Free Online OLSAT Level A Test (Pre-K – K) Online Preparation: Practice Sample Questions & Tips – 2025

What Is the OLSAT Level A Test?

The Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT) Level A is the lowest level ability test typically taken by children in pre-k through kindergarten. The OLSAT Level A is a type of aptitude test that measures young children’s learning abilities. The types of questions typically asked on this assessment include general knowledge and problem-solving skills that are typically not taught in school. The questions will usually include pictures and figures that follow a predetermined pattern. The purpose of the OLSAT Level A is to gauge the ability of children to be placed into a gifted and talented program within a school. Additionally, the OLSAT Level A is usually administered to the students one-on-one, which is different to other aptitude tests.

What Are OLSAT Level A’s Test Sections?

Students that are in preschool will be completing 40 questions, including 16 verbal questions and 24 nonverbal questions. Students in kindergarten will be completing 60 questions, including 30 verbal questions and 30 nonverbal questions. Both preschoolers and kindergarteners will have 77 minutes to complete the full OLSAT exam. At this age, students are not expected to read. Instead, a test proctor or teacher will read the instructions and questions out loud to the students.

Verbal Section

The Verbal Section of the OLSAT Level A Test for preschoolers and kindergarteners will include three separate subsections. These subsections include questions pertaining to following directions, aural reasoning, and arithmetic reasoning. These questions are used to gauge each child’s ability to combine words and identify word patterns based on context clues.

• Aural Reasoning: Preschoolers and kindergarteners will have a question read to them out loud. The questions require the students to use their reasoning skills to infer the answers. The students will need to piece together relevant information from the questions in order to understand the bigger picture.
• Following Directions: These questions are used to assess a child’s ability to follow basic directions that typically include words like “below” or “next to.” Preschoolers and kindergarteners will need to listen to the directions and then choose a picture that matches the directions.
• Arithmetic Reasoning: Preschoolers and kindergarteners will need to use problem-solving skills to answer logical and numerical reasoning questions. In lower levels, students will need to solve the arithmetic reasoning questions by solving relationships between pictures.

Nonverbal Section

The Nonverbal Section will include questions from both Pictorial Reasoning and Figural Reasoning subsections. Specifically, preschoolers and kindergarteners will be answering picture classification, picture analogies, picture series, figural classification, pattern matrix, figural analogies, and figural series questions. These questions gauge a child’s ability to identify relationships between similar shapes and to recognize pattern progression.

• Picture Classification: Preschoolers and kindergartners will need to look through five pictures and identify one picture that does not fit with the rest. The pictures will match each other through a pattern or common theme.
• Picture Analogies: Preschoolers and kindergarteners will need to look through pictures and identify a picture that is similar to the first pictures.
• Picture Series: The students will look through a series of pictures that follow a patterned progression. Based on the pattern, the preschoolers and kindergarteners will choose a picture that completes the picture series.
• Figural Classification: Preschoolers and kindergarteners will look through five images and identify the image that does not match the others. The pictures will be related through a common pattern or theme.
• Figural Analogies: Preschoolers and kindergarteners will look through figures to identify a similarity between them. They will then choose the last figure that holds the same similarity between the original figures.
• Pattern Matrix: Preschoolers and kindergarteners will see a 3×3 matrix that includes nine individual boxes. Within the matrix, there will be squares filled with shapes that follow a certain pattern. The students will complete the matrix by choosing one shape that would fit the pattern for the last square.
• Figural Series: Preschoolers and kindergarteners will see geometric shapes that follow a certain progression. The four geometric shapes will follow a predetermined theme, and the students will need to choose a fifth shape that would follow the sequence.

How to Read OLSAT Level A’s Score Report?

Regardless of school grade, preschoolers and kindergarteners will only have their scores compared with children within a three-month age range. The scores from all of the batteries and subsections will be combined together to create a final score. In order to be admitted into a gifted and talented program, preschoolers and kindergarteners will be likely expected to score within the top 1 to 3% of students.

• Raw Score: The raw score is simply the sum of total correct answers over the sum of total possible answers. For preschoolers, this number could look like 30/40, and for kindergarteners, this number could look like 55/60.
• School Ability Index (SAI): Preschoolers and kindergartener’s raw scores are taken and compared with raw scores of children that are within the same age range. The highest School Ability Index score possible is 150, but the average preschooler and kindergartener will receive a score of around 100.
• Percentile Rank: Finally, the School Ability Index score is compared with other same-age children to determine each child’s Percentile Rank. This is shown as a percentage that represents how many children your student scored better than. For example, a student could receive a Percentile Rank of 95%, which means your child scored higher than 95% of other same-age children.

OLSAT Level A Test Tips

1. If this is your child’s first time taking an extended exam, don’t throw them in the deep end. This just means that your child needs to be slowly introduced to the testing material. This is done by first looking through several example questions and their explanations. Gauge how your child performs on the sample questions, and if they don’t have any problem, move onto the actual practice exams. If you notice your child becoming disinterested early on, don’t have them rush through the exam. This will lead to them not remembering majority of the information they learned.
2. Identify answers that are obviously incorrect. The process of elimination will be your child’s biggest helper on the OLSAT Level A Test. Even the most difficult of questions will have answers that are obviously wrong. Train your child to identify answers that are clearly wrong, especially when the correct answers aren’t so obvious. For example, if it is raining outside, grab an umbrella and a pair of pants. Ask your child which object will keep you most dry outside. Fun and silly activities will keep your child engaged in learning without them becoming anxious with the plethora of new knowledge.
3. Cover all question topics, even those that you believe your child will excel at. The first time you take a practice exam, make sure your child answers every single question in every single section. Just because you believe your child has already mastered one section does not mean that they can’t benefit from practicing. After you have completed the practice test, you will be able to identify areas of strength and weakness. Then, you can start focusing on practicing any individual sections that your child struggled with.

How to Prepare for the OLSAT Level A Test?

In some instances, schools wait until one or two weeks out to inform parents that their child will be taking the OLSAT Level A Test. However, as soon as you receive notice that your child will be taking the exam, it is imperative that you start studying right away. The OLSAT Level A Test has at least 10 different subsections, which is relatively high for an aptitude test. The wide range of topics and questions that are covered on this exam make it a difficult test to study for.

In order to be prepared on test day, your child needs to practice every day with online practice exams. Becoming familiarized with the testing material is essential. Otherwise, children will likely become overwhelmed by multiple difficult questions, or they may find it hard to concentrate if they are not used to taking tests. For many preschoolers and kindergarteners, this may be the first time they have taken a longer exam. Make sure you have helped your child become accustomed with the format of the exam by taking several practice exams and also reading through their explanations. These explanations will teach your child about the proper way for answering tricky questions. If you hope for your preschooler or kindergartner to score high on the OLSAT Level A Test, then you need to make sure they have prepared with practice exams.