I85PREP
⌘ K
CogAT study materials
CogAT study resources

CogAT: Verbal Reasoning: Analogies, Sentence Completion, and Classification

CogAT · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Verbal Reasoning: Analogies, Sentence Completion, and Classification

The Verbal Reasoning battery measures how well you think with words, not how many words you happen to know. On CogAT Form 7/8 it contains three subtests: Picture or Verbal Analogies, Sentence Completion, and Picture or Verbal Classification. Levels K–2 use pictures and read-aloud directions; from grade 3 the items are text-based. The battery asks you to detect relationships, categories, and logical fit - the same operations you use in reading comprehension and in learning new vocabulary from context.

The three item types

  • Analogy: A is to B as C is to ___. Name the link in a short phrase before you look at the choices.
  • Sentence Completion: one or two blanks; the correct option must fit both the meaning and the grammar of the whole sentence.
  • Classification: three words or pictures share a hidden rule; pick the fourth that shares it.

Rules that decide the answer

  • State the bridge precisely: "is the young of", "is a tool used by", "is the opposite of". Vague bridges such as "is related to" let distractors in.
  • Keep the direction: the A→B link must appear in the same order in C→D.
  • In classification, every one of the three given items must satisfy the rule, and only one option may. Test each option against the rule rather than against the other options.
  • In sentence completion, predict a word first, then check tense, number, and part of speech against the sentence.

Worked example

PENCIL : CARPENTER :: SCALPEL : ___ Bridge: a pencil is a marking tool used by a carpenter. Apply it in the same direction: a scalpel is a cutting tool used by a ___. The answer is SURGEON. Options such as "cut", "steel", or "sharp" fail because they describe the object or an action, not the person who wields it.

Traps

  • The association trap: choosing "wood" in the pencil item because it is linked to pencils, not to the relationship.
  • The reversal trap: picking a pair that is true only if you read it backwards.
  • Category too broad: in classification all four options may be "animals", but the given three share a narrower property, such as being mammals that live in water.
  • Double blanks where one word fits and the other does not - check both.
  • Secondary meanings: bank, charge, spring, table.