What is the Meaning of Different CogAT Scores?

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CoGAT or Cognitive Ability Test is a specially designed test for children. Children’s education needs special attention with a focus on individualized pace and learning. Schools often fail to provide it because of our traditional teaching methodologies.

CoGAT helps in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of children. It helps parents and educators look at the little minds from a different angle and better understand their clarity of grade level lessons.

Children often fail to communicate their issues because creating space for oneself and speaking up is something humans learn much later. This increases the importance of tests like CogAT.

CogAT Grades and Levels

CogAT can be taken by school-age kids according to their grade. The test has various levels and each level has been specially designed according to the age of the children taking the exam. The CogAT levels help parents understand how their children are progressing. Depending on how well they perform in the test, the future course of action can be determined.

CoGAT also helps children get placed in gifted programs. This can be very good for their academic career. In these gifted programs, they can be around other students who have the same progress and interests. Together they can build and learn more.

So, you can imagine how important the CoGAT exam can be, right? It is the best way to understand where your child stands. It is not a way to understand who is behind or ahead. It is just a comparison of their progress, how are they doing this year compared to last.

Depending on that, both parents and teachers can plan for the future. No matter which level they are in, it is never too early or late to take CoGAT.

CogAT is an in-depth analysis of three broad areas – verbal, nonverbal, and quantitative. This covers the majority of what institutional education expects out of children of a certain age.

Children who take CoGAT understand themselves better. The scores are definitely a big boost for them. Everybody has weaknesses, but making them aware of that, helps them know which areas to work on exactly.

Types of CogAT Scores

But do you know anything about the scoring pattern of CoGAT? What do different scores mean? As already mentioned, CoGAT is divided into three ‘batteries’ – verbal, nonverbal, and quantitative. To score well, students have to score well in every battery.

These sections are further divided into sub-sections. Like the quantitative is divided into number series, number analogies, etc. The verbal is divided into sentence formation, picture comprehension, etc., and the non-verbal is paper folding, figure classification, etc.

Now, the total marks that this test carries is 160. But various methods are used to mark students in a CoGAT exam. So what are the different scoring methods?

The total score is the Standard Age Score. It carries the full marks on which the child is graded. This is the most important score, as all other scores are calculated based on this.

Next comes the Percentile Rank. By now, we know that CoGAT is an age-based exam. That is why it also calculates the position of the specific child with respect to other children of the same age. This gives a good idea of how fair the paper was and how others have done in it.

Next comes Stanine. These are unit points from 0-9 shown in a small range to assess a child’s performance. Even this is measured with respect to the current age and grade of a child. Naturally, 9 denotes a very high performance. And the lower it gets, the performance level of the child decreases.

CoGAT helps parents and teachers get a good idea of their children’s academic progress. With proper practice, ace the CogAT and find a place in the most coveted gifted programs at their school.

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