CogAT lessonsVerbal Battery
CogAT sentence completion
A sentence with one word missing. Every choice fits the grammar; only one makes the sentence make sense.
What your child sees
Grade 4, a question like this one
The new student felt ______ at first, but soon made many friends.
Which word best completes the sentence?
- Apopular
- Bcrowded
- Clonely
- Ddelighted
- Econfident
Kindergarten to Grade 2, read aloud
Which animal says moo?
- A
- B
- C
Show the answer and whyHide the answer
Listen to the whole question before looking at the pictures.
Name each picture to yourself, and ask whether it answers the question.
A cow says moo.
Final answer
A cow.
Remember
Listen to the whole question before looking at the pictures.
Up to Grade 2 the question is read aloud and the answer is a picture: "Which one would you use to...?" There are three pictures to choose from.
Worked example
The same question, one step at a time.
- 1Read the whole sentence first, with the gap, and decide what kind of word belongs there.
- 2Look for clue words that point the meaning one way, such as "because", "but" or "so".
- 3Try each choice in the gap. Only "lonely" makes the sentence true: "but soon made many friends" means she felt lonely at first.
- 4Final answer: lonely.
Common traps
Every wrong choice is built from a mistake children really make.
Missing the clue word
Words such as "but", "although" and "because" point the meaning one way. Skip them and the opposite word looks right.
In the example: choices A (popular), B (crowded), D (delighted) and E (confident).
Sounds right, means nothing
Every choice reads smoothly in the gap. Read the finished sentence and ask whether it is true, not whether it sounds right.
In the example: choices A (popular), B (crowded), D (delighted) and E (confident).
Where it is on the test
Sentence completion is one of the three parts of the Verbal Battery. Up to Grade 2 it is a picture version, read aloud with no time limit.
| Grade | Part | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten (Level 5/6) | Sentence completion | 14 | No time limit |
| Grade 1 (Level 7) | Sentence completion | 16 | No time limit |
| Grade 2 (Level 8) | Sentence completion | 18 | No time limit |
| Grade 3 (Level 9) | Sentence completion | 20 | 10 minutes |
| Grade 4 (Level 10) | Sentence completion | 20 | 10 minutes |
| Grade 5 (Level 11) | Sentence completion | 20 | 10 minutes |
| Grade 6 (Level 12) | Sentence completion | 20 | 10 minutes |
| Grade 7 (Level 13/14) | Sentence completion | 20 | 10 minutes |
| Grade 8 (Level 13/14) | Sentence completion | 20 | 10 minutes |
Counts and times are Riverside Insights’ published figures.
Try it
Ten free Verbal Battery questions, new every time, with the score at the end. You will be asked to make a free account.
The other parts of the Verbal Battery
CogAT® is a registered trademark of Riverside Assessments, LLC. Scholar Tests is not affiliated with or endorsed by Riverside Insights or any school district. Our practice questions are written by us in the style of the published CogAT question types; they are not real CogAT questions, and a practice score is not a CogAT score.