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Cub Climb: Gifted Test Prep

Ages 8 to 14 · grades 3–8 (UK Years 4–9) · iPhone and iPad

CogAT · NNAT · OLSAT · CAT4 · 11+ · CCAT-7

The reasoning behind gifted screening.

From the CogAT in a US district to the 11+ in England and the CCAT-7 in Canada, gifted and selective-school tests look at how a child reasons with words, numbers and pictures. Cub Climb builds that reasoning with original puzzles in three flavours. Getting the answer earns a star; naming the rule earns the second, because that’s the part that carries over to everything else they’ll ever have to work out.

Play free
Download Cub Climb: Gifted Test Prep on the App StoreAndroid: coming soon

Free to play right here in the browser. No account, no card, no ads.

Puzzle types

PicturesNon-verbal reasoning

Thinking in pictures

Three pictures follow a rule, or one shape turns into another. Nothing to read, so a child who is still reading slowly is not held back.

Playable demo

Three follow a rule. Find the fourth.

Real puzzles, pulled from the bank the app itself draws from, so what you try here is what your child would meet. Pick an answer and it shows you the rule — not just a tick, because the rule is the thing worth learning.

Nothing here is scored, saved or sent anywhere. One of 741 puzzles at this level.

Figure ClassificationThree pictures follow a rule. Find the fourth that follows it too.

Pick an answer. Nothing is scored, and nothing is saved.

What the tests measure

Three kinds of thinking. Nine kinds of question.

The CogAT, the test most US districts use, measures verbal, quantitative and non-verbal reasoning, three question types each; the CCAT-7 is its Canadian edition. The NNAT, OLSAT, CAT4 and the reasoning papers of the UK 11+ cover parts of the same ground in their own formats. None of them test what a child learned in class — and all nine question types below are in Cub Climb.

And one that isn’t on the test: Places

Flags, capital cities, continents and the provinces of Canada — 81 puzzles at grade 3, with the same two steps as the rest: answer it, then say what told you. No screener asks a child where Nunavut is. It is here because knowing where things are is worth knowing, and because a child who has just worked out that Peru’s flag is Canada’s without the leaf has done the same kind of looking the picture puzzles ask for.

When is the test?

It depends on where you live. US districts often screen in grade 2 or 3; Canadian boards in grade 3 or 4; England’s 11+ is sat at the start of Year 6; the NSW Opportunity Class test is in Year 4. Find your country’s tests. Weeks of short, relaxed sessions beat a crammed weekend, and some schools ask families not to prepare for the test itself, which is why this builds the skills and never rehearses the test.

The exams

Which tests this helps with.

Different names, one family of question. Here is what each test is, who sits it, and how much of it the puzzles here line up with.

  • CogAT

    Cognitive Abilities Test, Forms 7 and 8 · Riverside Insights

    Fully covered
    Who sits it
    School districts across the United States, from kindergarten up, for gifted and talented screening — some states give it to every child in a grade.
    What’s on it
    Three batteries — verbal, quantitative and non-verbal — with three question types in each. The youngest levels, to grade 2, use pictures and read-aloud directions; from grade 3 a child reads the words and numbers themselves. Form 8 is a parallel version of Form 7.
    Here
    All nine question types are here, from the grade 3 level up. The picture-only versions for kindergarten to grade 2 are not yet.
    • Verbal Analogies
    • Sentence Completion
    • Verbal Classification
    • Number Analogies
    • Number Series
    • Number Puzzles
    • Figure Matrices
    • Figure Classification
    • Paper Folding

  • NNAT

    Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test, 3rd edition · Pearson

    Partly covered
    Who sits it
    US school districts, often for younger children and as a screener that does not depend on English.
    What’s on it
    Shapes only: no words in the questions or the directions. Each question is a pattern of shapes with a piece missing. About thirty minutes, at levels from kindergarten to grade 12.
    Here
    Its questions are shape patterns, the format of the figure matrices here. The words and numbers sections are practice it does not test.
    • Figure Matrices

  • OLSAT

    Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, 8th edition · Pearson

    Partly covered
    Who sits it
    Some US school districts and independent schools, for gifted and talented admission.
    What’s on it
    Verbal, non-verbal and quantitative questions in a mixed format: analogies, classification, series and matrices alongside following directions and other verbal comprehension questions.
    Here
    The reasoning questions overlap with what is here. Its verbal comprehension questions are not covered.
    • Verbal Analogies
    • Verbal Classification
    • Sentence Completion
    • Number Analogies
    • Number Series
    • Figure Matrices
    • Figure Classification

  • CCAT-7

    Canadian Cognitive Abilities Test, 7th edition · Nelson

    Fully covered
    Who sits it
    Canadian school boards, usually as a whole-class screener in grade 3 or 4.
    What’s on it
    The Canadian edition of the CogAT: three batteries — verbal, quantitative and non-verbal — with three question types in each. Around twenty questions per type in about ten minutes, given in class.
    Here
    All nine question types are here, at the same thirty-second pace.
    • Verbal Analogies
    • Sentence Completion
    • Verbal Classification
    • Number Analogies
    • Number Series
    • Number Puzzles
    • Figure Matrices
    • Figure Classification
    • Paper Folding

  • CAT4

    Cognitive Abilities Test, 4th edition · GL Assessment

    Mostly covered
    Who sits it
    Schools in the UK and many international and British-curriculum schools.
    What’s on it
    Four batteries: verbal, quantitative, non-verbal and spatial. Analogies, classification, number series and matrices, plus spatial questions such as folding and punching paper.
    Here
    Most of its question types have a close match here. Some spatial questions do not yet.
    • Verbal Analogies
    • Verbal Classification
    • Number Analogies
    • Number Series
    • Figure Matrices
    • Figure Classification
    • Paper Folding

  • 11+

    The eleven-plus, for grammar school entry · GL Assessment, in most areas

    Partly covered
    Who sits it
    Grammar schools in parts of England, for entry to Year 7. Children sit it at the start of Year 6, around age 10.
    What’s on it
    It varies by area. Most include a verbal reasoning paper and many a non-verbal reasoning paper, alongside English and maths, mostly multiple choice.
    Here
    Its reasoning questions — analogies, odd one out, series, shape patterns, folding — have matches here. Its letter codes, hidden words, English and maths papers do not.
    • Verbal Analogies
    • Verbal Classification
    • Number Series
    • Figure Matrices
    • Figure Classification
    • Paper Folding

  • NSW OC test

    Opportunity Class Placement Test · NSW Department of Education

    Partly covered
    Who sits it
    Children in Year 4 in New South Wales applying for a Year 5 opportunity class.
    What’s on it
    On a computer: Reading (40 minutes), Mathematical Reasoning (40 minutes) and Thinking Skills (30 minutes), all multiple choice.
    Here
    Thinking Skills includes sequence, puzzle and spatial questions, which the puzzles here practise. Its logic questions about arguments, and the reading and maths sections, are not covered.
    • Number Series
    • Number Puzzles
    • Figure Matrices
    • Paper Folding

Which tests children sit in the US, UK, Australia and Canada →

Every puzzle here is original. None is copied from, or claims to match, a real test form, and no practice can promise a score or a place. Test names belong to their publishers, none of whom is connected to Cub Climb.

How it works

From opening it to the first puzzle, about ten seconds.

  1. 01

    Open it and play

    No account, no card, no form. Pick words, numbers or pictures and start.

  2. 02

    Answer, then name the rule

    One star for the answer, one for the rule. The rule is the half that transfers to anything else.

  3. 03

    See how it went

    A short summary at the end: answers, rules named, and whether the pace was rushed or slow.

  4. 04

    Keep going in the app

    Every puzzle, at every grade, in all twelve question types, on iPhone and iPad.

The app

Try it here. Keep going in the app.

The website is the free taster. When your child wants more, the rest is in the app.

  • Website

    Free puzzles in every section, in any browser — reasoning and geography both. A taste of each kind of question, with nothing to install.

    Free · no account

  • The app

    The whole bank: all twelve question types at every grade from 3 to 8 — 741 puzzles at grade 3 alone.

    iPhone · iPad · 20 puzzles free, then pay once or monthly

Download Cub Climb: Gifted Test Prep on the App StoreAndroid: coming soon
Or play the free puzzles first

Privacy

Built for a child who can’t read a privacy policy.

Nothing to sign up for

The website has no accounts. We never ask for a name, an email, a birthday or a school, from a parent or a child.

No tracking

Answers aren’t saved anywhere, not even in your browser. The only thing remembered is the grade your child picks, on this device. No advertising, no tracking cookies, and nothing to buy inside the puzzles.

From the blog

Calm, sourced reading for parents.

How to teach a child to read music, ages 3 to 8What children can learn when, why sound comes before symbols, and a calm, five-minute way to start reading notes at home — even if you don't read music.
  • Reading music
  • How children learn
Treble or bass clef first? It depends on the instrumentWhich clef your child reads first, and which notes, depends on what they play. A guide for piano, violin, viola, cello, guitar, recorder and more.
  • Reading music
Do-Re-Mi or C-D-E? Letter names, fixed do and movable doWhy some teachers say C and others say Do, the difference between fixed and movable do, and which one helps your child read music.
  • Reading music
  • How children learn

All articles →

Questions

The ones parents actually ask.

  • Is this test prep?

    Yes, in one sense: it builds the reasoning that gifted screening tests look at, with words, numbers and pictures. Every puzzle is original, written for this product, and a child is asked to explain the rule rather than memorise answers. That is the kind of practice the research says actually helps, and it keeps helping after the test is over.

  • Which tests is this for?

    The nine question types match the CogAT, the gifted test most US districts use, and the CCAT-7, its Canadian edition. The NNAT, OLSAT and CAT4 measure the same kinds of reasoning in their own formats, so the skills carry across. Each test has its own page on this site saying exactly how much of it the puzzles cover. We are not connected to any test publisher.

  • We’re in the UK or Australia. Will this help with the 11+ or the OC test?

    With the reasoning part. The verbal and non-verbal reasoning papers of the 11+ and the Thinking Skills test for NSW Opportunity Classes ask a child to find the rule in words, numbers and shapes, which is what these puzzles practise. They don’t cover the 11+’s letter codes, English or maths, and we would rather say so than imply it. The app counts in North American grades: a child in Year 4 in England, or Year 3 in most of Australia, picks grade 3.

  • What is it actually teaching?

    Reasoning, in the three shapes it usually takes: with words, with numbers and with pictures. A child works out the rule behind a set of things and then applies it to a new one, which is what thinking clearly looks like in any subject. The puzzles are original, written for this product, and none of them are copied from anywhere.

  • Do we need an account?

    No. The website has no sign-up and no login, for a parent or a child. Open it and play.

  • What do you keep about my child?

    Nothing. Answers are not saved anywhere, not even in your browser; the only thing remembered is the grade your child picks, on this device. We never ask for a name, email, birthday, school, photo or voice.

  • What is free, and what is in the app?

    The website has free puzzles in every section: words, numbers, pictures and places. The app, for iPhone and iPad, has every puzzle, at every grade, in all twelve question types — the nine reasoning ones and the three Places ones. The first 20 puzzles in the app are free. After that a grown-up can unlock it one of two ways: one payment for the season, which never expires and never renews, or a monthly plan you can cancel any time in your iPhone or iPad settings. Either one covers everyone in your Family Sharing group.

  • How long should a session be?

    Ten to twenty minutes, a few times a week, beats an hour on a Sunday. There is no clock on a puzzle, so a child can take the time to name the rule rather than rush to the next one.

Is a screening test coming up?

Start with the free puzzles today. No account, nothing to fill in.

Play free
Download Cub Climb: Gifted Test Prep on the App StoreAndroid: coming soon
Add a 10-minute puzzle reminder to your calendar