A CogAT exam is not just an exam. It is one of the toughest exams in the United States to find “Gifted and Talented ones”. The students who score good marks in this exam are considered some of the most intelligent people alive. Now, preparations for a critical test like CogAT cannot be done in the eleventh hour. Unless of course, you want to meet the last-minute anxiety and failure.
The reason why Etutorworld has prepared a list of top 6 things that you need to master before the final week of the D-day arrives:
1) Following Test Papers and other study materials
Test papers, model test papers, and booklets are considered as the best study material for every student appearing for CogAT because it gives you a real-time experience of the final paper. You can also take online courses for the preparation of the exam. Every examination has its own question pattern, structure and marks distribution.
If you are acquainted with the test’s difficulty level and probable questions that appeared in the previous years with the tricks to answer them, nothing can stop you from achieving the heights you have always dreamt of. However, if you think it’s getting too much to handle on your own, you can seek help from experts or tutors. A professional guide can help you in multiple ways and ensure undisturbed growth.
2) Learning how to manage time
As we know that a CogAT examination has a time limit of 2 to 3 hours. It contains 3 batteries – verbal, quantitative and nonverbal. Continuous practice on test papers or booklets will familiarize you with the probable questions and help you gain fluency in solving them.
Practice and regular analysis you guide you on how to manage time for all the batteries. This will ultimately help you to maintain an optimum time for each battery of about 30 to 45 minutes. And we all know how efficient time-management can take you a long way – not only in the CogAT tests but in life as well.
3) Reading books
Verbal battery is an imminent part of CogAT examination. In order to be fluent and showcase a good vocabulary, you need to read extensively. Pick one hour each day that is solely dedicated to your reading. It can be anything – books, magazines, newspapers, etc. Apart from the fluency and knowledge, reading also develops your imagination power and critical viewpoint about a particular thing or case provided to you.
4) Comparing and relating
You as a student, CogAT test prep must start learning to relate words with ideas and shapes with figures. As we know that CogAT is all about how you process the questions, you must inculcate this activity right from the initial stages of your preparation.
In batteries like the verbal battery, if the questions concern a specific word this exercise will help you relate it with an idea. In the written portion, comparing of shapes and figures will help you. There is a list of questions that appear each year concerning shapes and figures and their comparison. This exercise of comparing and relating will help you process the answer to the given question at a faster rate.
5) Learning crossing out
This is one of the most important exercises which you should practice a lot but not at the eleventh hour. It’s basically the activity of eliminating the answers that are not associated with the question.
For instance, as soon as you lay your eyes on a question there are some probable answers that you know are definitely not correct. Now, when you cross out these answers, you will be able to process the correct answer faster as the number of remaining options is now less than before. Trust me, this helps you a great deal with tricky questions.
6) Cramming too much information just before the exam
When the exams are knocking on your doors, you are already overwhelmed with multiple thoughts running in your mind. On top of that, if you try to cram too much information in these critical hours, it might take a toll on your mental health. Apart from that, it can also result in black-outs. Yes, you might forget everything on the D-day because of the extra burden that your mind suffered. The whole hard work of several months will go in vain.
Wrapping it up
Thus, the conclusion is that you must start the preparation of CogAT examination months before the exam and must not leave anything for the eleventh hour. If you follow this, you may be the next “Gifted or Talent one”. All the best!