Raw scores vs Standard age score

[Anonymous]

Is anyone able to explain how the scoring works on the Cogat? I am confused by the raw scores vs standard age scores. For example, my child got 49 problems correct out of 52 for the Nonverbal. But his age score is 129. He missed only 3 problems. For Quantitative, 46 right out of 50 and 131. What I am puzzled by is that seems like a pretty good result when looking at the raw scores but he still didn't make the cutoff in those subtest areas for AAP pool. Does that mean it's fairly common for children to score perfectly on those sections? Yet with verbal he got 51/54 and age score is 138. VQN is 137. How is VQN figured?

I am particularly puzzled because another child took the Cogat before the Fairfax version and that child had similar scores in two of the subtests but missed way more questions. I know they are supposed to be different tests somehow but shouldn't the scoring match up? The number of problems in each subtest is the same. Or is that what makes the Fairfax Cogat different now? As an example, on the old test one child missed 8 problems on the Nonverbal and still scored 4 points higher in the age score (133) on the subtest than this year's child who only missed 3 and got 129. 129 doesn't even meet the pool cutoff for that subtest but 133 did a few years ago.

So if anyone has any knowledge on how to understand the scoring, I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts. I do understand how the local scores work and how that is different from the old test. The older child doesn't have those on the report anyway. But is the age standard score now different too? Because the children are only being compared to Ffax students?

Would the 2nd grade teacher or AAT be able to answer these questions? But I know they are really busy with end of quarter/snow day schedule shifting/file prep right now.

[Anonymous]

You don't say how old your child is.

Is he old for the grade?

[Anonymous]

Yes he is. Fall baby.

[Anonymous]

Well, that's why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes he is. Fall baby.

His SAS would be lower for the same amount of questions incorrect than a child that is born later. That is how the Standard Age Score is calculated.

[Anonymous]

Think of it this way: If you get all the questions right, there is a certain score (let's say 140)... but if you are younger, you get bonus points that can go up to 165.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. That does help me understand it better. I understand SAS is supposed to make the scoring fair across the span of ages in one grade...but to miss so few and get a much lower score than others in the same grade level, do you think older children are getting penalized for being older especially if the committee is only looking at age standard score and not raw score? My son wasn't given the choice to move ahead a grade year though he was close to the age cutoff for FCPS and he's been taught at the same level as all the other children since K. I did seriously consider having him start early but when I researched that it seemed like FCPS never allowed that unless you paid for private K and transferred into 1st.

He's finally getting a tiny bit of differentiation this school year.

I just wonder what other people think about that. My oldest is bright and talented in his own ways but I can see how my 2nd should have scored much better on this kind of test. And he did when you look at number of answers correct but his scores don't really reflect the difference I would expect. I guess I should be grateful his verbal was all right.

[Anonymous]

My kids have been on both ends, the oldest and the youngest age range. I have a younger one right in the middle. I am interested to see how that plays out in a few years.

Look at it this way. As one of the oldest, your child is likely a full year older than some of the kids taking the test. If there are kids who transferred in from out of states like Hawaii or California then he might be up to 16 months older than some of the kids who tested.

The age adjustment is for those younger kids, and does not really affect how your kid is scored.

At second grade, 12-16 months can still make a big difference when you are talking about a six year old vs an eight year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, that's why.

Yes it sounds pretty simple to understand. But my confusion came from the fact that it seems my child would have to score a perfect or near perfect score on two of the three subtests just to make the cutoff for application. That just doesn't seem right so I thought I was misunderstanding the scoring. He only made the cutoff because he is super strong verbally and still his score was 138 which from what I read on these forums isn't necessarily top level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been on both ends, the oldest and the youngest age range. I have a younger one right in the middle. I am interested to see how that plays out in a few years.

Look at it this way. As one of the oldest, your child is likely a full year older than some of the kids taking the test. If there are kids who transferred in from out of states like Hawaii or California then he might be up to 16 months older than some of the kids who tested.

The age adjustment is for those younger kids, and does not really affect how your kid is scored.

At second grade, 12-16 months can still make a big difference when you are talking about a six year old vs an eight year old.

Yes and if my son lived in California like his cousin who is two months older than him, he would be in 3rd grade with her this year. I actually think that is where he should have been since K but our cutoff is different here in VA and I didn't want to pay for private K.

Thank you for taking the time to reply, it is definitely food for thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, that's why.

Yes it sounds pretty simple to understand. But my confusion came from the fact that it seems my child would have to score a perfect or near perfect score on two of the three subtests just to make the cutoff for application. That just doesn't seem right so I thought I was misunderstanding the scoring. He only made the cutoff because he is super strong verbally and still his score was 138 which from what I read on these forums isn't necessarily top level.

Does anyone know if all questions are scored the same or are some questions considered "more difficult" and you get more points if those are correct?

[Anonymous]

Curious what the local percentiles are for these scores. Seems they should be high with only a few incorrect answers. Unless the local percentiles are age adjusted as well?

[Anonymous]

They must be age adjusted. Percentiles are low to me for high number of correct answers. 99% for verbal (51/54), 92% for quant (46/50), 91% for nonverbal (49/52) and the composite of 137 is 97%.