The OLSAT sits between the two other screeners American districts use: unlike the NNAT it has verbal questions, and unlike the CogAT it mixes verbal and nonverbal items into one test with one score. Pearson's own description is the right one to start from: the OLSAT projects how well a student is able to learn, where an achievement test shows what has been learned. Everything on this page comes from Pearson's product page and the OLSAT 8 brochure.
Download the OLSAT sheet (PDF) (the levels by grade, the 21 question types by cluster with what each asks, the SAI-to-percentile table and a preparation plan; two pages, free).
What it is
The Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, Eighth Edition, measures verbal, nonverbal and quantitative cognitive abilities related to academic success, in seven levels that together cover kindergarten to grade 12. It is group-administered on paper (all levels) or online (grades 2 to 12), untimed with a maximum of 75 minutes that varies by level, with scores reported by age and by grade. When it is given with the Stanford 10 achievement test, Pearson also reports an Achievement/Ability Comparison, which says whether the child's achievement is above or below that of children with the same measured ability; that comparison is the reason some districts give the two together.
The levels by grade
| Level | Grade | Given |
|---|---|---|
| A | Kindergarten | read aloud, paper |
| B | Grade 1 | read aloud, paper |
| C | Grade 2 | paper or online |
| D | Grade 3 | paper or online |
| E | Grades 4 and 5 | paper or online |
| F | Grades 6 to 8 | paper or online |
| G | Grades 9 to 12 | paper or online |
The question types, by cluster
Pearson's scope and sequence for the OLSAT 8. A filled cell in Pearson's table means the type appears at that level; the youngest levels lean on pictures and listening, the older ones on words and numbers.
| Cluster | Question types | What they ask |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal comprehension | Following directions, antonyms, sentence completion, sentence arrangement | Understand what words and sentences mean: pick the opposite, complete the sentence, put the words in order |
| Verbal reasoning | Aural reasoning, arithmetic reasoning, logical selection, word/letter matrix, verbal analogies, verbal classification, inference | Reason with words: a problem read aloud, a word problem, which word does not belong, which word completes the analogy, what follows |
| Pictorial reasoning | Picture classification, picture analogies, picture series | The same reasoning with pictures: which picture does not belong, which completes the pair, which comes next |
| Figural reasoning | Figural classification, figural analogies, pattern matrix, figural series | With abstract shapes: the odd one out, the analogy, the missing cell of a matrix, the next in a series |
| Quantitative reasoning | Number series, numeric inference, number matrix | With numbers: what comes next, what rule links the numbers, what completes the grid |
Arithmetic reasoning, figural analogies, pattern matrix and figural series appear at every level from A to G; antonyms, sentence completion and the verbal analogies from the middle levels; the picture types only in the early levels. A kindergartner's test is therefore mostly listening and pictures; a 4th grader's is words, shapes and numbers in roughly equal parts.
How it is scored: the School Ability Index
The raw score is converted into the School Ability Index (SAI), a standard score by age with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 16, and into percentile ranks, stanines and normal curve equivalents by age and by grade. Verbal and nonverbal part scores are reported as well as the total. The percentile is the number to read.
| SAI | About the percentile | Stanine |
|---|---|---|
| 84 | 16th | 3 |
| 92 | 31st | 4 |
| 100 | 50th | 5 |
| 108 | 69th | 6 |
| 116 | 84th | 7 |
| 124 | 93rd | 8 |
| 128 | 96th | 9 |
| 132 | 98th | 9 |
| 140 | 99.4th | 9 |
The percentile column is the normal-curve reading of that scale; the school's report has Pearson's exact conversion for the child's age.
What score is gifted?
As with every screener, the district decides. Lines between the 90th and 98th percentile are common; some programmes use the total SAI, some require both the verbal and the nonverbal part above a line, and most add a second measure. New York City used the OLSAT together with the NNAT for its gifted and talented admissions until 2021 and now uses no test at all in the early grades (the gifted and talented page has the current process and what other districts do).
OLSAT, CogAT or NNAT?
| OLSAT 8 | CogAT | NNAT3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content | Verbal, nonverbal and quantitative in one test | Three separate batteries: verbal, quantitative, nonverbal | Nonverbal only |
| Language load | High at the upper levels; read aloud at A and B | High on the verbal battery; the nonverbal battery stands alone | Almost none |
| Score | School Ability Index (mean 100, SD 16), verbal and nonverbal parts | Standard Age Score per battery (mean 100, SD 16) and a composite | Naglieri Ability Index (mean 100, SD 16) |
| Length | Untimed, up to 75 minutes | About 30 to 45 minutes per battery | 48 items in 30 minutes |
| Suits | A verbal child; districts that want one score | Districts that want a profile across the three areas | English learners; a quick screen |
How to prepare a child, honestly
Teach the formats: that an analogy has a rule, that a series continues a pattern, that "which does not belong" has one answer, that the examiner reads the youngest levels aloud once. Read with the child, because the verbal half rewards vocabulary and listening, and do a little mental arithmetic, because arithmetic reasoning is at every level. What does not help is memorising hundreds of look-alike items: the score goes up, the ability does not, and the child is placed in a programme built for the score.
Download the OLSAT sheet (PDF) (the levels, the question types by cluster, the SAI-to-percentile table and the preparation plan; two pages, free).
Where to get help
A 1-on-1 online class with a tutor who holds a master's degree and teaches the US curriculum from Grade 1 number work to AP Calculus, chemistry and physics, at 7 am before school, after 4 pm and on weekend mornings, US time, for US$10 to $13 an hour: the report read together in the free 30-minute first class, the domain or the skill the score is really pointing at found, and the term spent on exactly that, with the method written out the way the school marks it. How online tutoring from India to the USA works, or the 1-on-1 online tutoring page.
Sources: Pearson, Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, Eighth Edition, product page (2003; verbal, nonverbal and quantitative abilities; one form, seven levels; untimed, maximum 75 minutes; paper K-12 and online grades 2-12; SAI, percentile rank, stanine and NCE by age and grade; the Achievement/Ability Comparison with Stanford 10); Pearson, OLSAT 8 overview brochure (11/25): the scope and sequence of levels A to G by grade and the 21 question types by cluster. The SAI mean and standard deviation are the published scale of the OLSAT 8 technical manual; the percentile and stanine columns are its normal-curve reading. Fetched 9 November 2026.
Questions parents ask
1What is the OLSAT test?
2What are the OLSAT levels?
3What is a good OLSAT score?
4What kinds of questions are on the OLSAT?
5How long is the OLSAT?
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