The Cognitive Abilities Test in plain English: the four batteries, what an SAS score of 100 or 120 actually means, and why most schools don't use it as a pass/fail exam
Book a Free ConsultationIf your child's school has mentioned a "CAT4 test", it is natural to assume it works like the 11+ or a GCSE — something to revise for, pass or fail. It doesn't. CAT4 (Cognitive Abilities Test, Fourth Edition) is a reasoning assessment published by GL Assessment, sat by hundreds of thousands of UK pupils every year, most commonly in Year 3, Year 7 and Year 9. It measures four types of reasoning — verbal, non-verbal, quantitative and spatial — and reports the results as Standard Age Scores on a scale that typically runs from around 69 to 141, with 100 as the average. Crucially, there is no pass mark. Most schools use CAT4 to understand a child's learning potential, set realistic targets, and decide how to group pupils for teaching — not to decide who gets in. This guide explains what each battery actually tests, how to read an SAS score and stanine, when and why schools test, how CAT4 differs from the 11+, and what a parent should actually do if a result comes home looking lower than expected.
CAT4 is the fourth edition of the Cognitive Abilities Test, developed and published by GL Assessment, the same organisation behind many of the 11+ verbal and non-verbal reasoning papers used by grammar schools. GL Assessment describes CAT4 as measuring "the main types of reasoning ability known to make a difference to learning and achievement" — in other words, it is designed to test how a child thinks and solves unfamiliar problems, not what facts or methods they have been taught. This is the single most important distinction to hold onto: SATs, GCSEs, and the 11+ all test curriculum knowledge or taught skills to some degree, whereas CAT4 is built to be as curriculum-independent as possible.
In practice, this means a child can do well on CAT4 even if their classwork or a recent set of exam results has been patchy, and equally a child can do less well on CAT4 despite strong classroom attainment. Schools generally value this precisely because it gives them a second, independent lens on a pupil, alongside teacher assessment, that can reveal a mismatch between potential and current performance. According to GL Assessment, more than 750,000 pupils across the UK and Ireland take CAT4 each year, and it is administered either on paper or digitally depending on the school's setup.
CAT4 is split into four separate batteries, each producing its own Standard Age Score, plus a combined mean SAS across all four. Understanding what each one measures helps you make sense of a results report that lists four separate numbers rather than one overall grade.
Verbal Reasoning tests a child's ability to understand relationships between words and to reason using language — for example, identifying connections between word pairs or completing verbal analogies. GL Assessment notes this battery is particularly relevant to subjects with high reading and writing demands, such as English, history and languages. It is also the battery most sensitive to a child's fluency in English, which matters for pupils with English as an additional language, a point we return to below.
Non-verbal Reasoning uses shapes, patterns, sequences and diagrams rather than words, so it does not depend on language or vocabulary. Children are asked to identify the pattern that logically continues a sequence of figures, or the odd one out among a set of shapes. This battery correlates strongly with performance in maths and science, since both subjects reward the ability to spot patterns and relationships independent of specific taught content.
Quantitative Reasoning tests the ability to reason with numbers and numerical relationships — but it goes beyond simple arithmetic. Rather than testing whether a child can calculate 24 x 7, it tests whether they can spot the underlying number pattern or relationship in a sequence, which is a different skill from mental arithmetic speed, even though the two are related.
Spatial Reasoning tests the ability to visualise and mentally manipulate two- and three-dimensional shapes — for example, working out what a flat net folds into, or how a shape looks when rotated. GL Assessment links this battery closely to design technology, geometry, and STEM subjects generally, where the ability to picture an object from multiple angles is a genuine academic advantage.
| Battery | What It Measures | Most Relevant Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal Reasoning | Reasoning with words and language | English, History, Languages |
| Non-verbal Reasoning | Pattern and diagram-based problem-solving | Maths, Science |
| Quantitative Reasoning | Reasoning with numbers and number patterns | Maths |
| Spatial Reasoning | Visualising and rotating 2D/3D shapes | Maths, Science, Design Technology |
Children aged 6 to 8 typically sit two shorter 30-minute tests, while pupils aged 8 to 17+ sit three 45-minute test sessions covering all four batteries, sat either on paper or on a computer/tablet depending on the school. For a closer look at how the Non-verbal and Verbal batteries specifically relate to 11+ preparation, see our guides on non-verbal reasoning and verbal reasoning, and for the numerical side see our numerical reasoning guide.
CAT4 results are reported as a Standard Age Score (SAS) for each of the four batteries, plus an overall mean SAS across all four. The SAS is age-standardised, meaning a child's raw number of correct answers is converted into a score that only compares them with other children of a very similar age — usually to the nearest month. This matters because a child who is one of the youngest in their year group is not disadvantaged relative to a child who is nearly a year older, since both are being compared against same-age peers rather than the whole year group indiscriminately.
The SAS scale is centred on a mean of 100, which represents exactly average performance for a child's age. In practice, published SAS scores typically run from around 69 at the low end to around 141 at the high end, though the vast majority of pupils score somewhere in the 85–115 band. As a rough guide: scores of roughly 90–110 are considered average, 111–119 above average, 120 and above well above average, and scores below 90 below average — but schools are generally cautious about treating these bands as rigid, since a score close to a boundary (109 versus 111, for instance) reflects a very small practical difference.
Alongside the SAS, CAT4 reports also often show a nine-band stanine score. Stanine 5 sits in the middle and covers the broad average range, capturing roughly the middle 20% of the national sample; stanines 1–3 sit below average and 7–9 above average, with the extreme bands (1 and 9) each representing a small minority of pupils. Because stanines group scores into wider bands, they are less precise than the SAS but are often used by schools as a quick, "broad brush" way to sort pupils into intervention or extension groups without over-interpreting a one- or two-point difference in raw SAS.
| SAS Score | Stanine Band | General Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 120+ | 8–9 | Well above average |
| 111–119 | 7 | Above average |
| 90–110 | 4–6 | Average |
| 80–89 | 3 | Below average |
| Below 80 | 1–2 | Well below average |
If your child's school uses standardised scores in other contexts too — for example in reporting SATs or 11+ results — our guide to 11+ standardised scores explains how the same underlying statistical idea (age-adjusted scoring against a mean of 100) is applied slightly differently across different tests.
Most schools that use CAT4 do so at natural transition points rather than continuously through the year. The most common testing points are Year 3 (around age 7–8, often shortly after starting at a junior or prep school), Year 7 (age 11–12, shortly after starting secondary school), and Year 9 (age 13–14, ahead of GCSE options). Testing at these junctures gives a new school baseline reasoning data for every pupil, independent of the marking standards or curriculum coverage of their previous school, which can vary considerably between primary schools or between a state primary and an independent prep school.
Year 7 CAT4 testing is particularly widespread in UK secondary schools, both grammar and comprehensive, because it lets the school build a reasoning profile for an entire new intake within the first few weeks of term, well before any internal assessment data exists. Some independent schools also use CAT4-style cognitive testing as part of Year 9 Common Entrance or 13+ preparation; our Common Entrance guide and ISEB Common Pre-Test guide cover the wider landscape of cognitive and attainment testing used around the 13+ transition.
This is the point that causes the most parental anxiety, so it is worth stating plainly: CAT4 has no pass mark, and GL Assessment does not publish or endorse a threshold score for school entry. The overwhelming majority of schools use CAT4 results for four main purposes, none of which is a binary "in or out" decision.
Baseline assessment. A CAT4 score taken shortly after arrival gives a school an independent measure of a pupil's reasoning ability that is not affected by how well or badly they have settled into a new environment yet, or by differences in how their previous school assessed them.
Setting and streaming. Many secondary schools use CAT4 stanine bands, often alongside other evidence, to help decide which teaching set or stream is likely to suit a pupil best in a subject — recognising this is a starting point that gets revised as real classwork evidence accumulates, not a fixed label.
Target-setting and progress tracking. Because CAT4 measures underlying reasoning potential, some schools use it (often via GL Assessment's own benchmarking data) to generate expected or "chance" grades for GCSE or A-level, which staff can then compare against a pupil's actual progress over several years.
Spotting underachievement. Perhaps the most valuable use of CAT4 from a pastoral point of view is identifying pupils whose current classroom attainment is well below what their CAT4 scores would predict. A high CAT4 score alongside low attainment can prompt a school to investigate — is there an unaddressed learning need, a confidence issue, a home-life factor, or simply a pupil who has not yet engaged with a subject? This diagnostic use is one reason GL Assessment and teaching bodies are consistently clear that CAT4 should never be used in isolation to make high-stakes decisions about a single child.
It is worth being upfront that a small number of schools do incorporate a cognitive test score, sometimes CAT4 itself, into in-year admissions decisions for pupils joining outside the normal entry point — our guide to joining a grammar school after Year 7 covers this in-year admissions context in detail. This is a genuine exception to the general rule, but it remains a minority use case rather than what CAT4 was designed for.
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No, and the difference matters for how you should react to each. The 11+ is an attainment and selection exam: it typically tests verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and maths against either a fixed pass mark or a competitive ranking, and the outcome directly determines whether a child is offered a place at a grammar or selective independent school. CAT4 is a diagnostic reasoning assessment with no pass mark, most commonly sat after a child has already secured their school place, used to inform how that school teaches and supports them.
There is genuine conceptual overlap: the Non-verbal Reasoning and Verbal Reasoning question types that appear in many 11+ papers are similar in style to CAT4's Non-verbal and Verbal batteries, since both are ultimately built around similar reasoning skills. This is why solid 11+ preparation — working through pattern-based non-verbal reasoning questions and verbal analogy or code-breaking questions — tends to build exactly the kind of reasoning fluency that also helps with CAT4, even though the two tests are scored completely differently and serve different institutional purposes. If your child is preparing for the 11+ around the same time as sitting a school CAT4 assessment, our 11+ preparation timeline is a useful reference for how the two might sit alongside each other without doubling up unnecessarily.
GL Assessment designs CAT4 to measure underlying reasoning ability rather than taught or memorised content, and does not recommend intensive last-minute coaching aimed at "beating" the test — heavy drilling in the days before sitting it is unlikely to move a score meaningfully, precisely because it is testing reasoning rather than recall. That said, there is an honest, defensible middle ground between "no preparation at all" and "intensive coaching", and most educational psychologists and test publishers would support it.
A child who has genuinely never encountered a spatial reasoning question involving nets and rotations, or a quantitative reasoning question built around an unfamiliar type of number sequence, may lose marks simply through unfamiliarity with the question format rather than through any lack of underlying ability. Light familiarisation — working through a handful of examples of each of the four question types so the format itself is not a surprise on the day — removes that specific source of error without artificially inflating the score. Building broader reasoning fluency over months through activities like pattern puzzles, logic problems and vocabulary-building reading is a more defensible long-term approach than short-term drilling, and it is exactly the kind of preparation that overlaps naturally with sound 11+ verbal and non-verbal reasoning practice.
A single below-average CAT4 result is a data point, not a verdict. There are several common, non-alarming explanations schools are trained to consider before drawing any conclusions. Test-day factors — anxiety, tiredness, or simply an off day — can affect any child on any assessment. Unfamiliarity with the question format, particularly for spatial or quantitative reasoning styles a child has not seen before, can also depress a score without reflecting true ability. English as an additional language is a well-recognised factor specifically for the Verbal Reasoning battery, since it depends heavily on English vocabulary and idiom in a way the other three batteries do not; schools are generally advised to weigh a EAL pupil's Non-verbal and Spatial scores more heavily when the Verbal score looks out of step with the other three.
Because of this, a well-run school will treat a low CAT4 score as a prompt to look further — comparing it against classwork, teacher observation, and other assessment data — rather than as a label to attach to a child. If a result comes home that seems out of line with what you would expect, it is entirely reasonable to ask the school directly how they are using the score and what, if anything, they plan to do differently as a result.
Whether your child is approaching a Year 3, Year 7 or Year 9 CAT4 assessment, or you have received a result and are trying to work out what it actually means for their schooling, a second opinion from tutors who understand both the test and the subjects it touches can help. Leading Tuition's tutors are experienced in the reasoning skills CAT4 measures across all four batteries, and many of our 11+ preparation programmes build the same underlying verbal, non-verbal, quantitative and spatial reasoning ability, without resorting to last-minute drilling that publishers themselves advise against.
CAT4 stands for Cognitive Abilities Test, Fourth Edition. It is published by GL Assessment and is one of the most widely used reasoning tests in UK schools, with hundreds of thousands of pupils sitting it each year. Unlike SATs, GCSEs or the 11+, CAT4 does not test what a child has learned from the curriculum. Instead it measures reasoning ability across four areas: verbal, non-verbal, quantitative and spatial. Schools use the results to understand a child's underlying learning potential, to set realistic targets, and to spot pupils whose current attainment does not yet reflect their ability.
CAT4 is made up of four batteries. Verbal Reasoning tests a child's ability to understand and reason using words and language, which correlates with subjects that have high reading and writing demands. Non-verbal Reasoning uses shapes, patterns and diagrams to test problem-solving without relying on language, and is linked to performance in maths and science. Quantitative Reasoning tests the ability to reason with numbers and numerical relationships, going beyond simple arithmetic into number patterns and relationships. Spatial Reasoning tests the ability to visualise and manipulate shapes and objects in two and three dimensions, which is closely tied to subjects such as maths, science, design technology and geometry.
CAT4 results are reported as Standard Age Scores (SAS), which adjust for a child's exact age at the time of testing so that pupils are only compared with others of a similar age. The SAS scale runs from roughly 69 to 141, with a mean of 100. A score of 100 means a child performed exactly at the average for their age group. Scores from 90 to 110 are generally considered average, 111 to 119 above average, and 120 or higher well above average, while scores below 90 are below average. Schools also use a nine-point stanine scale, where stanine 5 covers the broad average band and stanines 1 to 3 and 7 to 9 mark below- and above-average performance respectively.
No. CAT4 has no pass mark and no fail mark, and GL Assessment does not publish or endorse any cut-off score as a threshold for entry to a school. It is a diagnostic reasoning test, not an attainment or entrance exam in the way the 11+ or Common Entrance are. Most schools that use CAT4 do so for baseline assessment, setting and streaming, or to flag pupils who may need additional support or extension work - not to decide whether a child is admitted. A minority of schools do fold a CAT4-style score into in-year admissions decisions alongside other evidence, but this is different from CAT4's core design purpose.
CAT4 is most commonly administered at transition points in a child's schooling, typically Year 3 (age 7-8), Year 7 (age 11-12) and Year 9 (age 13-14). Testing at these points gives schools baseline reasoning data shortly after a child arrives, without adding assessment burden throughout the year. Year 7 testing shortly after starting secondary school is particularly common, since it lets a new school build a picture of every pupil's reasoning profile independent of their previous school's marking or curriculum, which can vary considerably between primary schools.
The 11+ is an attainment and selection exam: it tests verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and maths against a fixed pass mark or ranking, and the result directly decides whether a child is offered a grammar or independent school place. CAT4 is a diagnostic reasoning test with no pass mark, used mainly after a child has already joined a school, to understand their cognitive profile and inform teaching, target-setting and pastoral support. Some 11+ style non-verbal and verbal reasoning question types overlap conceptually with CAT4's Non-verbal and Verbal batteries, which is why 11+ preparation can build reasoning skills that also help with CAT4, but the two tests serve different purposes and are scored in different ways.
CAT4 is designed to measure underlying reasoning ability rather than taught knowledge, so GL Assessment does not recommend intensive coaching, and heavy last-minute drilling is unlikely to move a score significantly. That said, familiarity helps: a child who has never seen a spatial reasoning question about nets and rotations, or a quantitative reasoning question about number sequences, may lose marks simply through unfamiliarity with the question format rather than lack of ability. Light, low-pressure familiarisation with each of the four question types, plus general reasoning practice built up over months rather than days, is the most defensible approach, and this is exactly where 11+ verbal and non-verbal reasoning preparation often overlaps usefully with CAT4 readiness.
A single below-average CAT4 score is not a verdict on a child's intelligence or their future - it is one data point among several. Low scores can reflect genuine reasoning difficulties, but they can also reflect test anxiety on the day, unfamiliarity with the question format, English as an additional language affecting the Verbal battery specifically, or a mismatch between a child's usual working pace and the test's time limits. Schools are trained to interpret CAT4 alongside other evidence such as classwork, teacher observation and attainment data, and a well-run school will use a low score as a prompt to investigate and support rather than to label a child.
Leading Tuition helps parents interpret CAT4 results in plain English and turn them into a practical plan - whether that means light reasoning-skills practice ahead of a Year 3, Year 7 or Year 9 test, or targeted subject support where a CAT4 profile has revealed a gap between a child's potential and their current classwork. Our tutors are experienced with the verbal, non-verbal, quantitative and spatial reasoning skills that CAT4 measures, and many of our 11+ preparation programmes build the same underlying reasoning ability. Rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot. Book a free consultation at leadingtuition.co.uk/consultation or message us on WhatsApp.
Leading Tuition helps parents understand CAT4, 11+ and standardised test results, and builds practical reasoning and subject support around them. Rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot.
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