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NNAT practice for kindergarten to 4th grade

The Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test is 48 puzzles made of shapes, each with a piece missing and five answers to choose from, in 30 minutes. There are no words or numbers: the teacher reads the directions and leads the sample puzzles, then children work on their own.

Thena, a marble statue of a young Athena

Try a practice set

Six shape puzzles in the NNAT’s style, easiest first, for the grade your child is in.

NNAT-style practice

Six puzzles like the Level A test, with five answers each and no clock. A new set every time.

Tap the speaker to hear what to do. There’s no reading in these.

Levels by grade

LevelGradeQuestionsTime
Level AKindergarten4830 minutes
Level B1st grade4830 minutes
Level C2nd grade4830 minutes
Level D3rd and 4th grade4830 minutes

With the directions and sample puzzles, a session takes about 35 to 45 minutes. Levels A to D each have two versions with no puzzles in common. It can be taken on paper or online at every level; on paper in kindergarten and 1st grade, children mark their answers in the test booklet.

What the puzzles look like

The easiest show a large rectangle with a piece missing. Harder ones set shapes in a grid of 2 by 2, 2 by 3 or 3 by 3 that change in color, shape, size or turn, or build up, across the rows and down the columns. The real test uses five colors (black, white, yellow, blue and green), chosen to work for children who see colors differently; our puzzles use shading instead. Test-prep sites often sort the puzzles into four kinds, though the publisher’s pages we read don’t name them:

  • Pattern completion

    A pattern with a piece missing: find the piece that fits.

    “Look at the pattern. One box is empty. Which piece fills it?”

    ?ABCDE
    Answer: E. Look along the row and down the column the gap sits in, and say what repeats.

  • Reasoning by analogy

    Shapes in a grid that change from one box to the next: make the same change again.

    “Look at the top two boxes. See how the shape changes. Which one changes the same way in the bottom row?”

    ?ABCDE
    Answer: C. Name each change from left to right, then make every one of them to the bottom shape.

  • Serial reasoning

    A grid where the shapes follow one rule down the rows and the shading another across the columns.

    “Look at the rows and the columns. Which shape goes in the empty box?”

    ?ABCDE
    Answer: C. Find what stays the same in each row, then in each column, and put the two together.

  • Spatial visualization

    Shapes put together: the first two boxes in each row make the third.

    “Look at each row. The first two boxes put together make the third box. Which one fills the empty box?”

    ?ABCDE
    Answer: C. Lay the first box on the second in your head, and keep every line from both.

How it’s scored

The Naglieri Ability Index runs from 40 to 160, with 100 as average. Percentile ranks and stanines compare your child with children of the same age, not the same grade, even though the level is chosen by grade; a percentile rank of 99 covers an index of 135 to 160. Taking the test a second time within weeks or months usually scores about 4 points higher, from familiarity alone.

Districts that use it

  • Glendale Elementary School District (Arizona)

    All second graders take CogAT; 97th percentile on a state-approved test qualifies. NNAT is used to qualify K-12 students for gifted programs, alongside CogAT.

    gesd40.org/programs/gifted

  • Newport News Public Schools (Virginia)

    Universal NNAT screening of second graders, 13-24 October 2025, for 2026-27 placement; NNAT on referral in grade 1. OLSAT for qualified second graders, 2-12 December 2025, after the universal NNAT screening.

    sbo.nn.k12.va.us/gifted/evaluation.html

More districts, and New York City’s plan for fall 2027

How to help, and what to avoid

Do

  • Make the kinds of question and the directions familiar. Young children sometimes don’t understand what to do on a task they’ve never seen, with brief directions, and the CogAT’s publisher says practice led by a teacher can make scores more valid and stable.
  • Practice little and often over weeks. Frantic cramming at the last minute isn’t usually successful.
  • The night before, an early bedtime; on the morning, a good breakfast. Keep a sick child home and ask for another day.
  • Tell them to listen carefully to the teacher, stay calm if some questions seem hard, and give their best answer.

Avoid

  • Drilling or heavy coaching. The CogAT’s publisher rotates its test forms so that coaching has less effect.
  • Reading too much into a score after a lot of practice on the same puzzles: a second NNAT within weeks or months usually scores about 4 points higher from familiarity alone.
  • Treating one score as the whole picture. Districts such as Fairfax County weigh a test score as one piece of evidence among several.

From info.riversideinsights.com/hubfs/Cog%20Speakings…, pearsonassessments.com/content/dam/school/global…, greenville.k12.sc.us/News/main.asp?titleid=2310c…, cdn.erblearn.org/www/20260801_E3n_ISEE_QuickFact…, content.govdelivery.com/attachments/VAEDUFCPS/20….

Questions about the NNAT

How long is the NNAT?

30 minutes for 48 questions, or about 35 to 45 minutes with the directions and sample questions.

Is the NNAT on paper or a computer?

Either, at every level. On paper in kindergarten and 1st grade, children mark their answers in the test booklet.

Does Fairfax County use the NNAT?

Not anymore. Fairfax County Public Schools says in its 2026-27 elementary guide that all 2nd graders take the Naglieri General Ability Tests (NGAT), a separate test.

Are these real test questions?

No. Every question here is written by AskThena in the style of each test and made fresh each time. CogAT, NNAT, OLSAT, ISEE and SSAT are trademarks of their publishers, and AskThena isn’t connected with or endorsed by them.

Every question here is written by AskThena in the style of the test and made fresh each time. CogAT, NNAT, OLSAT, ISEE and SSAT are trademarks of their publishers, and AskThena isn’t connected with or endorsed by them.

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