CAT4 Skills Development

A cognitive skill or a physical skill like riding a bike is only difficult until you know how to do it. Children are experts at learning and the way they do this is one step at a time. They start with the foundations and then keep going until they finish building a house.

On the way of course they fall down, but there are key stages which once they have completed they won’t need to go back to except to refine. The persistence and determination of children is something which is truly amazing – as adults we are quick to give up but a child doesn’t until they take their first steps.

Foundational skills on which other talents continuously develop as a child grows – see CAT4 Assessment post for details. These skills are the skills that the CAT4 test attempt to measure. In the past assessments would only focus on knowledge but in the modern age problem solving and the ability to learn quickly are more important than being able to recall information which can just as easily be found by browsing the web.

Brain Function and Cognitive Growth

The thinking skills that are developed come from the brain and the way in which it is being wired together – and this wiring is dependent on the stimulus and challenges the child faces and overcomes. Brain cells or neurons fire off in all directions and create millions of connections as they branch out and reach other neurons. These multitudes of connections – or neural pathways are basically communication paths synonymous to the internet where computers are able to communicate with any other computer connected to the network.

These neurons don’t touch rather they pass information through electrical impulses (or synapses) – so a system of electrical chemical processes allows are thoughts to form and our abilities to develop. The more we are exposed to a particular problem the more synapses and connections are made and reinforced and thus a child becomes gifted in a particular skill.

So to develop the Cognitive Abilities that are useful as we age and part of the CAT4 assessment – children need to be exposed to simpler but similar challenges and puzzles to help these pathways to develop. The brain is truly an amazing organ but as with any part of the body if it’s not used it falls into disarray. In the same children need to be exposed to different experiences to expand their awareness and understanding of the world around them.

Cognitive Skills

Cognitive skills are enhanced by memory, speed, problem solving and attention. CAT4 tests evaluate specific skills, verbal, non-verbal, quantitative, spatial; but these are time constrained so if a student is unable to think quickly or solve problems or focus or remember similar scenarios they are highly unlikely to score highly. So the development of these attributes along with focusing on the different types of CAT4 tests is key to higher cognitive abilities. Simply having practiced similar tests is not enough but it does provide context which removes a degree of complexity which would otherwise potentially overwhelm a student when faced with an unfamiliar setting.

Nature or nurture – Why are some children smarter?

There is an age old debate over nature and nurture – now without going into too much detail not all brains process information the same way – some children have more “flexibility” in their structures and easily take in knew knowledge and setup new networks. Other children take a little longer to develop these abilities. One child may retain these abilities for longer even without using them while another may simply “drop” the unused skill (or network) after a short period. We are all different but we all have the ability to develop our skills at any age so even if a child is not scoring so well on tests – or on the CAT4 – there is nothing to say that without practice and patience abilities can’t be developed.

There are so many skills as an adult you think you know instinctively about how the world works but its very likely that you have been exposed to similar knowledge problems and patterns as you developed as a child. All the information we accumulate is useful knowledge and helps us process new situations based on past lessons. People accumulate all this useful knowledge through experience, so during childhood parents need to provide challenging scenarios to help their children develop the necessary foundational skills.

What do you think? Is it nature or is it nurture that determines abilities?

What are CAT Tests?

CAT Tests or Cognitive Ability Tests are assessments used by many schools and even during job interviews to assess an individuals overall intelligence and future potential. They provide a good indication of future performance and many secondary schools, particularly private, grammar and international schools, use CAT Tests to assess a child’s ability before they start Year 7. These tests are also used by some schools in year 7 and year 8 to help determine which academic set a child should be placed in. The CAT test isn’t used to assess academic and topic knowledge but rather a child’s potential if provided with an appropriate learning environment.

Assessing a child’s ability in any area – or the groups abilities in the different areas – helps the teacher to focus on different learning styles and create material and assessments that provide maximum benefit.

Types of CAT Tests

CAT4 / CogAT

There are a variety of CAT tests which are focused on different age groups and created for different purposes. The CAT4 test, or cognitive abilities test, is focused on:

– Verbal Reasoning – Thinking and problem solving with words
– Non-Verbal Reasoning – Thinking and problem solving with shapes and space
– Quantitative Reasoning – Thinking and problem solving with numbers
– Spatial Reasoning – Visualising, picturing and moving shapes around

There are various levels of the CAT4 test ranging from primary school all the way to college / year 12. CogAT is a very similar test and generally used in schools within the United States.

UCAT Test

The UCAT is a University Clinical Abilities Test which focuses on areas which are more in line with the requirements of a health care professional and consists of:

• 1: Verbal Reasoning.
• 2: Decision Making.
• 3: Quantitative Reasoning.
• 4: Abstract Reasoning.
• 5: Situational Judgement.

Again the first four sections of the UCAT are clearly measuring cognitive abilities which are related to clinical practice – for instance verbal reasoning skills are required to read reports and / or research papers, decision making is needed to determine a care plan for a patient based on the information available, quantitative reasoning is essential when determining dosages, abstract reasoning is needed to be able to see patterns in x-rays, MRIs, and ultrasounds. Section 5 is the one area which is context specific and bringing together all of the other cognitive skills in actual scenarios.

CAT Test

The Common Admission Test is another form of a cognitive ability assessment which is used by various universities to determine if you have the ability to attend higher education, particularly master level courses. It has in the past consisted of verbal and reading comprehension (VARC), data interpretation and logical reasoning (DILR) and quantitative aptitude. There is a lot of competition to get into university courses so these tests are one part of the admissions process set by the university to help select students who have the potential to do well.

Find out more about the UCAT by clicking here.

What is a good CAT test score?

A good CAT score is normally one which puts you in the 80th or 90th percentile of the cohort who takes the test. Ultimately if you achieve entry into the school of your choice your score was good enough !

A child’s ability to succeed at school academically and socially has been studied for many years – many academics, and I have to agree, feel that with the right support and development every child has the potential to achieve more. The age old debate of nature versus nurture still continues to haunt us but yes there are limitations based on physiology and genetics but with the right support the elastic nature of the brain is truly remarkable.

Schools are being held accountable for their students’ academic performance which has led to further focus on the diverse set of skills and attributes that indicate a child’s future performance – academically that is. When is a child ready to start school? What foundational skills are required? There are factors such as where in the social ladder the child comes from which also play a part – with the gap between children from higher and lower income families widening. You could even argue that a child’s readiness at the start of school impacts his or her learning and academic performance into their teens and ultimately effects their employment potential.

Basic Skills Vs Cognitive Skills

Some academics (click here for more info) conclude that basic literacy and numeracy skills are predictors of success while others feel more directly teaching preschool subjects to build skills in particular domains help. Preschool years are critical in a child’s development of mental processes from memory, focus, and problem solving. Those who come underprivileged background generally are behind in the development of these building blocks putting them at a distinct disadvantage when moving to higher level work.

Without the building blocks of memory, focus, and problem solving it becomes more difficult to build other knowledge whatever the domain. If we take the four pillars below as key indicators of future ability to gain knowledge then by setting and focusing on these as precursors to school readiness will allow children to quickly catch in foundational domain specific knowledge such as literacy and numeracy skills.

The contributions of different cognitive skills in academic achievement has been identified as major factors to predict ability and growth in emergent literacy and numeracy skills. So it seems and would make sense that by developing executive functions of the brain domain specific achievement is would positively be impacted.

There are so many factors in determining how a child’s cognitive development is impacted during the early years but if a more structured and explicit approach was taken – it may be possible that the tools building blocks of learning can be developed and used helping the individual perform at a higher level for the rest of his or her life.

Developing Cognitive Skills

Some simple ways of measuring and potentially even developing some of these general cognitive abilities:

1. Repeating a set of words or letters backwards
2. Jigsaws / small puzzles
3. Basic problem solving tasks
4. Card games – Snap, Pairs, Crazy 8, Black Jack etc..
5. Word connection games, verbal and visual
6. Alphabet Soup
7. Dot to Dot

What is probably the most important thing is to engage your child with new and interesting objects and set challenges for them so they have to use their cognitive functions from an early age – in this way they won’t only be ready for school but they will be equipped with the building blocks – foundational abilities – for the rest of their lives.

Find out how the difference cognitive skills assessed in the CAT4 are used in the real world:

Non-Verbal Figure Analysis
Non-Verbal Figure Matrices
Non-Verbal Figure Recognition
Numerical Analogies
Numerical Series
Verbal Analogies
Verbal Classification

What is the CAT4 used for?

The CAT4 can be used by schools in a number of different ways and the wealth of data can provide educators with an objective approach to determining teaching methods:

1. School entrance exam – as part of the school’s admission process to ensure children accepted into the school have similar abilities to learn.
2. Measure Learner Styles – to better understand the learner styles in a particular cohort of students and modify the teaching approach creating more effective learning experiences.
3. GCSE Predictor – the CAT4 has been shown to be an excellent predictor of future academic performance, in particular the CAT4 Year 8 seems to correlate directly with future GCSE grades.

Although it may seem harsh and possibly ethically / morally questionable but private and selective schools generally don’t want children who are too far apart in academic abilities. Teaching then becomes difficult and endd up slowing down to teach to the lowest common denominator. There is of course room for peer learning and differentiated learning approaches but many schools are not willing to compromise on the basic cognitive skills they want each and every child to have.

Many schools are using the CAT4 to determine how they should teach a particular cohort and also to predict a child’s future performance – particularly during their GCSE. Each child learns in a different way and each cohort of children may lean more towards a particular learning style which educators need to identify and use to inform their teaching methods and materials.

By developing your child’s cognitive skills in terms of thinking, reading, learning, remembering, reasoning, and paying attention your child will outperform many other children over time even with a starting point of low topic knowledge, furthermore these skills will support your child in every way and last a lifetime.

Can’t children be assessed in the classroom – why do we need the CAT4?

In a classroom the teacher only sees a few aspects of a child’s ability. Sometimes the child simply hasn’t ever felt the need to really use their cognitive abilities. Verbal skills are easy to identify but this hidden potential by determining reasoning ability, spatial reasoning, verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, make a huge difference to future academic performance. Academic ability and topic knowledge is only one part of the puzzle. The teacher / schools needs to be able to assess the full profile of a child and the CAT4 is an excellent tool to break that down into simply, understandable parts.

Why the CAT4?

The CAT4 is one of the UK (possibly worlds excluding the USA of course) used test of reasoning abilities. It uses at least 25,000 students standardised results to provide an accurate baseline against which your child can be measured. There prove indicators for national tests and examinations during every stage from KS2, SATs, GCSEs and A-Levels. Provide a real insight into the way a child thinks.