Measures reasoning and problem solving abilities that students have learned, and provides insight into the way students learn. As home educators, understanding your student's learning styles and preferences allows you to adapt lesson planning and instruction to better fit your student's needs. 

CogAT measures students in three areas:

• Verbal: abilities to reason with words and concepts. These play an important role in reading comprehension, critical thinking, writing, and virtually all verbal learning tasks

• Quantitative: abilities to reason with quantitative symbols and concepts, These are significantly related to problem solving in math and other disciplines

• Nonverbal: abilities to reason with geometric shapes and figures. These reflect strategies for solving novel problems

How CogAT and Iowa Assessments can be used together

Students' ability scores from CogAT can be compared with their achievement, measured with Iowa Form E.  These comparisons can further assist in identifying the best approach to teaching your student in a given topic area.  

You can choose when your student completes the CogAT and Iowa, depending on how you wish to use the results. (The Minnesota Department of Education requirement for an annual achievement test will be met regardless of whether your student takes the Iowa in the fall or the spring.) Students do not need to take both tests at the same time.

One example is to have your student take the CogAT in the beginning of the school year so that your lesson planning and goal setting can be informed by their learning styles and preferences. Then you can have your student take the Iowa during the spring term (or shortly after) to see their learning growth during that academic year.

Another example, especially valuable for the first year of homeschooling, is to have your student complete the Iowa in the fall in order to identify their starting point, and to also complete the CogAT to inform your lesson planning and goal setting. If you wish, your student can take the Iowa again at the end of the school year to demonstrate their growth relative to their starting point.

Administration Requirements

CogAT is administered online, and will be proctored by MSTP staff via a Zoom meeting. Please see the Online Iowa Proctoring Requirements for additional details. 

A self-scoring inventory that helps middle school, junior high, and high school students and adults develop an awareness of possible career choices. Students can familiarize themselves with careers and the world of work and explore career paths that match their interests. The IDEAS inventory can also help home educators and students plan high school coursework. Brief and easy to score and interpret, IDEAS identifies interests that can help guide educational and vocational planning and direction.