CogAT Quantitative Battery Test Online Preparation: Study Guide, Free Practice Questions & Tips – 2025
What Is the CogAT Quantitative Battery Test?
The CogAT Quantitative Battery test is one of the assessments that is used to measure a student’s mathematical and quantitative abilities. The questions will generally include numbers that form a mathematical equation and will require students to use abstract reasoning to answer the questions. The numbers and/or pictures will follow a mathematical rule that will help students solve the equations.
The CogAT Quantitative Battery will have questions created off of the grade level it is testing. Each child will be taking a test that asks age-appropriate questions. The Quantitative Battery only makes up one-third of the total CogAT exam that is used to govern a child’s suitability for a gifted and talented program. Each student will be asked quantitative questions, verbal questions, and nonverbal questions. Afterwards, all of the scores will be combined to form an overall CogAT score.
What Are the CogAT Quantitative Battery Test Sections?
The Quantitative Battery is similar to the other CogAT batteries in the sense that it is divided into three different subsections. These subsections include number series questions, number puzzle questions, and number analogy questions. This section will include a mixture of pictures and numbers that are used to measure a student’s quantitative ability.
Number Series
Children in K-2nd grade will solve mathematical relationships using an abacus toy. The toy will contain beads strung across several rods. All of the beads will follow a certain relationship, but the last rod in the toy will be absent. Students will identify the pattern between the beads and choose a rod from the answer options that would complete the toy. 3rd graders and higher will not have an abacus toy. Instead, they will see a set of numbers that follow a pattern. This is an example of a number series question for a CogAT Level 9 test:
Question: 2 4 6 8 ?
A: 9 B: 10 C: 12 D: 7 E: 11
Answer: B: 10
Number Puzzles
Children in K-2nd grade will notice pictures that are a representation of math problems. 3rd graders and higher will have numbers instead of pictures. There will be several numbers that are divided by an equal’s sign, and one of the numbers will have a question mark that replaces the number. Students will try to solve the equation to understand what number or picture should replace the equal’s sign. This is an example of a number puzzle question for a CogAT Level 10 test:
Question: 2 + 3 = ? x 1
A: 4 B: 3 C: 5 D: 2 E: 6
Answer: C: 5
Number Analogies
Children in K-2nd grade will see a matrix split into four cell blocks, with two cells on top and two cells on bottom. The cells on top will each have an image that follows a determined mathematical relationship. The cells on the bottom will only have one image that follows the same mathematical relationship with an image from the answer sheet. 3rd graders and higher will instead have numbers that follow a mathematical relationship, and will choose an answer that is analogous with the provided numbers. This is an example of a number analogies question:
How to Read CogAT Quantitative Battery Test Section Score Report
- Raw Score: The number you will see is the number of correct answers written over the number of total answers. For example, a score of 160/176 shows that a student answered 160 out of 176 questions correctly.
- Universal Scale Score (USS): Then, each child’s raw score becomes a normalized Universal Scale Score. The Quantitative Battery will receive its own score that will eventually be combined and averaged together with the Verbal and Nonverbal Batteries. The Composite USS score is the average of the three battery scores.
- Standard Age Score (SAS): Afterwards, the Composite Universal Scale Score is compared between other students nationwide. A number between 0 to 160 is assigned to each student that shows their comparison outcome.
- Percentile Rank (PR): Finally, the Standard Age Score is transformed into the Percentile Rank. This percentage reveals the percentage of students that your child scored better than on the CogAT.
- Stanine (S): Each child will receive a number between 1-9 that demonstrates their academic capabilities. Students that score a 1 are considered to have extremely low abilities, while students that score a 9 are considered to have extremely high abilities.
CogAT Quantitative Battery Tips
- Become familiar with time limits. Every section will need to be completed within a certain amount of time. Some students become anxious and feel rushed to answer questions if they aren’t familiar with tests that follow a time constraint. Make sure you practice these time restrictions with your child by using online practice exams with timers.
- Don’t be afraid to repeat subsections. Some subsections may be easier for your child than others. If you notice your child answering every question right in one subsection, while struggling in a different subsection, have them focus on the harder subsection. Practice exams are a great way to learn which areas need improvement and which ones do not.
How to Prepare for the CogAT Quantitative Battery Test
The Quantitative Battery on the CogAT exam will mainly gauge your child’s mathematical abilities. Some questions will include numbers, while others may include pictures. Either way, the questions will still require each student to solve a mathematical equation. In most cases, the equations will not look like a typical equation that your child solves in school. This is why it is important to become familiar with the Quantitative Battery topics by practicing with online practice exams. The exams will guide you through the equation solving process and will provide detailed explanations regarding the step-by-step process for answering questions correctly. Your child should be studying at least two weeks in advance using sample questions and study guides. Practice exams are extremely significant in helping your child achieve high CogAT scores and possibly being admitted into their school’s gifted and talented program.