CogAT Verbal study guide
CogAT Verbal · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test) is a K–12 cognitive abilities assessment published by Riverside Insights. According to the publisher, CogAT "is the only assessment that measures verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal reasoning to reveal a complete picture of student potential that can better accelerate growth." It is used by schools for gifted and talented identification, fair and equitable placement, understanding multilingual learners' potential, and informing strengths-based differentiated instruction. This page supports the Verbal Reasoning domain, which focuses on verbal classification, analogy, and sentence-completion style reasoning - the kind of item type that rewards vocabulary depth, category awareness, and precise relational thinking rather than memorized facts. Verbal Reasoning is one of three equally weighted domains alongside Quantitative and Nonverbal Reasoning, so strong verbal performance alone will not carry a full battery score, and weak verbal performance can drag down an otherwise strong profile. Topics on this exam: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Nonverbal Reasoning. The CogAT Verbal study guide has 3 sections and about 1,219 words.
01Verbal Reasoning
The Verbal Reasoning battery of the CogAT tests how well you detect relationships among words and ideas. At upper levels the three subtests are Verbal Analogies, Sentence Completion, and Verbal Classification; at primary levels the same reasoning is presented through pictures. The items assume ordinary school vocabulary, so the score usually turns on the precision of the relationship you identify, not on rare definitions. Analogy (A : B :: C : ?).
404 words, about 2 min02Quantitative Reasoning
The Quantitative Reasoning battery tests pattern-finding with numbers, not calculation speed. Upper-level subtests are Number Analogies, Number Puzzles, and Number Series; primary levels use pictured objects and simpler quantities. You must infer the rule that generates a set of numbers and apply it consistently. Number analogy (A : B :: C : ?).
380 words, about 2 min03Nonverbal Reasoning
The Nonverbal Reasoning battery assesses reasoning with shapes and figures rather than words or numbers. The upper-level subtests are Figure Matrices, Figure Classification, and Paper Folding; primary levels use picture analogies and classifications. Because the content is visual, the exam is testing whether you can isolate a transformation or shared attribute and apply it precisely. Compare figures across rows and down columns.
435 words, about 2 min