Cogat, or the Cognitive Abilities Test as it is known, tests the logical reasoning and analytical skills of a child. It is administered to youngsters in an effort to identify their strengths and weaknesses at a young age, and ideally guide them on a path that allows for the improvement of their skill set. The ease with which the child solves the problems provides a big insight into the thought process of the individual, and how it can be enhanced even more. The scoring system quite obviously plays a big part in the process, but can often prove to be confusing for both the children as well as their parents. Simply understanding how the questions are made and the different sections however, can be enough to figure out how the Cogat Score chart works.
Reasoning and logical thinking plays a big role in the problem-solving skills of a person. There are three categories, with a number of different questions for each which tests the aforementioned skills. The verbal section, quantitative section and the non-verbal section are the categories, and they all have further subdivisions under them. The Cogat score chart is based on the number of correct answers, and the final score determines whether it is high, average or low. The scores are assigned on the basis of both percentile as well as stanines. These are two different methods, but both are simple enough to be understood completely.
The percentile rank system is confusing because of how similar it is to the percentage system. For example, if a student scores 85 percentile, it does not mean that they have achieved 85 out of 100. Instead, what it actually points to on the Cogat score chart is that the student in question has performed better than 85 applicants out of a total of 100. This places the scorer among the top 15 students of the entire exam, and it’s good enough to be accepted as the signs of an above average student. Thus the ranking stands at 25 to 75 percentile representing average students, 75 to 85 percentile being those who have the potential to excel, and 85 to 95 percentile are the ones who are better than the crowd, and 95 and above being truly gifted students.
Meanwhile the stanine system is determined based on the comparison of all the students who gave the exam. It is a scale of 9 points, with anything from 1 to 3 representing below average scores, 4 to 6 representing average scores and anything above that being high performing scores. The Cogat score chart is based completely on these two systems, and the point system is not at all complicated as it might initially seem. The marking is made not just on the basis of the answered questions, but also which grade the candidate is studying in, as well as their age. This allows for an evenness to be spread throughout the marks, no matter the age difference of those sitting for the Cogat test.