Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Help Understanding CogAT Ability Profile

Hello. This is my first post here. I found this site while trying to figure out how to read my DC's CogAT Ability Profile.

We received DC's results yesterday. She is 7.5 yo, and in the 2nd grade. Her age percentile is 79, and grade percentile 75. We only have Ability Profile info, and not battery or SAS scores.

Her Ability Profile is 7C(V-Q). I went to the CogAT website as suggested to look up her profile; but I am confused by what her profile means for her. I know 7 is her Stanine score, and the C means she had contrasting scores in battery tests; however, she has no "plus sign" to enter for the one area, and there is no "plus/minus sign" attached to her Q, only one attached to her V. (I do understand what the V, Q, and N stand for.)

From what I have read on sites with CogAT information on how to read scores, most children's scores come back with a letter/plus sign combination listed first, if they do have a strength, and the weakness, or minus, is second, and attached to the second letter. Am I interpreting this correctly? If that is the case, and her profile does not reflect that, what does that mean, or how should I interpret her score/profile? When I use the drop down menus to select the +/- combinations for her, they really are not possible. (There is no option for choosing a letter all by itself, with no +/- sign attached to it.)

Our DC loves school, and she is doing well in all areas. Our letter stated she is invited to take the ITBS next month. She needs at least 93% (or percentile?) on each battery of the ITBS to qualify for GT services in our district. She may/may not achieve that, but that is ok with us.....We just need some help interpreting her Profile.

Thanks so much! :-)

I can't help you but I'm bumping this so someone else can see it.

Thanks so much, KADmom,

Does seem odd that there is not a plus or minus after the Q.

I'm also in NC and when my kids took the CogAt only the grade and age percentile and the ability profile was initially provided by the school. However, I was able to request the SAS from the school guidance counselor.

The plus/ minus are relative strength/ weakness to you child other scores. It's possible the V was lower than Q & N enough to draw the minus, but that Q & N were close enough to not have a relative strength. I don't know why the website doesn't allow you to enter a score without the plus/minus. It is entirely possible to not have +/- attached to one of the scores. A C profile means the sections V,Q, & N had significant scatter and makes it the results particularly hard to interpret. If the scatter is significant enough, I doubt a Total Composite SAS would be any more help. The SAS on individual sections maybe more informative. It would be similar to trying to interpret a FSIQ with significant scatter. Sorry if I'm just repeating information you already have.

FWIW, I have never like CogAT. It didn't offer a lot of information about my kids and their scores were way off from other testing done. It just seems to be a test with very inconsistent results in the GT population. I wouldn't worry about interpreting to much from this test.

DD's was 7E (V+Q-). Her verbal score was about 30 points higher than quantitative (because she actually finished the verbal section and left half of the quantitative section blank). I wonder if your report is a typo--it doesn't make a lot of sense. I would not make too much of the profile. In my DD's case it shows weak math and strong verbal, but that is the opposite of what achievement and IQ testing shows. For achievement testing she at 98th percentile for math but barely average on the CogAT. For IQ, her general ability index (composite of verbal/non-verbal) is 150. On the CogAt it was 118. The CogAT is a ridiculous test, esp. if there is a circumstance like it was a timed version and the child did not finish. You should try to get a more detailed score report. The one I have shows the percentiles for each section and the number of questions attempted. That's how I figured out that DD left half of the test blank for non-verbal and quantitative and why her scores were horrid. Your DD made it onto the next round of testing which is all she needed to accomplish--so don't worry too much about what the scores or ability profiles mean. Really--they mean very little.

I emailed the guidance counselor at her school this morning. Part of her profile did not print correctly....She has a + after the Q. So at least it works now and I am able to read the information attached to her profile. I asked if there was another report that parents would receive, and she said no. However, she did give me percentiles for each of the three battery tests. She had about a 16-17 point difference on Verbal and Quantitative. She seems just like me as a kid! I loved to read.....But forget analogy tests, or vocab tests. ;-)

Guess we will know more after her achievement tests are completed sometime this week or next.

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read and respond to my post. =)