My DD was 5.5 years old when she took the CogAT and had similar scores 71% Verbal, 87% Qualitative, and 95% Nonverbal. In her situation, the tests were given over three days (one test each day) in the order presented. This was the first "bubble in" test that the 1st Grade class took as a group. Based on test guidelines, the teacher was only allowed to read each question once. (The questions were not given in writing to the students, so children who can read well have no advantage.) So, if the kids were not paying attention, were "stuck" on answering a previous question, or were sitting next to a distracting kid, they were at a huge disadvantage. The scores were consistently better each day as my DD warmed up to the testing environment. I also looked up some of the sample questions online. One question asked which picture was upside down. The correct answer was a turtle lying on its back, but one of the other answers had an umbrella that was flipped inside out.
I had DD tested with WISC-IV when she turned 6 due to the irregular scores. She is MG and also read when she was 3. One of the things the testing pulled out was that even though she could nail any word, sentence, book, etc. perfectly, she didn't fully understand what some of the words meant which would impact her interpretation of what she read. None of her teachers caught this and the PHD who tested her found it right away.
You have to realize at this age, a lot of kids have not been exposed to the same things and they may have no reference point if they have not experienced something before. This is just the beginning of a series of tests and I suspect things will only get better from here.
My DD is 7.5 now and she is at the top of her class even though she grade skipped once already. (The advanced academic counselor has even talked to me about another grade skip because of her achievement scores.)
Good luck to you and your daughter! I suspect great things are in her future.
