Grade norms allow you to compare a particular student’s performance with that of other students in the same grade group.

The grade norms provided for CogAT span kindergarten through grade 12 for three test periods in the school year—fall, midyear, and spring.

Although the majority of students in a particular grade fall within a narrow age range, some individuals are much younger or much older than the typical student. For example, at the beginning of first grade, the majority of students are likely to range in age from 6 years and 2 months to 7 years; however, there are students in some first grade classes who are 5 years and 9 months old and some who are 8 years old. When a student’s age is typical for the group, the student’s age-normed and grade-normed scores will be identical, or nearly so. However, if individuals are very young for the grade, their age scores will be higher than their grade scores. If individuals are much older than the typical student in the grade group, their grade scores will be higher than their age scores.

For students who are younger or older than the typical student in a grade, grade norms rather than age norms are more appropriate to use when trying to understand the student’s academic performance.