children sometimes do not fully understand what they are supposed to do on tests, especially when tasks are unfamiliar and test directions are brief.”

The CogAT is a lengthy and unique test that can have a major effect on your child’s academic career. Its unique format and question types can make it particularly difficult, especially for young children. The CogAT may be your child’s first journey into the unfamiliar and overwhelming world of standardized testing, and without any preparation, that can be a very scary experience. Even if they don’t absorb any new information or learn any new strategies – simply familiarizing them with what the test looks like will make a significant difference in how they feel when they’re sitting there with the real test in front of them.

Taking it to the next level by taking full-length practice tests and learning strategies for tackling each unique question type will then give them a leg up on the competition. Preparing for the CogAT and familiarizing your child with the specific question types can go a long way toward helping them succeed on test day, and ultimately earn a spot in a gifted program.

How to Prepare for the CogAT

General Test Preparation Tips

  • Create a Schedule. Whether you’re starting to prepare months or days in advance, it’s best to have a schedule. Try to put aside time every day to sit and study with your child. To make the most of the study time, we recommend short study sessions. This way, your child won’t be cramming, or be forced to understand a lot of material in a short span of time.

  • Minimize Stress. Standardized tests can be very stressful for young children. Provide encouragement and positive feedback, and when discussing the test with them, don’t add pressure by telling them that they need to do well. Instead, encourage them to do well by telling them it’s an opportunity to show their teachers how smart they are.

  • Make it Fun. In order to encourage your child to continue studying and preparing, turn the material into a game. Give the study time a fun name, such as “Picture Challenges” or “Shape Games” to keep things positive. Many standardized tests for children have unique, picture-based formats, which works well for treating the preparation like a game.

  • Rest. Be sure that your child gets a good night’s sleep the night before the test so that they come in on test day calm, focused, and well-rested.

CogAT Preparation Tips

  • Review Test-Taking Basics. Most children, particularly the youngest students taking the test, won’t be familiar with how a multiple choice question works. Explain to your child how only one answer needs to be selected for each question. Go over the importance of looking at all the options, and not just choosing the first answer choice they see. The CogAT doesn’t penalize guessing, so make sure your child knows to guess even if they don’t know the right answer.

  • Become Familiar with Question Types. The CogAT has nine unique question types, many of which will be unlike anything your child has seen before. Put time aside to focus on each one to ensure your child understands exactly what questions are asking.

  • Learn Concepts & Patterns. Once your child knows each of the question types, the next step is to learn common concepts and patterns that appear in each one. From here, you can focus on learning strategies for approaching them.

  • Simulate a Realistic Test Experience. Finally, once your child is familiar with the basics of the test and its question types, have them take a full-length test under realistic test conditions. The CogAT is a marathon of a test that requires endurance and focus, and its time constraints require students to work quickly and efficiently. By experiencing a timed, full-length test that mimics the CogAT’s testing environment, your child will be in a familiar place when they encounter the real test.

In addition to lessons, quizzes, and a realistic full-length test, our full CogAT courses include a Parent Guide with more study tips to help you ensure your child is ready for test day.

How Should My Child Prepare for the CogAT?

Every child is different, so there is no one-size-fits-all approach to preparing for the CogAT. Elm Academy offers a few options for test preparation.

CogAT Online Courses

Our online courses are designed to be an affordable, comprehensive resource that can get your child up to speed weeks or even days before the test. We have two versions of our CogAT courses: our Last Minute CogAT Courses, which offer a full-length practice test for those who are short on time, and our Full CogAT CogAT Courses, which include a full-length practice test test, nine detailed lessons, nine quizzes, and a study guide. The quizzes and full-length test add up to over 200 total practice questions, each with a detailed explanation. Elm Academy’s courses offer the structure and detail to help your child prepare for the CogAT and perform to the best of their abilities. Our courses are entirely online, and can be accessed immediately upon purchase via desktop, tablet, or smartphone.

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CogAT Tutoring

If you are looking to prepare over a long time period and would like a more intensive practice experience, then going with tutoring may be the right option for you. We’ve partnered with Tannenbaum Tutors to offer personalized, comprehensive CogAT tutoring to students across the country. Contact us to get a free 20 minute consultation today.

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Jon Tannenbaum Tutors
Daniela B
Daniela B
Great experience! My son who is 10 y.o. and gifted in math, enjoyed practicing all tests (verbal, quantitative, and non verbal). He had fun going through the lessons and quizzes (especially the long quizzes at the end of each category) over one weekend prior to taking the real CogAT tests at his school the very next week. He was well prepared and very excited to take the real tests. He was the only one who actually finished the real CogAT nonverbal test (the hardest, in my opinion) in his testing group at school. I loved how the lessons were structured and easy to follow. I highly recommend this program. Being prepared makes a big difference even for highly gifted children as my son.
Elizabeth Gleinser
Elizabeth Gleinser
As a tutor, I have used this course as a resource to prepare students. I would highly recommend, one of the best resources I’ve seen for this type of test. The curriculum is well-designed, clear strategies and a good amount of practice problems. I would recommend this to other tutors to supplement resources as well as to parents working with their children.
Nathaniel
I have used several books and online courses to prepare my child for the CogAT and this one is hands down the best. The lessons included on how to answer the questions are very thoughtful and helpful. I would recommend this course to any parent looking to prepare their child for the CogAT.
Jacob B
Jacob B
This course was very helpful for my son. Lots of practice questions. I liked that there were quizzes for all the question styles.
Natalie Mudoka
Natalie Mudoka
The best course out there for OLSAT. It has the correct amount of difficulty to challenge a child’s thought process and diverse questions to hone different reasoning skills. I had 8 days to prepare my child for GATE testing and this last minute prep was more than sufficient to get her to the finish line. I highly recommend it for all children irrespective of whether they are testing for a GATE program or not.
Matthew Bribitzer-Stull
Matthew Bribitzer-Stull
My daughter did this two days before taking the test. She was much more comfortable in the testing environment, knowing what kinds of questions to expect and scored in the 97th percentile overall. I would recommend this product to other parents hoping to prepare their kids for the CogAT.
Rachel Costello
Rachel Costello
This course was great preparation for my son, who ended up doing extremely well on his exam. I appreciate that he was able to understand what to expect before the test and I believe the practice helped build his confidence. We were able to identify potential trouble spots for him and work through them together at home in a low-stress environment. We liked the fact that we could access the lessons and quizzes at our leisure and that we could repeat sections as needed. My son enjoyed the course and was excited to receive his score after each quiz. According to him, he was very glad he was able to use this course and thought that the practice lessons and quizzes were very representative of the exam he was given at school. Thank you for providing this resource! Highly recommend!
Manahil Mohamed
Manahil Mohamed
All the questions were similar, and the exercises made my son feel safe and gave us experience in how to solve the exam. I thank this academy for the service.
Lilliana Cruz
Lilliana Cruz
Highly recommend. Since CogAT is now proctored in computer, online practice tests are the way to go. The explanations for the incorrect answers and the lessons were very helpful and straight to the point. Very good value and effective.

We hope you found this article helpful. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments. 

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