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Mastering the CogAT Quantitative Battery: Guide & Sample Questions

The CogAT test is given to students to measure their cognitive abilities.

The results compare your child with its peers by age and by grade. The test itself is divided into three batteries, each aiming to measure different aspects of their cognitive capabilities.

The Quantitative battery of the CogAT test can be a little more complex and harder for students to grasp. Therefore, we created this article to tell you everything about the CogAT Quantitative battery. We will also provide you with some sample questions and offer you some of the best practice materials out there.

Take the CogAT Quantitative Battery Practice Test to improve your score.

Read on and help your child ace the CogAT test.

What is the CogAT Test?

The Cognitive Abilities Test, also known as CogAT, is a multiple-choice test given to preschoolers and schoolchildren. The CogAT is an evaluation tool designed to gauge children’s cognitive development as they progress through school.

The CogAT test will not measure the amount of information that your student learned through the school year. The point of the CogAT test is to measure the abilities that your child has to logically think, process, and manipulate information i.e. their ability for concrete and abstract thinking.

Studying and preparing for a cognitive test like the CogAT is more complex than simply memorizing facts or equations, but with some professionally conducted practice, it is achievable. Turn to our last section of the article, where we point you towards the most experienced and professional online platform dedicated to test preparation and practice materials.

What is the Format of the CogAT?

It has 14 different complexity levels (based on age and grade) and an extensive score report.

The CogAT test is divided into three distinct batteries:

  • A verbal battery
  • A non-verbal battery
  • A quantitative battery

Each battery is a distinct component of the exam that includes three different categories of questions that measure a different set of cognitive skills. Our next section will get into more details about each of the batteries, while the rest of the article will get in-depth about the Quantitative Battery.

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What Does the CogAT Test Measure?

Teacher Teaching Students in the Classroom

  • The CogAT test utilizes a set of three batteries – verbal, nonverbal, and quantitative. Their questions assess reasoning (cognitive) abilities.
  • The Verbal battery – this will measure the ability of a kid to recall, comprehend, use, and alter English words and sentences.
  • The Non-verbal test – this measures the child’s capacity for reasoning without the use of language by having them comprehend, perceive, and alter pictures and geometric forms.

The Quantitative battery – this is dedicated to the measurement of a child’s understanding and application of quantitative concepts (such as weight, amount, size, and time) and their relationships.

Each of the three batteries is further divided into three sub-categories.

  • Analogy questions – these will ask your child to see and understand an example. From there, by using the same logic as in the example, the child needs to answer a question.
  • Classification questions – these will require your kid to understand how a set of objects (or words) are connected and to define which of the answers given also belongs to that classification.
  • Completion questions – these will measure the child’s ability to understand the sentence (or the number series) and fill the missing word or the following number in the series.

The CogAT test is given to students to follow their development as they move through grades and to compare their performance to the performance of their peers (age and grade wise.)

In some situations, the CogAT test is given to identify gifted children that are suitable for acceleration programs. Other times, the CogAT test can simply be given to assess if all students have at least typical (average) development and are ready to follow, understand, and learn the grade curriculum for the following school year.

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What Is the Quantitative Battery of the CogAT Test?

The Quantitative battery is one aspect of the CogAT test that measures the student’s ability to understand and work with quantitative concepts and relations between numbers and mathematical operations.

The quantitative battery evaluates kids’ aptitude for problem-solving and quantitative thinking. Additionally, the student’s capacity for abstract thought is assessed in this area.

The quantitative battery will give mathematical problems that your child needs to answer. But, aside from knowing mathematical operations, your child will need to show their ability to identify and resolve numerical series, solve puzzles, and find the logic behind certain concepts.

The three subtests of the CogAT Quantitative Battery are:

  • Number Series
  • Number Puzzles
  • Number Analogies

The total score on the CogAT Quantitative Battery is determined by these three subtests.

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What Type of Questions are There on the CogAT Quantitative Battery?

The Quantitative battery of the CogAT test contains three sub-categories – Number Series, Number Puzzles, and Number Analogies. We will provide more details about each of them in the next section. For now, we will explain the number and type of questions, their format, and their complexity.

Levels of CogAT test

As we previously mentioned, the CogAT test has 14 different levels, starting from Kindergarten and up to 12th grade. As a child progresses with their grade, the number of questions on the CogAT test goes up, while the time frame for completion goes down. In the graph below, you can see what CogAT level is taken in which school year.

CogAT Test Grades

Questions on the Quantitative CogAT test

The questions in the CogAT tests are mostly done visually, with only short instructions. This is especially true for the Non-Verbal and the Quantitative batteries.

Questions for grades K–2 (Levels 5/6–8) are fully picture-based and feature solely graphics and numbers. Questions follow a more conventional numerical style for grades three and up (Levels 9-17/18).

How Many Questions are on the Quantitative battery of the CogAT Test?

The Quantitative battery of the CogAT test contains around 38 questions.

  • Around 14 questions for the Number Series sub-category.
  • Around 10 questions for the Number Puzzles sub-category.
  • Around 14 questions for the Number Analogies sub-category.

How Long Does the Quantitative Battery of the CogAT Test Take?

Depending on how long the proctor needs to administer the exam, the administration period may change. Typically, students are given between 20 and 45 minutes for every battery, the quantitative included.

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CogAT Quantitative Battery Sample Questions

As mentioned, the CogAT Quantitative battery has three sub-categories.

Each of them measures the kid’s ability for numerical reasoning and manipulation of quantitative concepts, but it does through a different aspect.

The sections below will explain each of the categories in the Quantitative battery and will provide you with sample questions.

Number Series

The Number Series will measure your kid’s ability to determine a numerical pattern and continue the sequence.

For students from Kindergarten up to 2nd grade (CogAT Levels 5 to 8), the Number series questions from the Quantitative battery will be presented with an abacus toy with beads. There will be a series of beads on the abacus, and it will be the student’s job to determine the existing series and based on it, to fill the next number needed to keep the pattern going.

For older students, from 3rd grade up (CogAT Levels 9 and up), the questions will come in the form of a series of numbers. Students should, by finding the pattern of the series, provide an answer with the next number in line.

Cogat Assessment

Source: TestPrep-Online CogAT Sample Test- 1st Grade (Level 7)

Numbers

Source: TestPrep-Online – 3rd Grade (Level 9) CogAT Quantitative Battery

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Number Puzzles

The Number Series will measure your kid’s ability to solve math problems by using logic or simple equations.

For kids in Kindergarten to 2nd grade (CogAT Levels 5 to 8), the questions will be presented in the form of pictures with two trains. The point of the puzzle is to level the number of objects that the second train contains compared to the first one.

For kids in 3rd grade and up (CogAT Levels 9 and up), the questions will have a more traditional equation structure with numerals.

Puzzle

Source: TestPrep-Online CogAT Sample Test- 1st Grade (Level 7)

Numbers

Source: TestPrep-Online – 4th Grade (Level 10) CogAT Quantitative Battery

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Number Analogies

The number analogies part of the Cogat Quantitative battery will measure the student’s ability to find analogy and logic in the sample pair provided. From there, he or she needs to implement the same analogy/logic to answer and find the appropriate pair for the second set of pictures or numbers.

For students in Kindergarten to 2nd grade (CogAT Levels 5 to 8), there will be a 2×2 matrix provided with three pictures and one plain cell. The first two pictures are a pair that have some sort of analogy between them. Using the conclusion of what makes those two pictures a pair, the kid needs to find the appropriate pair for the third picture.

For students in 3rd grade and up (CogAT Levels 9 and up), the questions will provide a matrix in the form of numerical series. For better understanding, look at our sample pictures for the Number Analogies part of the battery.

Puzzle

Source: TestPrep-Online – 2nd Grade (Level 8) CogAT Quantitative Battery

Numbers

Source: TestPrep-Online CogAT Sample Test- 4th Grade (Level 10)

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CogAT Quantitative Battery Practice

To get ready for the entire test, try the CogAT practice bundle at TestPrep-Online. They provide extensive, updated practice materials for all kinds of tests, the CogAT included.

Your child can greatly benefit from practicing the CogAT test.

He or she will feel more at ease on the day of the test because they have seen examples of the many question types. Additionally, your child can gain knowledge from their selection of questions, thorough study materials, and in-depth explanations.

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What Does TestPrep-Online Offer?

TestPrep-Online offers you their extensive library and CogAT bundles starting with Levels 5/6 and up to Level 12.

They offer

  • Close to 300 questions from all three of the CogAT batteries
  • 2 full-length CogAT practice tests
  • Audio instructions
  • Study Guides with solving tips
  • Thorough explanations of the right answers
  • Accurate score reports to monitor progress

For older students, TestPrep-Online has a set of more complex practice materials that can be used as practice materials for different kinds of testing.

Conclusion

The CogAT test is used to measure the students’ ability for logical thinking and their overall cognitive capabilities. The test itself contains three batteries – verbal, non-verbal, and quantitative. Each of them measures a different aspect of cognitive skills.

This article thoroughly explained the Quantitative battery of the CogAT test, which in its base form is a battery aiming to measure the student’s abilities for solving math problems and manipulating quantitative concepts.

We explained each of the three sub-categories that make up the Quantitative battery and we also provided you with some sample questions to help you get a better idea of what your children will need to know.

Finally, we also recommended the TestPrep-Online platform as a helping hand for your child to practice and gain self-confidence before taking the CogAT test itself.

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​​Written by Victoria Todorovska

Victoria (or Viki) is a Freelance Writer, Psychologist, and Gestalt Therapy Consultant. With years of experience in higher education as well as counselling others, she is well-placed to offer expert advice on guiding others up the career ladder.