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Many parents with children taking the CogAT get very concerned about the details of the test and the precise test their child will take. It's not that important as we explain further in our section with
Sample Questions.
There are different versions and different levels of the CogAT in use. "Form" refers to the version or edition. The most recently released version is Form 7 which became available in 2011. Some schools are still using Form 6 and there are probably still a few using Form 5 (schools purchase test question booklets which are reused each year so updating to a newer version would require significant monetary outlay).
Different levels of the CogAT are given depending on the age and/or grade of the children being tested. One big change between the CogAT Form 6 and Form 7 was the
identification of levels. In Form 6 children took the Primary K, 1 or 2
or the Multi-Level 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9, 10, 11 or 12. In Form 7 levels
have been standardized to correspond to the most likely age of the child
taking the test hence we have CogAT Form 7 levels 5-17.
There are also Spring and Fall versions of the test. Children tested later in the school year are expected to be able to tackle more difficult questions than those tested early in the school year so the Fall version of the test is a little more difficult. At whatever time of year your child is tested percentile rankings are what is important rather than raw scores.
Test scores can be normed based on age or grade. Norms can also be reported standardized against nationwide scores or against scores in your child's area. Different ways of reporting scores mean that percentile rankings may change from year to year even if your child's actual performance doesn't.
The table below shows Riverside Publishing's recommendation as to which level of the CogAT test to use for testing at each grade level.
The CogAT Form 6 and Form 7 both test three cognitive areas:
- Verbal Battery
- Non-Verbal Battery
- Quantitative Battery
Each section has three sub-tests. The sub-tests are timed separately i.e. the test is broken up into nine separate components.
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The Cognitive Abilities Test™ (CogAT®) is published by Riverside Publishing (a Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company). CogAT® and Cognitive Abilities Test™ are registered trademarks of Riverside Publishing. Riverside Publishing does not endorse any of the information provided here.
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