I often hear from parents whose children have taken the CogAT test. These typically consist of 2 types of parents: those whose kids aced the test, who want to share their wisdom, and those whose children fell short, who want to know what they did wrong. In the spirit of helping those whose children still haven’t taken the exam, I wanted to share what I think are the most important things to do when preparing your child for the CogAT test:
Start early: The process is competitive, so it’s important to start preparing your child as soon as you know they’ll take the test (or earlier, if possible). Ideally you’ll want to give your child at least 6 months to get a running start so they can ace the test.
Develop a plan: Determine when you’ll work with your child, and the materials you’re going to use. If possible, plan out the hours of each day that you’ll work with your child on preparing for the CogAT. Keep in mind that the test can take a while, so you’ll need to get your child’s attention span up to snuff. This is another reason that starting early is important: you can start with 5- or 10-minute prep sessions, then work your way up to a half-hour or 45 minutes.
Work with a variety of materials: Don’t just work with a single 100-question workbook. The problem is that, within a week of getting started, your child will have memorized not only the questions but the order in which they appear. They might get “better” at answering the questions, but in reality they’ll just be robotically spouting the answers in exactly the order they’ve seen them before. Be sure to use online materials so your child doesn’t get burned out.
Of course, there are so many other factors that go into what kind of a score your child will bring home on the CogAT test. The most important thing is your dedication and that you make sure your child knows you’re with them 100%.
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