CogAT scores explained: what is a good CogAT score?

A CogAT score report arrives with a lot of numbers: a Standard Age Score, percentile ranks, stanines, sometimes a composite and a profile code. This guide explains what each one means and what "good" means for a gifted program, where the answer is set by your district, not by the test.

The three main scores on a CogAT report

The CogAT has three parts, called batteries: Verbal, Quantitative and Nonverbal. Each battery gets its own scores, and most reports add a composite that combines them. Riverside, the publisher, reports the same performance in three ways.

Standard Age Score (SAS)

The SAS compares your child with children of the same age, counted in months, in a national sample. Riverside describes it as a normalized score with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 16. In plain terms, 100 is exactly average for the age, and every 16 points is one step further from average.

Percentile rank (PR)

A percentile rank runs from 1 to 99 and tells you the percentage of children in the comparison group who scored lower. A percentile rank of 90 means your child scored higher than about 90 out of 100 children in that group. It is not the percentage of questions answered correctly.

Stanine

A stanine puts the same result on a simple 1 to 9 scale, with 5 as average. Stanines are broad bands: a stanine of 9 covers roughly the top 4% of children, and 7 and 8 together cover the next 19% or so. Some districts use stanines instead of percentiles, for example treating a stanine of 9 as qualifying on its own.

Age scores and grade scores

Many reports show two sets of percentile ranks and stanines:

• Age norms compare your child with children born around the same time.
• Grade norms compare your child with children in the same grade.

For most children the two are close. They can differ for a child who is young or old for the grade. A child with a late birthday may rank a little higher on age norms than on grade norms, because the age comparison does not penalize them for being among the youngest in class. Districts choose which one they use, and many gifted plans name the age percentile rank. Look at which one your district's plan asks for before comparing your child's number with a cutoff.

How SAS and percentile rank line up

Because the SAS follows a bell curve with a standard deviation of 16, you can read off roughly where a score falls. The figures below come from that bell curve; the official norms tables can differ by a point here and there.

So when a district sets a cutoff at the 96th percentile, that is a Standard Age Score of about 128. A cutoff at the 98th percentile is about 132.

What is a good CogAT score for a gifted program?

There is no single number. Each district writes its own rules, and they differ in four ways:

1. The cutoff. In the district plans we have researched, the most common percentile cutoffs are the 98th, 96th and 99th. Some districts use a lower bar, such as the 85th or 90th percentile, to decide who goes on to a second round of testing rather than who is identified.
2. Which score counts. Some districts look at the composite of all three batteries. Others accept a high score on any one battery, or on a pair such as Quantitative and Nonverbal.
3. Age or grade norms, as described above.
4. What else is weighed. Many districts combine the CogAT with an achievement test, teacher ratings or work samples, often on a points rubric. A high CogAT score may be necessary but not enough on its own.

The same rules apply in every grade. A "good score for 2nd grade" and a "good score for 5th grade" are both judged against children of the same age or grade, so the cutoff percentile does not change as your child gets older, even though the questions get harder.

You can look up your district's test, grades and published cutoffs on our district pages. Each fact links to the district's own source.

A 99th percentile score: what does it mean?

A percentile rank of 99 is the top of the scale. It means your child scored higher than at least 99% of the comparison group. It does not mean they answered 99% of the questions correctly, and two children at the 99th percentile can have quite different Standard Age Scores, because everything at the very top is grouped into that last percentile.

Why one score is not the whole picture

The CogAT measures reasoning on one day. A child who was tired, unwell or confused by an unfamiliar question format can score below what they can do. That is one reason districts use several measures, and why many let families appeal or retest.

It is also why familiarity matters. Children who have seen each type of question before spend their attention on the reasoning instead of on working out what they are being asked. Our guide to practicing without stress explains how to do that in a few short sessions a week.

What to do next

• Find your district's rules on our district pages and note which score and which norms it uses.
• Read what each part of the test looks like on the CogAT guide.
• If the test is still ahead, a free readiness check shows which question types are new or harder for your child. It is a practice estimate, not a CogAT score.