CogAT® scores, explained for parents.

What is on a CogAT® score report

1. Three battery scores: Verbal, Quantitative, and Nonverbal.
2. A composite: a combined score, often written VQN. Reports can also show partial composites that combine two batteries, such as QN for Quantitative and Nonverbal.
3. For each one: a Standard Age Score, an age percentile and stanine, and often a grade percentile and stanine.
4. An ability profile: a short code that sums up the overall level and the pattern across the three batteries.

Sample question

Try a CogAT® practice question

Choose the number that makes the equation true.

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ABCD

A real GateBuddy practice question.

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Standard Age Score (SAS)

The SAS compares your child with children of the same age. According to the publisher, Riverside Insights, it has an average of 100 and a standard deviation of 16. In plain terms, about two thirds of children score between 84 and 116. Riverside describes an SAS of 125 as faster, more advanced development than is typical for the age.

Percentile rank

A percentile rank is the percent of children in the comparison group who scored at or below your child. A percentile of 50 is average, and a percentile of 95 means your child scored as well as or better than 95 out of 100 children in the group.

Reports often show two percentiles that are not the same number:

1. Age percentile: compared with children the same age.
2. Grade percentile: compared with children in the same grade.

A child who is young for the grade can have a higher age percentile than grade percentile. Check which one your district uses.

Stanine

A stanine is a broad band from 1 to 9. Stanines 4 to 6 are the middle of the range, 7 and 8 are above average, and 9 is the top band. Because the bands are wide, two children in the same stanine can have noticeably different percentiles.

The ability profile, decoded

An ability profile looks like 8B (V+) or 5C (V+ N−). It has three parts:

1. The number is the middle (median) of your child’s three age stanines. It shows the overall level.
2. The letter shows the pattern across the batteries.
3. The marks in parentheses name a battery (V, Q, or N) with a plus for a relative strength or a minus for a relative weakness.

For example, 8B (V+) means the middle stanine is 8 and Verbal is a relative strength. 5C (V+ N−) means a middle stanine of 5, with Verbal a relative strength and Nonverbal a relative weakness. A strength or weakness here is relative to your child’s own other scores, not to other children.

What about the screening form?

If your district gave the shorter CogAT® Screening Form, the report shows a composite score only, with no battery scores and no ability profile. Battery scores come only after the rest of the test, the Post-Screener. Our guide to the CogAT® screener and full test explains the difference.

How districts use CogAT® scores

There is no single national CogAT® score for gifted programs. Each district sets its own rule. Some use the composite, some accept a high score on any one battery, and many combine the CogAT® with grades, achievement tests, or teacher input. The rule for your child is the one in your district’s current documents. Our guide to what score qualifies for GATE covers how those rules work, and each CogAT® district guide lists the published rule where the district shares one.

Questions to ask when results arrive

1. Which score does the district use: the composite, a battery, or a partial composite?
2. Which comparison does it use: age or grade?
3. What score or percentile qualifies this year?
4. What other measures count, and how much?
5. When is the next chance to test, and what is the deadline to ask?