When it comes to the Cognitive Ability Test, the most confusing of things, even more so than the questions and the various divisions and sub-divisions of said questions, is the Cogat range of marks. The marking scheme and the method in which the results are displayed is confusing to say the least, but it simply requires a bit of practical experience and understanding in order to comprehend. Once a person figures out the whole thing, it is knowledge that will stay ingrained in the mind for life. The only trick is to understand it for the first time without any difficulties, and then keep it stored for future reference. This is particularly helpful to both academic teachers as well as parents of the students who partake in the tests.
The Cogat range of marks depends on the marking scheme. The entire test and final result displays marks in three different formats, each of which helps to assess the individual who had given the exam from a specific angle. The first one is quite simple, which includes the scores from each and every division of the Cogat test. This includes the verbal, non-verbal, quantitative and composite sections of the test. The other two sections are the percentile ranking system and the stanine system as well. The percentile system is the main one to keep in mind, since it puts directly into context how the student has performed in comparison with the rest of the students who took the exam as well. An example is that if a student scores 90 percentile, which means that the examinee has performed better in the Cogat Test than 90 of the 100 people tested. This places them directly into the top 10 students of the entire exam, and allows for a fair assessment to be made about the logical thinking of a person compared to others in a similar age group.
The exam scores are not assigned simply on the basis of the number of answers provided correctly. Instead, it also takes into account the age group of the students as well as the grade in which they are studying. All of this allows for a single idea to be made, without any colored views regarding students who might be more knowledgeable in a particular area. The Cogat range of marks also utilizes the Stanine system, similar to the Grade Point Average system which is utilized by most high schools and colleges in the world. A nine-point scale is used to provide the marks, with different categories for the various ranges. Anything in the range of 7 to 9 represents a great performance by the examinee, while 4 to 6 is an indicator of an average performance. Finally, anything 3 or below is a low performance, but again, it is nothing to get down and depressed about. The entire point of the Cogat test and understanding the Cogat range of marking is so that people can identify the places where concentration needs to be given for the improvement of the child who gave the test itself.