Cognitive Abilities Test · reading the score report
CogAT scores explained for parents
A CogAT report usually shows a Standard Age Score (SAS, mean 100, standard deviation 16), age and grade percentile ranks (1–99), stanines (1–9) and, for the full battery, an Ability Profile. Each is given for the Verbal, Quantitative and Nonverbal batteries and composites. Districts set their own cut-offs.
Which scores are on a CogAT report?
Riverside Insights, the CogAT publisher, reports several kinds of score for each battery (Verbal, Quantitative, Nonverbal) and for composites of two or all three batteries. The brochure calls these individual domain scores, partial composites and complete test composites. This table lists the types and the scale each one uses, in Riverside’s own terms.
| Score | Scale | Compared with | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw score | Number of correct answers | Nothing (not normed) | How many questions were answered correctly; only meaningful together with the test level. |
| Universal Scale Score (USS) | Continuous developmental scale, K–12 | Used to enter the age and grade norms tables | Growth in cognitive development across levels and years. |
| Standard Age Score (SAS) | Normalized; mean 100, standard deviation 16 | Children of the same age | The rate and level of reasoning development compared with age peers. |
| Percentile rank (PR) | 1–99; 50 is average | Same age group, and same grade group | The percentage of children in the group who scored at or below your child. |
| Stanine (S) | 1–9, nine broad bands | Same age group, and same grade group | A coarse version of the percentile rank that is easier to compare across batteries. |
| Ability Profile | A short code summarizing level and pattern | Complete Battery only | Overall reasoning level plus relative strengths and weaknesses across the three batteries. |
Sources: Riverside Insights online help, Types of Scores; Riverside Insights CogAT overview brochure. Riverside notes that age norms are age-specific in years and months, and that local norms are also available to districts.
What does the Standard Age Score mean?
The SAS is the score most parents are shown first. Riverside defines it as a normalized standard score with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 16. Because the scale is normalized, simple arithmetic tells you where a score sits: 116 is one standard deviation above the average for the child’s age, and 84 is one standard deviation below it. The SAS is computed separately for each battery and for the composites, so a child can have a Verbal SAS well below their Nonverbal SAS.
The SAS compares a child with others born at about the same time, not with their classmates. A young child in a grade can therefore have a higher age score than grade score, or the other way around for an older child. That is why Riverside reports percentile ranks and stanines for both age and grade groups.
How should parents read percentile ranks and stanines?
A percentile rank is a position, not a percentage of questions answered correctly. A PR of 50 means your child scored at or above half of the children in the comparison group. Percentile ranks bunch together in the middle and spread out at the ends, so the difference between the 50th and 60th percentile is a small difference in reasoning, while the difference between the 95th and 99th is a large one.
Stanines divide the same distribution into nine bands. Because each band is broad, small differences disappear, which makes stanines easy to scan when you compare the three batteries side by side. Look at the age and grade versions together, and always note which battery a number belongs to before you compare it with a district’s published criterion.
What is the Ability Profile?
The Ability Profile appears only with the Complete Battery. Riverside describes it as a succinct summary of a student’s reasoning level, areas of strength and areas of opportunity, and teachers and parents can enter it on CogAT.com for learning characteristics and instructional suggestions. It is designed for teaching decisions, such as grouping and differentiation, rather than as a single cut-off number.
Which score gets a child into a gifted program?
There is no publisher-wide answer. Districts set their own cut-offs and their own rules: some look at the composite SAS, some at any single battery, some at local percentile ranks within the school, and most add teacher input, achievement data or a portfolio. Riverside’s CogAT Dashboard even includes a customizable cut score tool for that reason. Ask your school which score it uses, whether it applies age or grade norms, national or local norms, and what else it reviews.
If your child took the Screening Form rather than the full test, the report will show a Screening Form Composite built from the three analogy-style subtests, often as a first step before the remaining six subtests are given.
What should you do after you get the report?
- Find the battery pattern first: the three batteries can differ, and that pattern is what teachers use to plan instruction.
- Check whether the decision used age or grade norms, national or local.
- Keep practice about familiarity with the formats. A practice app result is not normed and cannot be turned into an SAS.
Sources
Questions people ask
What is a good CogAT score?
Riverside Insights does not define a “good” or “gifted” score. A Standard Age Score of 100 and an age percentile rank of 50 are average for the child’s age. Each district sets its own cut-off for further review and combines the CogAT with other evidence.
What is the difference between SAS and percentile rank?
The Standard Age Score is a normalized scale with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 16. The percentile rank, from 1 to 99, says what percentage of children in the same age group scored at or below your child. Both describe the same position in two ways.
Why does the report show age scores and grade scores?
Riverside provides percentile ranks and stanines for both age groups and grade groups. Age scores compare your child with children of the same age in years and months; grade scores compare them with classmates in the same grade.
What is the Universal Scale Score (USS)?
Riverside describes the USS as a developmental scale from kindergarten through grade 12 that is used to enter all of the age and grade norms tables. Parents rarely need it; it is the bridge between the raw score and the normative scores.
Does the CogAT Screening Form give the same scores?
The Screening Form uses the analogy-style subtest of each battery (Verbal or Picture Analogies, Number Analogies, Figure Matrices) and reports age- and grade-scaled scores for a Screening Form Composite. The full battery adds the three battery scores and the Ability Profile.
Can practice apps predict a CogAT score?
No. Practice results, including those in CogAT Test Prep, are not normed against a national sample, so they cannot be converted into an SAS, percentile or stanine. Use them to see which question formats need more familiarity.