CogAT Question Types Explained

The CogAT Test is used to assess a student's academic abilities. It is used to assess a student's reasoning skills that developed during the course of his/her education, and not to assess intelligence. This assessment may cover areas that may not have been taught. Such cognitive skills are not particular to one area, rather they are skills that are utilized within the scope of a student's academic experiences. Additionally, the CogAT is used to evaluate a student's school-related skills, such as following directions, focusing, and listening.

The CogAT is made up three sections (or batteries):

• Verbal
• Quantitative
• Nonverbal

These batteries are further broken down into sub-tests, as you can see in the table below.

*Primary levels (5/6-8) contain Picture Analogies and Picture Classification. Higher levels contain Verbal Analogies and Verbal Classification.

CogAT Verbal

The CogAT Verbal Battery is made up of three tests:

• Sentence Completion
• Picture/Verbal Classification
• Picture/Verbal Analogies

For the primary levels, both the Picture Analogies and the Picture Classification items are picture-based. This assesses students’ verbal abilities without actually requiring students to use language skills. In Sentence Completion section, the teacher (or instructor) reads a sentence, with a word missing, aloud and then the students select an image which most suitably completes the sentence.

In the higher levels (9 and up), students are required to read individual words in the Verbal Analogies and the Verbal Classification sections, and sentences in the Sentence Completion section.

CogAT Quantitative

The CogAT Quantitative Battery is made up of three subtests:

• Number Analogies
• Number Puzzles
• Number Series

Number Analogies require students to determine which of the answer choice is analogous to the numbers (pictures for primary levels) in the question. In the Number Puzzles section students are required to solve simple equations by selecting the answer choice that makes the amounts on either side of the equal sign the same. Lastly, the questions in the Number Series section require students to determine the next number in a series based on the pattern present.

CogAT Nonverbal

The CogAT Nonverbal Battery is made up of three tests:

• Figure Matrices
• Paper Folding
• Figure Classification

The types of questions on sub-tests of the Nonverbal Battery are similar at all the levels. In the Figure Matrices section, three figures are presented as an analogy which the student must complete. Paper Folding questions require the student to figure out how a hole-punched, folded paper will appear when it is unfolded. The questions in the Figure Classification section present three figures and the student is to select the answer choice that is supposed to be the fourth figure of the set.

In order to succeed the day of the test, it is important that your child understands the level of the questions in the test, what to expect, and what kind of reasoning they are required to have. You can achieve this by using our practice pack, learning different strategies from any of our detailed explanations, and reading up on our study guides to reinforce some areas before the test.

Our practice pack also features a parent guide that includes all the relevant details of the test, as well as a strategy on how your child should use our pack. In addition to this, there are challenging questions for students that think the level is not demanding enough and would like to try a higher difficulty. Solving these is not mandatory to succeed on the test, but it serves as good extra practice.

Make sure to check also the CogAT Screening Form, a new exam comprised of the first sub-test of each battery of the original CogAT. This new, shorter form of the test is also used by different schools. 

Remember that you can take our tests multiple times and track your improvement using our scoring system. We recommend you try to solve every question first and then read the explanation to understand what the reasoning behind solving each question should be. After that, you can try to solve the more challenging questions if you would like your child to get a taste of a higher difficulty.

The CogAT has a varying number of questions depending on the level. Read the table below for further information:

Click here for free CogAT sample questions (for 3rd and 4th grade).