Test Prep Guide for the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) and Testing Talented and Gifted (TAG)

The GATE and TAG are two of the most common tests administered to find out if your child qualifies for a gifted program. The acronym GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) and TAG (Talented and Gifted) can be used for a specialized school program or for a group of tests that are taken for entry into a gifted and talented program.

These programs are offered during and after school and involve a differentiated curriculum. This specialized curriculum usually compacts and accelerates the typical grade-level course work, making content much more difficult. Some programs are one to two grade levels above standard public school education. Deeper analysis in specialized subject matter will demand higher-level thinking such as analysis, evaluation and synthesis.

How are students identified for the GATE/TAG programs? Many school districts offer opportunities for children to take a test such as the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT), Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) or Naglieri Non-Verbal Ability Test (NNAT). The test score is then used to decide whether a child qualifies for a GATE/TAG program.

The terms GATE and TAG are not used universally. Private and public school districts may have a specific name for their gifted program (such as Spectrum, Honors, Advanced or Enrichment), or refer to it by the name of the school where the accelerated program is offered.

If you find out that your school will be testing for its GATE/TAG program you may be able to find more information from the school psychologist or district Web site about time, place and content of the tests.

By introducing your child to a wide range of thinking skills and activity formats covered on most IQ and achievement tests, infused with standards-based curriculum, you will provide invaluable preparation that will that will lead to higher test scores, and success beyond the test date.

The Critical Thinking Co.™ now offers Test Prep bundles for GATE/TAG programs. These new book bundles include award winning titles with a proven success record in test preparation.

After learning which specific test your child will take to qualify for the GATE/TAG program at your school, be sure to use our test prep guide online to learn more about the test.

Try our easy-order bundles by age/grade, or simply choose items that your children will enjoy at a skill-appropriate level that you think will challenge them. Free printable samples are available for all our materials so you can try before you buy.

Test Prep Bundles and Suggested Test Prep Plan for GATE/TAG

We recommend working with the bundles over at least a six-week period, but we also recognize parents often receive a testing date with less than 30-days’ notice. If you are really pressed for time, and you see the student has mastery in a section, you may skip ahead. You may also want to bookmark and return to activities that are more challenging.

One way to measure the mastery is to use the first few items in each activity as a pre-test. If you see that your children answers quickly and correctly, you may want to consider moving on. If they struggle, go through the activities as best you can, but bookmark them and consider going back over the material. Using the pre-test technique will give you a good idea of where the child’s strengths and weaknesses are across the skills and abilities the material covers.

The bundles offer a lot of material, but if you make working with the books part of the daily routine, you’ll be surprised how fast things will move. Remember, the youngest students have shorter attention spans, so 15 minutes a session is fine.

It is also important to point out that all the titles have value well beyond the testing window. Each title will help enhance your child’s ability to reason and analyze, skills that are essential for success in many arenas.

These bundles are the same bundles created for the CogAT® test prep. The contents of these bundles were determined by The Critical Thinking Co.™ and are not endorsed by either the author or publisher. We do not claim that our materials match up exactly to each test or teach all the skills measured in a particular assessment.