Testing Information
Cognitive Abilities Test™ (CogAT®), Form 6
For testing procedures see the Identification section.
Overview
Click on the link below for more information about the CogAT http://www.riverpub.com/products/cogAt/index.html
The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT), Form 6 for Kindergarten through Grade 12, assesses the pattern and level of students’ cognitive development. All levels of the test contain three batteries that provide separate scores for verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal reasoning abilities. A Composite score is also available. CogAT, Form 6, is based on almost 40 years of experience with CogAT, Forms 1–4, and with the Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Tests.
Over the years, research has shown that any procedure designed to assess cognitive functioning must provide opportunities for individuals to demonstrate how well they can work with verbal, quantitative, and spatial or geometrical symbols. Research on the specialization of brain functions indicates that individuals vary greatly in the way they process different symbols and in their preferences for and skill in working with these symbols.
There are large individual differences in the patterns of development of cognitive abilities. CogAT is especially useful in providing information on these individual differences.
Over the past two decades, research on cognitive ability tests has also shown that three factors interfere with an individual’s performance on many of these tests and may lead to a false picture of an individual’s cognitive development: (1) overly complex sentence structure; (2) vocabulary that is too difficult for a particular age or socioeconomic group; and (3) highly specialized content.
The items in CogAT have been designed to eliminate these sources of difficulty. Each item on the verbal tests has been reviewed for appropriateness of vocabulary level and sentence structure. All items have been reviewed to eliminate content that could be biased toward or offensive to any group of individuals. Empirical analyses were also made to eliminate items that had atypical patterns for particular cultural and social groups. Thus, an individual’s score on CogAT primarily reflects her or his ability to discover relationships and to demonstrate flexibility in thinking.
The batteries, subtests, number of items, and working time for CogAT are listed in the table below.
Table 1: Working Times for CogAT, Form 6, Levels A–H
| Subtests in Each Battery | Work Time (est.) minutes | No. of Items |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal Battery | ||
| Verbal Classification | 10 | 20 |
| Sentence Completion | 10 | 20 |
| Verbal Analogies | 10 | 25 |
| Quantitative Battery | ||
| Quantitative Relations | 8 | 25 |
| Number Series | 10 | 20 |
| Equation Building | 12 | 15 |
| Nonverbal Battery | ||
| Figure Classification | 10 | 25 |
| Figure Analogies | 10 | 25 |
| Figure Analysis | 10 | 15 |
| TOTAL | 90 | 190 |
Click on the link below for more information about the CogAT
