Our district uses the CogAT two grades up, so the 3rd graders take the CogAT intended for 5th graders. The reason for this is that when a kid takes an on level test, there is essentially no room for error at the 98th percentile (which is the cutoff for the gifted program). The kid has to get all of the questions right. When you go two grades up, it makes it so that a few dumb mistakes don't disqualify someone from the gifted program who should actually be there. (Of course, the CogAT is notorious for not identifying HG+ kids as gifted, but that's another issue.)
Anyway, in our district, they have the scores reported as compared to the kid's actual age/grade. There is a place on the answer sheet where that is entered.
