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In last week’s article, we read about how to prepare for the NNAT section of the NYC Gifted and Talented test. To recap, I’m the founder of Altiora Tutoring, and I’ve worked to successfully prepare hundreds of students for the G&T exam since moving to NYC in 2014. I wrote and released the largest available free practice test for the exam here and also have affordable practice sets available for download.
The NNAT is only the first half of the test. Of the G&T test’s 78 questions, only 48 of them are NNAT2 or possibly NNAT3 questions. The other 30 are from the OLSAT, or the Otis Lennon School Ability Test.
While the NNAT is composed of nonverbal, visual puzzles, the OLSAT requires a command of language and some knowledge of the alphabet and math. If English isn’t your child’s native language, the test is also offered in Spanish, Chinese, Bengali, Russian, Arabic, Urdu, Haitian Creole, Korean, or French. Because a large component of the exam relies on verbal comprehension, I would highly recommend that your child take the test in whichever language they are most comfortable.
The OLSAT
The OLSAT is composed of a series of verbal prompts, designed to assess your child’s school-readiness and verbal comprehension. The 30 questions on the verbal exam will be read once and only once, and directions won’t be explained any more than what the script allows. Like the NNAT, the proctor will be allowed to repeat the directions if there is an interruption, such as a door slamming or a passing siren.
However, your child will be allowed to work at his or her own pace, and can take as much time as they need as long as they are actively focused. The OLSAT covers topics such as awareness of everyday tasks and protocols (aural reasoning), ability to critically respond to a verbal prompt, and basic arithmetic ability. And like the NNAT, students entering Kindergarten will point to their answers. Students entering 1st grade and above will bubble them in.
There are three sections on the OLSAT, and the NYC.GOV website categorizes them as follows:
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Verbal Reasoning
Measures the ability to manipulate or respond to information through listening to language; e.g., following directions.
Example:
Mark under the picture that shows this: there is a small square inside of a circle, and there is a triangle next to the circle.
Verbal Reasoning is designed to assess your child’s ability to listen to and critically evaluate a prompt. Questions tend to test awareness of spatial terms, such as “above” and “below,” and age-appropriate synonyms such as “on top of” and “beneath.”
Children might be asked to visualize how it would look if items switched places, or if part of an item were removed. They are expected to have an understanding of the order of items, and directionality. They should understand the difference between numbers and letters, and understand the difference between capital and lower-case letters. They should also be able to identify names and relative sizes of different shapes, such as knowing that a specific rectangle might be larger than a certain square.
A useful way to practice may be to arrange your child’s toys in different ways, and ask them to describe the arrangement. “Is your teddy bear above the doll house, or beneath it?” Then, ask your child to rearrange things. “Can you build a tower with the blue block on top, the yellow block in the middle, and the purple block on the bottom? Now, can you make the top and bottom blocks switch places?”
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Verbal Comprehension
Measures the ability to discover patterns or relationships and to solve problems through the use of language such as aural reasoning and arithmetic reasoning.
Example: Aural Reasoning
As part of John’s weekly chores, he is asked to help to clean the leaves off the front lawn. What should he use to clean off the lawn?
Aural reasoning is designed to assess your child’s understanding of everyday objects, tasks, and protocols. They might be asked which animal likes to play with balls of yarn, or which animal likes to play fetch. They should know the objects involved in household chores, the appropriate clothing for a snowstorm, and be familiar with the equipment needed for different sports and extracurricular activities.
Your child should be able to listen to a short description, and recall relevant details. They might also be asked to remember a logical order of events, such as remembering whether a character brushed their teeth before or after getting into bed.
Now, the above question can be tricky for students in NYC. After all, many students live in apartment buildings where there isn’t a lawn to take care of, leaves to rake, or pets to take care of. It’s important to remember that the “typical” story in an Aural Reasoning question is geared towards a suburban family (think white picket fence, two cars, two kids, and a dog). So if your child isn’t familiar with aspects of suburban life, it’s a good idea to familiarize them with the areas they haven’t experienced.
And this goes for other areas your child hasn’t experienced as well! A student in a hardwood-floored house might not be familiar with vacuuming carpet, and a student with only carpeting might not know what a mop is. A student from a family who hires out maintenance work might not know what a hammer or a wrench is for. I have seen students who don’t really know what a stand-alone house is, and students who hadn’t ever heard of a road trip because they fly to their vacation destinations. And even if your child has never been fishing or camping, they should recognize a fishing rod and a tent.
Another important thing to be aware of is that the test questions might include outdated items or technology that your child isn’t familiar with. When asked to recognize a calendar as the object that “Sam needs to remember his friend’s birthday,” many students will wonder where the smartphone is.
The best way to prepare your child for the aural reasoning section is to regularly read to them, talk with them, and describe the world around them. Watch online videos with them about experiences they wouldn’t normally encounter, such as what life is like on a farm. Involve them in tasks like making dinner and fixing things around the house, and describe to them the names and purposes of all the materials involved. And definitely make sure that they can recognize “outdated” items, like a home phone, a calendar, and an alarm clock.
Example: Arithmetic Reasoning
Sarah brought the 10 cupcakes at the beginning of the row to school to celebrate her birthday! Her classmates ended up eating half of her cupcakes. In the next part of the row, mark the picture that shows how many cupcakes Sarah has left.
For the arithmetic reasoning section, students are expected to have a solid understanding of quantity comparisons (lesser vs greater), as well as be comfortable with the addition and subtraction of the numbers 1-10.
They should also be able to identify what half of a quantity looks like, and understand the concept of equal quantities.
The best way to teach Arithmetic Reasoning will vary from child to child. Before using paper questions to practice, I would highly recommend getting them familiar with counting, adding, and subtracting real objects in everyday life. Have them count the cookies on their plate, and ask them how many will be left after they eat two of them. Have them pick out the apples at the grocery store, and figure out how many there will be if you put three more in the bag.
When it does come to paper, helping them cross out or cover objects with their fingers that are being subtracted can help them visualize the loss of an object.
Using their fingers to add extra items (then counting their fingers together with the objects on the paper) can help them visualize addition. Other children might benefit from drawing extra items in, or adding physical objects to the paper, such as bingo chips. However, there is no guarantee that the child will have a pencil for the actual exam if they are entering kindergarten (and they certainly won’t have physical objects to add), so it’s a good idea to slowly transition him or her to using only fingers.
It’s essential that your child can count slowly and methodically, and doesn’t get impatient or start guessing. Many children who an accurately add and subtract will get tired halfway through a problem and start guessing at the answers that “look right,” rather than actually counting them.
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Getting the Most Out of Your Practice
Preparing for exams can be expensive. While we have released a set of affordable practice tests for the exam, you may find yourself wanting more material to practice with.
Fortunately, the GT exam uses a fairly predictable method of asking questions for each section. For example, with the Aural reasoning section, questions usually create a story involving a character and a verbal description of a noun. With this in mind, you can easily create new questions using the same answer set, and often get 4 or more practice questions out of a single set of answers.
You can get even more practice with each image set by changing the way you describe the answers, and exposing your child to new descriptive vocabulary.
For example, here are a set of questions of varying difficulty that can be used with the following set of answer choices. These are by no means inclusive of all the possibilities, and you should modify the difficulty and content of the questions according to your child’s needs. If your child is having trouble getting questions right consistently, simplify the question style so they can build confidence at a lower level before moving up again. If your child is finding themselves bored with the level of questions you’re asking, make up slightly more challenging questions to keep them engaged in the material.
To create simple questions, focus on one or two details at a time with simple sentence structure. These types of questions are especially useful for students who are still getting introduced to the exam style, students who are still building up a higher attention span, younger students, and for students who are still learning English.
Which animal has a curly tail?
Which animal lives in the water?
Which animal says “baaaaa?”
The following questions are of the approximate difficulty level that will be most common on the exam. They focus on integrating about two or three details to describe the answer within a story setting.
John is visiting a farm. He sees his favorite animal, which is soft, white, and curly! Which animal is John’s favorite?
Sally is entering her pet in a county fair. Her pet is pink with a curly tail, and likes to play in the mud. Which animal is Sally entering in the county fair?
Dani is visiting her grandmother’s farm. Her grandmother points out the animal that lays the eggs they eat for breakfast every morning. Which animal is her grand mother talking about?
Samuel is sitting by the lake with his father. They get splashed when this animal jumps out of the water and splashes back in. Which animal did they see?
Carla just got a new sweater for Christmas. Her mother explains that this sweater is so warm because it’s made from the wool of an animal! Which animal helped provide the wool to make Carla’s sweater?
Tammy and her brother, Kyle, are sitting on a boat. They are holding long sticks over the edge of the boat, with thin strings dangling into the water. At the end of each string is a hook and a worm. What animal are they trying to catch?
Sarah’s favorite animal lives on a farm. It’s covered in feathers, and sits on its eggs until they hatch. What animal is Sarah’s favorite?
Occasionally, the exam will have longer questions that track a child’s ability to remember lists and/or multiple descriptions. There aren’t too many of them on the exam, and they are mostly intended for the older and 1st grade entry students to get right. The level of the third question below is an example of something appropriate for older students who are even entering 2nd grade.
Sarah and Mike are telling each other about their favorite animals. Sarah’s favorite animal lives underwater, and is covered in shiny scales. Mike’s favorite animal is covered in feathers, and can fly. Which is Sarah’s favorite animal?
Joanna is visiting the petting zoo. First, she gets to pet a chicken. After that, she visits the pig pen and plays with the pigs. Finally, she visits a pasture and pets the sheep as they eat some grass. Which was the first animal she pet?
Amber is on a class field trip to a farm. First, they see the animal that lays eggs that people like to have for breakfast. After, they visit a giant mud puddle, where these animals are splashing around and playing. Next, they visit a grassy pasture where some white, curly animals are eating grass. Finally, they visit a pond and watch these scaly animals jump out of the water. What was the first animal that Amber and her class saw?
Similar adjustments can be made for the other questions on the OLSAT.
For Arithmetic Reasoning, it’s easy to adjust the question to have a different answer. One can usually create at least three extra questions per answer set, more if you mix operations (add and then subtract). Some examples for the following answer choice set are below.
Karen has the six tomatoes shown at the beginning of the row. Her cousin has an equal number of tomatoes. How many tomatoes does Karen’s cousin have?
Sally is growing tomatoes in her garden. She had the six tomatoes shown at the beginning of the row, but a raccoon ate one of them during the night. How many tomatoes are left on Sally’s plant?
John bought the six tomatoes shown at the beginning of the row. He used five of them in a salad. How many does he have left?
Michael has the six tomatoes at the beginning of the row. He realized that he didn’t have enough to make the salad he wants, so he went to the store and bought four more. How many tomatoes does he have now?
Joan has the six tomatoes shown at the beginning of the row. She found one more in her refrigerator, but she gave it away to her friend. How many does she have now?
It’s also usually easy to modify questions in the Verbal Comprehension Section.
Examples are below.
Which is the letter inside both circles?
Which is the number inside both circles?
Which is the letter inside only the right circle?
Note that I didn’t ask which letter/number is only inside the left circle as it’s ambiguous as to Answer 4 is representing the letter “I” or the number “1.” It’s best to steer away from ambiguous answers.
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Preparing for Exam Day
Before taking the exam, make sure your child is well rested and has a good breakfast. I usually recommend having a moderately exciting reward for after the test, so they are excited to do their best. Now, I wouldn’t go scheduling a trip to Disneyland, as that would be so exciting that they might not be able to focus. But a moderately special reward, like going out for ice cream, getting a new toy, or a play date with their best friend would be a solid motivator.
Before your child takes the exam, it’s a good idea to make sure they are comfortable around strangers. A lot of students in that age group are shy and might take a while to warm up to someone new. But on the test day, they won’t have that luxury. So if your child is shy around strangers, have them occasionally meet new adults in a positive setting. I would also recommend having a few adults they don’t know administer a practice test in a neutral location, such as a library. Make sure it’s always a positive experience, and always let them know how proud you are for doing so well.
When exam day comes, it’s incredibly important that your child doesn’t feel stressed or under pressure. When parents threaten their children with consequences for potential bad performance, it backfires spectacularly. Children become so preoccupied with the fear of making mistakes that they make more mistakes than they would have otherwise. So no matter how anxious you may feel, make sure your child only knows that you will be proud of them for doing their best on every question, no matter what the score ends up being.
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Test Results
You’ll receive the results of the NNAT and the OLSAT individual tests, and a total score. The student must score in the 90th percentile overall to be eligible for placement in a district GT classroom, and in the 97th percentile or above to be eligible for placement in a Citywide Gifted and Talented school. Keep in mind, those scores don’t guarantee placement. Especially with entry to the higher grade levels, there are fewer seats available. So some students might score in the 90th percentile but still not receive a Gifted and Talented seat. And many applicants, despite scoring in the 97th percentile or above, choose to apply for a district seat with their competitive score instead of trying a shot at a citywide class they aren’t guaranteed to get into.
I’ve also seen parents who’s children did score competitively ultimately decide not to pursue GT at all. Reasons vary, from wanting to enroll in private school, to being happy with the regular classroom at their local school. It’s important that you recognize what will be the best environment for your child, regardless of how prestigious it is. And regardless of which classroom your child does end up in, with your continued love and support, they will be just fine.
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Read Part 1 of All You Ever Wanted to Know About The NYC Gifted and Talented Test:
All You Ever Wanted To Know About The NYC Gifted and Talented Test
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Shay Skobeleva is an educational consultant, and the founder of Altiora Tutoring. She is the author of several educational guides, including Getting Into Medical School: The Ultimate Guide for the Anxious Premed and Altiora’s Free Guide to the Gifted and Talented Exam.
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