CogAT Scores Explained - Understanding Verbal, Quantitative, Nonverbal Scores

Oct 5, 2026

CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test) is a norm-based assessment that measures students’ reasoning and problem-solving aptitude using verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal symbols. The test evaluates cognitive development patterns for students in grades K-12 and highlights how flexibility in thinking and discovering relationships relates to performance. Verbal scores reflect word meaning relationships, quantitative scores assess number comprehension and equation-based problem solving, and nonverbal scores indicate spatial reasoning with geometric figures, with guidance on interpreting percentile rank and stanine.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

CogAT Overview

Verbal Score

Quantitative Score

Nonverbal Score

Percentile Rank and Stanine

Interpreting Score Differences

Instructional Use of CogAT

CogAT Scores Explained Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT), is a norm-based test assessing the student's aptitude in reasoning and problem solving by using verbal (word), quantitative (number), and nonverbal (picture figure-spatial relationship) symbols. These abilities are important to learning and are, in part, developed skills, though innate ability does play a role. The test appraises the level and pattern of cognitive development of students in grades K-12. The development of these abilities, which starts at birth and continues through early adulthood, is influenced by experiences both in and out of school. An individual's score on the CogAT primarily reflects his or her ability to discover relationships and to demonstrate flexibility in thinking at this stage in their cognitive development. Verbal Score The verbal score reveals the student's ability to perceive the meaning of and relationships between words and word combinations. Since the evaluation of verbal reasoning depends on effective reading, the reasoning ability of poor readers may not be fully revealed. Students are tested in this area by performing sentence completion, solving verbal analogies, and figuring out the relationships between the meanings of words. Quantitative Score The quantitative score reveals the student's ability to comprehend and employ numbers that permit him/her to understand relationships, computational rules, and problem-solving techniques. This ability is tested through asking the student to build and solve equations, recognize number series, and demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between numbers and their values. Nonverbal Score The nonverbal score indicates the student's ability to spatially manipulate and reason with geometric patterns and figures. Since a school setting involves mostly verbal communication, this score is not always an accurate indicator of academic success, but it does give a good indication of reasoning ability in poor readers. Students who score well in this area learn best through visuals--pictures, objects, models--simulations, and hands-on activities. Nonverbal abilities are determined from a student's ability to solve figure analogies, classify designs, and exercise skill in recognizing figures in dimension. A Percentile Rank is a score ranging from 1-99 that indicates what percentage of agemates a child outperformed on a particular sub-test. A student scoring at the 40th percentile means they have scored better than 40% of students of the same age who initially took the test nationwide. Stanine scores range from a low of 1 to a high of 9. Stanines are groupings of percentile ranks. A higher stanine equates with a higher level of cognitive abilities development. A comparison of Stanines and percentile Ranks are summarized in the table below: | Stanine | Percentile Rank | Description | % of Cases | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 9 | 96-99 | Higher | 4% | | 8 | 89-95 | Above Average | 7% | | 7 | 77-88 | Above Average | 12% | | 6 | 60-76 | Average | 17% | | 5 | 40-59 | Average | 20% | |
43 |
23-39 11-22 |
Average Below Average |
17%
12% | | 2 | 4-10 | Below Average | 7% | | 1 | 1-3 | Lower | 4% | Differences in percentile scores can lead to over interpretation of small differences in scores between individual students or among scores for the same student. For example, there will be no observable differences in the classroom between a student who has a Percentile Rank of 45 and one with a Percentile Rank of 55. They would both exhibit average levels of development in a particular area. On the other hand, you would see observable differences in the classroom for students with more than one stanine difference in their scores. Three different students with Stanines of 9, 6, and 4 will show clear differences in the ways they approach learning and problem solving tasks, in the ways they interact with different instructional strategies and

FAQs

What does the CogAT measure and how are results interpreted?

CogAT measures reasoning and problem-solving aptitude through verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal symbols. Results are interpreted using patterns of cognitive development reflected in percentile ranks and stanine groupings.

What abilities are reflected in the Verbal, Quantitative, and Nonverbal scores?

Verbal scores reflect understanding of word meanings and relationships. Quantitative scores reflect comprehension and use of numbers, computational rules, and problem-solving techniques. Nonverbal scores reflect spatial manipulation and reasoning with geometric patterns and figures.

How do percentile ranks and stanine scores differ?

Percentile rank ranges from 1 to 99 and indicates the percentage of same-age peers outperformed on a sub-test. Stanine scores range from 1 to 9 and group percentile ranks; higher stanines correspond to higher cognitive abilities development.

Oct 5, 2026

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