NNAT practice test: free NNAT-style questions and how to prepare

The Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT3) uses only shapes and colors. There are no words to read and no numbers to work out, which is why many districts use it to screen whole grades, including children who are still learning English. That also makes it unusual: most children have never seen questions like these. A little practice with the format helps a child understand what is being asked.

Which districts use the NNAT

Of the 192 school districts we have researched in depth, 21 use the NNAT, most often as a universal screener in 2nd or 3rd grade. Palm Beach County, FL screens all second graders with it; Capistrano, Torrance and Glendale in California screen all 3rd graders; Cabarrus County, NC tests every 2nd grader; and Arlington, VA gives it to all 1st graders.

What the NNAT looks like

According to Pearson, the publisher, the easiest questions show a large rectangle with a piece missing. Harder questions are grids of 2×2, 2×3 or 3×3 boxes in which shapes and colors change across the rows and down the columns, and they get harder as more features change at once: size, rotation, adding parts, or a step-by-step progression. Pearson chose black, white, yellow, blue and green so the patterns can be read by children with color-vision differences. At the upper levels, the manual says the child picks which of five options fills the gap.

Prep publishers usually describe four question types:

• Pattern completion. A large design has a missing piece. Your child picks the piece that fits.
• Reasoning by analogy. Shapes change across a row following a rule; your child finds the shape that follows the same change.
• Serial reasoning. Shapes change step by step across rows and down columns; your child finds the one that fits the order.
• Spatial visualization. Figures are combined or changed; your child picks the result.

Levels by grade

Pearson lists Level C for 2nd grade, Level D for grades 3–4 and Level E for grades 5–6. The kindergarten and 1st grade levels come from prep publishers.

How to practice

Week 1: look and talk. Do a few questions of each type together. Ask "what's happening across this row? And down this column?" Naming the change is the main skill.

Weeks 2–3: one change, then two. Start with patterns where only one thing changes (color, or size, or direction). Then move to ones where two things change at once, which is where most mistakes happen.

Week 4: work alone, then review. Let your child do short sets alone, then go over the misses. Check every wrong answer against both the row and the column.

Tips that work

• Check the edges. For pattern completion, the right piece lines up with the lines and colors on every side of the gap.
• One feature at a time. Check shape, then color, then size, then direction. Wrong answers often get three right and one wrong.
• Say the rule. "It turns a quarter each time" or "it gets one more dot" makes the pattern easier to apply.
• No reading needed, so start young. Even four- and five-year-olds enjoy pattern puzzles with blocks, beads and tiles.

Free NNAT-style practice

• The free sample quiz has NNAT-style questions to try right away.
• Our printables include free NNAT-style packs for kindergarten to 2nd grade and 3rd to 5th grade.
• A free readiness check shows which question types are new or harder for your child. It is a practice estimate, not an NNAT score.

When the results come home, read NNAT scores explained.

GiftedCub practice is designed to help children feel familiar and comfortable with question formats. It is not the actual test, and no practice service can guarantee a score or placement.

CogAT® is a registered trademark of Riverside Assessments, LLC. NNAT® is a trademark of Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates. OLSAT® is a registered trademark and Naglieri General Ability Tests™ a trademark of Multi-Health Systems Inc. (MHS). These owners are not affiliated with and do not endorse GiftedCub. Test names are used only to describe the formats our original practice material is designed to resemble.