CogAT scores explained: SAS, percentile rank, stanine and ability profile
By Gradecairn Publications. Every score fact on this page is quoted or read from Riverside Insights' own report guide, norms guide and help pages, listed under Sources.
Last updated: October 2026
Verified: The score chart on this page was recomputed by script from all 111 rows (SAS 50 to 160) of Table 37 in Riverside's norms guide [2], on 15 October 2026.
A CogAT score report gives each of the three batteries, and the composite, three age scores: a standard age score (SAS), an age percentile rank (APR), and an age stanine [1]. It also gives an ability profile, a short code such as 6B (V+). This page explains each number and shows the full chart that links them.
TL;DR
- The standard age score runs from 50 to 160, and 100 is the middle for your child's age.
- The age percentile rank runs from 1 to 99 and comes straight from the standard age score.
- Stanines group scores into 9 bands; 4 to 6 is average for your child's age.
- The ability profile shows the level and pattern of the three battery scores.
How is a CogAT score worked out?
A CogAT score starts as a raw score, the number of questions answered correctly in a battery. Riverside turns each raw score into a Universal Scale Score (USS), and then compares the USS with children of the same age to give the standard age score, age percentile rank, and age stanine [2].
The age comparison covers children from 4 years 11 months to 21 years 7 months [2]. Grade scores compare your child with children in the same grade instead, using fall, midyear, or spring norms depending on the test date: before December 1, December 1 through February, or March 1 through July [2].
Riverside's own scoring service groups ages by single months, while the printed tables group them by three months, so a score worked out by hand can differ slightly from the one on your report [2].
What is a CogAT standard age score (SAS)?
The standard age score is the main CogAT score. Riverside's report guide defines it as a normalized standard score with "a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 16", given for each battery and the composite, ranging from 50 to 160 on Forms 7 and 8 [1]. A score of 100 means your child scored in the middle for their age.
Because the SAS compares children of the same age, a younger 2nd grader is not marked down for being younger. The comparison group is the national sample Riverside uses for its norms [1].
What does the CogAT age percentile rank mean?
The age percentile rank is a score from 1 to 99 converted from the standard age score. It shows your child's rank compared with other children of the same age, in months, in Riverside's national sample [1]. An age percentile rank of 50 is the middle.
Riverside's norms guide gives a worked example: a composite SAS of 118 converts to an age percentile rank of 87 and an age stanine of 7 [2].
What is a CogAT stanine?
A stanine is one of nine broad score groups, from 1 (lowest) to 9 (highest) [1]. Riverside's parent guide says the word is short for "standard nine" [4]. An age stanine compares your child with children of the same age.
Riverside's guide for teachers names the levels this way [5]:
| Stanine | Reasoning level |
|---|---|
| 9 | Very high |
| 7 to 8 | Above average |
| 4 to 6 | Average |
| 2 to 3 | Below average |
| 1 | Very low |
The CogAT score chart: SAS, percentile rank and stanine
Every age percentile rank and age stanine on a CogAT report is read from one table in Riverside's 2017 norms guide, Table 37 [2]. We read that table row by row and grouped it into stanine bands, so you can place any standard age score.
| Age stanine | Standard age score (SAS) | Age percentile rank (APR) |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | 128 to 160 | 96 to 99 |
| 8 | 120 to 127 | 89 to 95 |
| 7 | 112 to 119 | 77 to 88 |
| 6 | 104 to 111 | 60 to 75 |
| 5 | 97 to 103 | 43 to 57 |
| 4 | 89 to 96 | 25 to 40 |
| 3 | 81 to 88 | 12 to 23 |
| 2 | 73 to 80 | 5 to 11 |
| 1 | 50 to 72 | 1 to 4 |
Some single rows from the same table, for scores parents often ask about:
| SAS | Age percentile rank | Age stanine |
|---|---|---|
| 137 to 160 | 99 | 9 |
| 132 | 98 | 9 |
| 128 | 96 | 9 |
| 124 | 93 | 8 |
| 120 | 89 | 8 |
| 116 | 84 | 7 |
| 110 | 73 | 6 |
| 100 | 50 | 5 |
The chart works the same for every battery and for the composite, because Table 37 converts any standard age score [2].
How do I read a CogAT ability profile?
An ability profile is a short code, such as 8B (Q-), that sums up the level and the pattern of your child's three battery scores [3]. The number is the median age stanine, the middle of the three. The letter is the pattern. A V, Q, or N with a plus or minus marks a relative strength or weakness in the Verbal, Quantitative, or Nonverbal Battery.
Riverside's help page gives this example: stanines of 7, 3, and 6 on the three batteries give a median stanine of 6 [3]. The pattern letters mean:
| Letter | What it means |
|---|---|
| A | All three scores are roughly at the same level |
| B | One score is above or below the other two |
| C | Two scores contrast: one relative strength and one relative weakness |
| E | Extreme differences: at least two scores differ by 24 or more SAS points |
So 9A means very high scores on all three batteries, and 2B (N+) means generally below average scores with a relative strength on the Nonverbal Battery [3]. Riverside's report guide sends parents to the free Interactive Ability Profile Interpretation System at cogat.com, where you can type in the code [1].
What CogAT score counts as gifted?
There is no single gifted score. Each school or district sets its own rule, and the Riverside guides we read for this page do not set one. Ask your school which score it uses (a battery SAS, the composite, or a percentile) and what the cut is.
Riverside's guide for teachers adds a warning about the composite. For children with a median stanine of 9, profiles with a clear or extreme weakness are almost as common as flat A profiles. The guide says this is one reason the CogAT author discourages using the overall composite to find academically talented students [5].
Why do two CogAT reports look different?
Schools choose what goes on the report. They can add local norms, which compare your child with children in your district, and they can leave out the ability profile [6]. The grade scores also depend on the season of the test date [2].
The bars on the report are drawn as confidence bands. Riverside describes each band as the range in which the score is likely to fall if your child took the test again [6], so a few points either way is normal.
Questions parents ask about CogAT scores
What is a good CogAT score?
An SAS of 100 is the middle score for your child's age, and stanines 4 to 6 are the average band [1][5]. Whether a score is good enough for a program depends on your school's own rule.
Is a CogAT standard age score the same as an IQ?
No. Riverside calls it a standard age score, a reasoning score compared with children of the same age, and its guides do not convert it to an IQ [1]. We do not either.
What is the CogAT composite score?
The composite gives the average of a child's scores on the three batteries [5]. Riverside's guide for teachers calls the ability profile "a far more informative and useful index" [5].
Can a practice test predict my child's CogAT score?
No. Practice questions written for a book are not the real test. Our free answer check marks a Gradecairn practice test and shows question types to practice, and it gives no score, percentile, or IQ.
Where can I learn what is on the test?
Our guide what is the CogAT test covers the batteries, levels, and timing. Our page of CogAT sample questions shows one question of each type, and the CogAT Grade 2 practice test workbook has 426 more. How we check every workbook explains how its answers were proved.
Sources
- Riverside Insights, The CogAT Individual Profile Narrative Report, report guide, publisher documentation.
- David F. Lohman and Joni M. Lakin, CogAT Forms 7 and 8 2017 Norms and Score Conversions Guide, Riverside Assessments, 2019. Table 37 read 15 October 2026.
- Riverside Insights, Ability Profiles, online help documentation.
- Riverside Insights, Overview of CogAT for Parents, parent guide.
- Riverside, Cognitive Abilities Test Form 7: A Short Guide for Teachers, March 2013.
- Riverside, CogAT Score Interpretation Guide, Individual Profile Narrative pages, as reprinted by Seton Testing.