Scores
CogAT ability profiles, decoded
A CogAT ability profile is a short code such as 8B (V+). The number is your child’s median age stanine, the letter shows how even the three battery scores are, and plus or minus signs mark relative strengths or weaknesses in Verbal, Quantitative or Nonverbal.
Key takeaways
- An ability profile such as 8B (V+) has up to three parts: a number, a letter, and sometimes plus or minus signs.
- The number is the median age stanine, the middle one of the three battery age stanines, so it runs from 1 to 9.
- The letter shows the pattern: A means even, B means one battery stands out, C means two batteries contrast, and E means an extreme difference.
- V, Q or N with a plus or minus marks a relative strength or weakness in the Verbal, Quantitative or Nonverbal battery.
- “Relative” means compared with your child’s own other scores, so a battery with a minus can still be average or above for their age.
On this page
The three parts of an ability profile
CogAT® reports can include an ability profile: a short code that sums up both the level of your child’s scores and their shape across the three batteries. It looks like 7A, 9A, 8B (V+) or 5C (Q+ N-), and it has up to three parts:
- A number from 1 to 9: the median age stanine, which gives the overall level.
- A letter, A, B, C or E: the pattern, from even to very uneven.
- Plus or minus signs: which battery is a relative strength or weakness.
The number: the median age stanine
The report gives an age stanine for each battery, Verbal, Quantitative and Nonverbal. Put the three in order and take the middle one: that is the median age stanine, and it becomes the profile number.
For example, if your child’s battery age stanines were Verbal 8, Quantitative 6 and Nonverbal 7, the order is 6, 7, 8, so the profile number is 7. Because it is a stanine, the usual CogAT descriptors apply: 9 is very high, 7–8 above average, 4–6 average, 2–3 below average and 1 very low.
Two details matter. It is an age stanine, so it compares your child with children of the same age, not the same grade. And it is the middle of three scores, not an average, so one very high or very low battery does not pull it up or down. Our guide to CogAT stanines explains the bands in full.
The letter and the signs
The letter: A, B, C or E
The letter describes how the three battery scores relate to each other. It comes with the report, based on how far apart the three battery scores are, so you do not need to work it out yourself.
| Letter | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A | All three battery scores at roughly the same level | 7A, 9A |
| B | One battery score noticeably above or below the other two | 8B (V+), 6B (N-) |
| C | Two battery scores contrast: one relatively high, one relatively low | 5C (Q+ N-) |
| E | An extreme difference between at least two battery scores | Signs show which batteries |
The signs: V, Q and N
After the letter, a B, C or E profile names the batteries that stand out: V for Verbal, Q for Quantitative and N for Nonverbal. A plus sign marks a relative strength and a minus sign a relative weakness. An A profile has no battery that stands out, so it is written without signs.
“Relative” is the key word. The signs compare your child with themselves, not with other children. In a 9B (Q-) profile, for instance, the median age stanine is 9 and Quantitative is the lowest of the three, yet it can still be above average for your child’s age.
Worked examples
9A
Median age stanine 9, very high, and even across Verbal, Quantitative and Nonverbal. No area stands out because all three are at roughly the same high level.
7A
Median age stanine 7, above average, and even across the three batteries.
8B (V+)
Median age stanine 8, above average. One battery stands out, and the V+ says it is Verbal, above the other two. Your child’s reasoning with words is a relative strength.
6B (N-)
Median age stanine 6, in the average range. Nonverbal is noticeably below the other two batteries, so reasoning with shapes and figures is a relative weakness for now.
5C (Q+ N-)
Median age stanine 5, average. Two batteries contrast: Quantitative is a relative strength and Nonverbal a relative weakness, with Verbal in between.
Read the profile together with the three battery scores. The code is a summary; the battery scores show how big the differences actually are.
What a profile can suggest about learning
A profile is one clue about how your child reasons, not a learning-style label. Treat these as ideas to try at home, not conclusions:
- Verbal strength (V+): talking problems through, telling the rule out loud and word games may feel natural. Ask your child to explain a puzzle to you.
- Quantitative strength (Q+): counting, measuring, sorting amounts and number patterns can be a way into new ideas.
- Nonverbal strength (N+): drawing a problem, building with blocks or folding paper may help ideas click.
A relative weakness is simply the area with the most room to grow. Short, playful practice helps, such as the critical thinking activities on this site, without making it a project. In Thinkling, the grown-ups area shows the three thinking areas and “tricky spots” from practice, but it does not produce an ability profile or predict CogAT scores.
What a profile does not tell you
- Not an IQ. The CogAT measures developed reasoning abilities; see is the CogAT an IQ test?
- Not effort, creativity or character. A code cannot show how hard your child works or how curious they are.
- Not the future. It describes one test day compared with children of the same age.
- Not a program decision. Schools usually look at several kinds of information, and rules vary by district.
Questions to ask the school
- Does the school look at the ability profile, the composite, the battery scores, or all of them?
- Do you use age scores or grade scores?
- How do teachers use a profile like this in class, if at all?
- Is there someone who can walk me through the full report?
For what the numbers mean in everyday terms, see our guide to what a good CogAT score is, and for the other parts of a report, our guide to CogAT scores.
Frequently asked questions
What does a CogAT score of 7A mean?
7A is an ability profile. The 7 is your child’s median age stanine, the middle of the three battery age stanines, and stanine 7 falls in CogAT’s above-average range. The A means the Verbal, Quantitative and Nonverbal scores are at roughly the same level, with no battery standing out. In short: above average and even across all three areas, compared with children of the same age.
What does 9A mean on the CogAT?
9A means the median age stanine is 9, the highest stanine, which CogAT describes as very high, and the A means all three battery scores are at roughly the same level. So your child scored very high and evenly across Verbal, Quantitative and Nonverbal, compared with children of the same age. How a school uses that result is up to the school or district.
What does 8B (V+) mean on a CogAT report?
The 8 is the median age stanine, which is above average. The B means one battery score is noticeably above or below the other two, and the V+ says which one: Verbal is a relative strength. So your child scored above average overall for their age, with reasoning about words standing out compared with their own Quantitative and Nonverbal scores.
Is a B or C profile worse than an A profile?
No. The letter describes the shape of your child’s scores, not how high they are. A 9B is still very high, and a 4A is average and even. An uneven profile simply shows where your child’s reasoning is relatively stronger or weaker, which can be useful to know. The number, not the letter, tells you the overall level compared with same-age children.
Why doesn’t the profile number match my child’s grade stanines?
The number in the ability profile is always the median age stanine, so it compares your child with children of the same age, not the same grade. If your school talks about grade scores, or about the composite, those can come out differently, especially for a child who is young or old for their grade. Ask your school which scores it uses.