Bracken School Readiness Assessment: Coverage

The Bracken School Readiness Assessment covers 6 tests in relation to the basic skills that will test the child’s readiness for school. These tests can determine whether the child is well adapted to the grade he is in or whether improvements can be made to better assist the child’s growth especially with the cognitive abilities and language performance.

The test is administered individually, with no time limit required. The length of time the Bracken School Readiness Assessment test depends solely upon the child’s capabilities. The test makes use of verbal and visual needs.
This IQ test or the Bracken Test focuses on these 6 basic skills that the child needs to identify:

Color – identification of the color presented visually

Letters – letters should be recognized by the child in their upper or lower case as presented

Numbers and Counting – the child should be able to count from 1-99, and be able to identify numbers of single digits form those of double digit numbers

Sizes – the size should be amply identified by the child (e.g. tall, wide, short)

Comparisons – objects should be matched accordingly based on the characteristics given

Shapes – basic shapes should be duly recognized and easily identified by the child

http://www.ehow.com/about_6130925_bracken-assessment-iq-testing.html

Bracken School Readiness Assessment: References and Tools

In preparing your child for the Bracken School Readiness Assessment Examination, there are several supplementary aids in helping your child be better equipped in taking the test.
Here are some of the many additional resources to serve as tools in preparing your child achieve optimal results in taking the Bracken School Readiness Assessment test:

Purposeful Play for Early Childhood Phonological Awareness
This is well suited for children in the second grade level, and is focused in making use of phonology as an antecedent to the road to reading as this book is designed to help the child make use of the sounds such as through songs, role plays, and games requiring interaction from the audience. Through such, identification of words, syllabication, and mastering rhymes are made easy and fun for the child.

My First Brain Quest
A game making use of questions through pictures, this book is made specifically for children 2-3 years of age or those in the pre-K level. This supplementary tool makes interaction captivating enough for children with short attention span yet at the same time, promotes language development, and improvement in the child’s cognitive skills and abilities.

Mathematical Reasoning Beginning 1
Made for children in the pre-K level, Mathematical Reasoning caters to the child’s development of problem solving skills in mathematics, paving the way to better deal with higher mathematical challenges in the long run.

Can You Find Me?
This makes use of pictures as answers to riddles given by the ones presenting said picture cards verbally. Using such can make recognizing pictures easily, thus ensuring quick identification of the child with regards to the riddles presented.

http://www.thinktonight.com/BSRA_s/248.htm

CogAT Sentence Completion Skills

In grades 3 and up, children taking the CogAT are asked to solve sentence-completion questions using words and not pictures. As part of your child’s preparation for the CogAT, running through a few sample questions can be extremely helpful. Free CogAT practice questions are available online, and these questions are wonderful for familiarizing your child with the question structure. They may have never encountered this particular structure before, and understanding it can make a big difference in their performance.

The concept is simple. A sentence will be presented with one word missing. Your child will be asked to choose, from a short list of approximately five options, the word which best completes the sentence. If your child is struggling with this question format, work with them using free CogAT sample questions, cognitive tests, or thinking-skills materials. Many children unfortunately score inaccurately poorly on the CogAT due to a lack of familiarity with the question structures, but proper preparation can help avoid this issue.

http://www.120perhour.com/SENTENCE-COMPLETION/cogat-sample-test-sentence-completion1.htm

CogAT Verbal Classification Skills

For students in grades 3 and up, verbal classification skills are tested on the CogAT. Familiarizing your child with the structure of these questions can lead to higher scores, since they won’t waste time and energy trying to figure out what the question is really asking. Free CogAT practice questions are a wonderful way to help your student become familiar with this format.

Although it may be a structure which your child has never dealt with before, this format is really quite simple. Three words will be presented which have something in common. Below these three words are five more words. Your child will be asked to identify the word from the selection of five which would fit best into the selection of three. If your child is struggling with the concept, you can utilize some of the wonderful free cognitive abilities tests which are available online. Building these skills will help your child not only on the CogAT, but in their everyday academic life as well.

http://www.120perhour.com/VERBAL-CLASSIFICATION/cogat-sample-test-verbal-classification.htm

Avoiding Test Anxiety

As any parent knows, a big test like the CogAT can be a very stressful event, for you and your child. Anxiety can run high. It’s easy to lose sight of the ultimate goal…an accurate score…in the chaos of preparation. However, it’s essential to remember that while preparing your child is a good idea, over-preparation can lead to test anxiety. Test anxiety is a major cause of inaccurately low test scores.

Test anxiety can show itself in many ways, including panic attacks, distraction, and rushing through the test in order to simply “get it over with.” Thankfully, this debilitating condition can be prevented. Use a free cognitive abilities test and a few sample questions to familiarize your child with the test’s format. Unless they’re very young, students understand the importance of the CogAT. Your role as a parent should be to assist them deal with the stress, not add more stress. Let them know that they don’t need to worry themselves to death; a relaxed student can think more clearly and answer more accurately than a worried student.

http://www.120perhour.com/cogat-sample-test-level-K-2.htm

I’m Not Happy with My Child’s CogAT Results…Now What?

Before you panic or jump to any conclusions, be absolutely certain that you (or your child’s teacher) has calculated the child’s CogAT results accurately. This is relatively simple, but it never hurts to double check when it comes to something as important as your child’s education. Add up all the percentile points and ensure that they average out to the correct combined percentile. Do the same with the stanine results. If you find any inaccuracies, notify your child’s school at once.

If you don’t find inaccuracies but are still surprised by your child’s CogAT results, consider all the variables involved. Was your child battling a sore throat on test day? Were they distracted by anything going on at home? Do they suffer from test anxiety? Anything which distracts a child can lead to inaccurately poor test scores. If you believe this to be the case, contact the school and ask about re-resting policies.

If your child produced honest but poor CogAT results, try not to worry excessively. Chances are good that with a bit of specialized cognitive skill development, they will thrive and soon be functioning at or above the level of their peers.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5931022_interpret-cogat-scores.html

What Do My Child’s CogAT Results Indicate?

Once your child has taken the CogAT, you will receive their CogAT results. These should be fairly simple to interpret; if you’re having trouble, contact your child’s school. The scores should place your child in a certain percentile. For example, if your child scored in the 99th percentile overall, she has outperformed 99 percent of her peers and is in the top one percent of test-takers nationwide.

What is done with the results will likely be a collaboration between you and your child’s teachers. Extremely high CogAT results usually indicate that a child would benefit from gifted, enriched or talented classes or schools. On the other hand, a very low score can indicate that your child may have fallen behind his or her peers, and could benefit from some supplemental education. A score in the average range indicates that your child is performing exactly as expected, given their age and grade level.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5931022_interpret-cogat-scores.html

How to Interpret CogAT Results

While they may look a bit intimidating, interpreting your child’s CogAT results is actually quite simple. Begin by looking at each stanine score. A stanine is simply an unfamiliar word for a familiar thing: a normalized standard score scale. Stanines range between one and nine. You should see three stanine scores. For example, we’ll use a stanine score of nine. This corresponds to a score between the 96th and 99th percentiles, indicating that your child scored above 96 to 99 percent of his peers. A stanine score above five is considered above average.

CogAT results given in percentiles are much easier to interpret. If your child receives a score in the 97th percentile, this indicates that she is in the top three percent of test-takers, and that she scored above 97 percent of her peers.

You should see individual scores and percentiles for each section of the three sections of the CogAT, as well as a combined score. If you find anything confusing, simply as your child’s school to better explain the CogAT results.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5931022_interpret-cogat-scores.html

Common Cognitive Abilities Test Questions

One of the most common questions parents and students face is a simple one: What is the cognitive abilities test? The answer is that the cognitive abilities test (or CogAT) is a comprehensive test which determines cognitive abilities, also known as cognition or reasoning. Another common way to look at cognition is problem-solving skills. The CogAT is can be given to children in any grade, K-12, and takes approximately an hour for most grade and age levels.

Many parents often also wonder why their child has been singled out to take the CogAT. While this test is usually administered in a group setting, some children (usually those whose teachers believe they are either falling behind or are especially gifted) take it individually. In these cases, the children are usually given a different version of the test than the rest of their class, in order to better determine their individual strengths and weaknesses.

http://www.issaquah.wednet.edu/academics/assessment/CogAT.aspx

What is the Cognitive Abilities Test?

The CogAT, or cognitive abilities test, is a respected test given to students in grades K-12. The purpose of the test is to assess cognitive ability. Cognition is essentially problem-solving and reasoning. The CogAT lets parents and teachers see if a child is functioning above, at or below their grade, age or peer level. Once this has been determined, steps can be taken. These steps may include placement into gifted classes, a few specialized sessions with a tutor, or placement into special-needs classes.

While the question of what is the cognitive abilities test is certainly an important one, it should always be remembered that this test is often one part of a comprehensive testing session. A common combination is to administer the CogAT, the Iowa Basic Skills test, and an IQ test. These three types of tests, when used together, can provide a very thorough understanding how a students learning, intelligence, and reasoning ability.

http://www.issaquah.wednet.edu/academics/assessment/CogAT.aspx