So ds12 came home upset because he's pretty sure he did poorly on the Co-gat. He said the sections were timed and he said some of the questions took time to answer and he ran out of time. He said there was one section that he was only able to answer 14 out of 25 before the time was up.

He's worried that whoever reads these results will think he's not smart. Jeesh.

Plus here's something I hadn't considered: he's at least a year younger than the other 7th graders. Do they take age into consideration when scoring against norms?

Maybe I should have kept him home.

ugh - that poor kid. Give him a an extra hug. Fingers crossed that the school does not take this test too seriously. I just checked ,when DS took it in 3rd grade a few years ago, the one page report that we got back from the school had both age score and grade score percentiles.

Ugh, so sorry about your DS's experience - he must be frustrated!

It depends upon what data the school requests, but the tests can be age-normed or grade-normed. DD is also young for her grade and her age-normed subtest scores were in some cases higher than her grade-normed subtest scores.

Not sure about the Cogat but with the Olsat given in my school children were graded based on age and it was normed within three months (I think that is how it's worded). That is, DS was graded by how other children do at his age bracket within three months. So kids that were six months younger than DS were not at a disadvantage as they normed differently and not 'against' my DS.

Thank you, both for your support.

This may open up the door to discussion with ds to see if he wants to look into asking for extra time on tests, etc.

I've been carefully examining this issue in my head for months now. Because ds is a perfectionist by nature and also has a tendency to focus on the negative, I've been wary of looking into why he freezes during timed tests, why he's a slow and careful thinker, why he expresses himself better verbally or typing than he does handwriting, why he was late in managing fine motor skills. The last time I gently brought it up, asked him if he'd like to check into things that might help, he became anxious and absolutely declined.

So...a part of me says we're being negligent by overlooking he may have certain challenges and this may end up hurting when it counts the most: in high school. And a part of me says don't draw attention to the struggles, because ds will focus on that, and his self-esteem will suffer. A part of me thinks he'll cultivate his strengths to mitigate his weaknesses, as we all do to some extent and that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
lus there's the very real fact that he's doing very well grade wise in middle school despite having skipped a grade. (Though he's really not being asked to do very much it seems.)

Thank you, both for your support.

This may open up the door to discussion with ds to see if he wants to look into asking for extra time on tests, etc.

I've been carefully examining this issue in my head for months now. Because ds is a perfectionist by nature and also has a tendency to focus on the negative, I've been wary of looking into why he freezes during timed tests, why he's a slow and careful thinker, why he expresses himself better verbally or typing than he does handwriting, why he was late in managing fine motor skills. The last time I gently brought it up, asked him if he'd like to check into things that might help, he became anxious and absolutely declined.

So...a part of me says we're being negligent by overlooking he may have certain challenges and this may end up hurting when it counts the most: in high school. And a part of me says don't draw attention to the struggles, because ds will focus on that, and his self-esteem will suffer. A part of me thinks he'll cultivate his strengths to mitigate his weaknesses, as we all do to some extent and that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Plus there's the very real fact that he's doing very well grade wise in middle school despite having skipped a grade. (Though he's really not being asked to do very much it seems.)

So after months of thinking about it, I still don't know what to do. Ha!

Poor kid! Tell him his teachers are unlikely to study or understand the results - it's probably true.

I find it strange that the school would even bother with CoGat by 7th grade, especially for students who are already in the GT program. It just seems that the trend as the student gets older (middle school and certainly high school) is to base enrollment in specific classes on prior achievement rather than theoretical ability.

DD had just turned 7 and they gave her the third grade version of the test. The age norms were a little higher than the grade norms, but not by much (esp. with the verbal section I think).

DD also did horrible on the CogAT but her GAI on the WISC was over the 99.9th percentile. A private psych is advising that we pursue a 504 for slow processing and ADHD so that when she has to take the SAT she can get modifications/extended time. You don't want to wait til right before the test, you want documentation of a disability when a kid is still young. Tell him to not worry about it. If he didn't finish it, obviously the results won't be accurate. You may want to attempt to get it invalidated and removed from records, though, if the scores end up being bad. I have yet to figure out how to do this.

I think the cogAT is a bad instrument. I have known so many GT kids that get 99% on SB or WISC that do poorly on the cogAT. Not sure why people use it. It is an "abilities" test, not an IQ or Achievement test. I think it is a load of rubbish.

Thanks, Quantum, blackcat and teachermom.

KADmom, you may wish to look into which level of the CogAT your DS took - the test publisher offers 3 levels (for low, average, and high ability) in each grade - more info on the test publisher's website:
http://www.riverpub.com/products/cogAt/details.html

I think the CogAT is a ridiculous test. Any kid with speed issues (for whatever reason) is going to have problems with it. Both of my kids do far worse on the CogAT than on the WISC IV.

I don't understand why school districts love it so much. They somehow think they're being "fair" by using it, but what they don't seem to understand is that it is not a protected test. Anyone can obtain it and administer it to their child. It would be *very* easy to get a copy and have a kid memorize the answers.

Thanks, Indigo.

I'll try to figure it out, but I can't tell from this what kind he got.

I know the whole class was tested together (though a different test could have gone to each, I suppose) and that there were about nine sections that were given 10 minutes each. That sounds like the three sections were split up into three again.

I agree, Kai.

Ds said it wasn't hard but that some of the problems "took time to solve." He was disgusted, actually, at having to rush. Ha!