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Skill Matrix and Recommendations to Prepare for the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test®

OLSAT-8® Level E recommended for administration in Gr 4

 

Skills Tested

Verbal Comprehension – Antonyms, Sentence Completion, Sentence Arrangement

Verbal Reasoning – Arithmetic Reasoning, Logical Selection, Word/Letter Matrix, Verbal Analogies, Verbal Classification, Inference

Figural Reasoning – Figural Analogies, Pattern Matrix, Figural Series

Quantitative Reasoning – Number Series, Number Inference, Number Matrix

 

How can I prepare my child to do well in a test of these skills?

Scroll down for information on the books and software recommended in the table.   

Antonyms

Building Thinking Skills Level 2 book or software

 

Sentence Completion

Run-on Riddlers B1

Spectrum Test Prep Grade 5

 

Sentence Arrangement

Run on Riddlers B1
 

Arithmetic Reasoning

Spectrum Test Prep Grade 5

Math Detective A1 book or software

Mathematical Reasoning Book 2 student and instructor

 

Logical Selection

Mind Benders A2
Creative Thinking Puzzlers A1

 

Word/Letter Matrix

Creative Thinking Puzzlers A1

 

Verbal Analogies

Think Analogies A1 or Thinkanalogy Puzzles A1

Building Thinking Skills Level 2 book or software

Spectrum Test Prep Gr 5

 

Verbal Classification

Building Thinking Skills Level 2 book or software

 

Inference

Red Herring Mysteries
 

Figural Analogies

Building Thinking Skills Level 2 book or software
Math Analogies Book 2

 

Pattern Matrix

Building Thinking Skills Level 2 book or software

Visual Mind Benders A1

 

Figural Series

Building Thinking Skills Level 2 book or software

 

Number Series

Cranium Crackers Book 1

 

Number Inference

Cranium Crackers Book 1

 

Number Matrix

Cranium Crackers Book 1
Math Analogies Book 2

 

In General

Think-a-Minutes B1 and B2

Spectrum Test Practice Gr 5

 

Overwhelmed by the choices?  Here are our recommendations in order for the typical child.  The first two are the most important. 

  • Building Thinking Skills for core verbal and non-verbal reasoning skills
  • Think Analogies or Thinkanalogy Puzzles for the nitty gritty on verbal analogies and lots of examples
  • Math Analogies for analogies using numbers and shapes
  • Spectrum Test Prep Grade 5 for examples of how questions might look on a test and general information on how to approach a multiple choice test (if your child is a good test taker you can pass on this one)
  • Run on Riddlers for word play within sentences
  • Creative Thinking Puzzles for a variety of puzzles playing with language and numbers
  • Mind Benders for logic 
  • Think-a-Minutes for practice solving a variety of puzzles using skills that will be tested and similar skills.  Learn to brainstorm and move on when you just can't see the answer.
  • Math Detective if math isn’t your child’s strong point and paying attention to the details within a question is something they need to practice
  • Mathematical Reasoning if your child needs to work on core math concepts
  • Spectrum Test Practice Grade 5 for a child who needs more practice with the format of multiple choice tests
  • Visual Mind Benders to challenge your child to solve a problem presented as a matrix

OLSAT® and Otis-Lennon School Ability Test® are registered trademarks of NCS Pearson (previously Harcourt Assessment Services) who own rights to and publish the OLSAT-8®.  The recommendations made here are those of Think Tonight and are not endorsed by NCS Pearson.

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Math Analogies Book 2
Math Analogies Book 2
Our Price: $11.99

Grade(s): 4-5
Pages: 48

Understanding analogies and the ability to reason analogically are important problem-solving skills. There are few resources to assist children in the explict use of analogous reasoning with quantitative and spatial information. This series fills that void.
Mind Benders: A2
Mind Benders A2
Our Price: $9.99

Grade(s): 3-6
Activities: 15
Pages: 32

Deductive reasoning puzzles teach children logic and improve reading comprehension and test scores.
Mind Benders A1/A2 software
Mind Benders A1/A2 Software
Our Price: $25.99

Grade(s): 3-6
Activities: 28

Deductive reasoning puzzles teach children logic and improve reading comprehension and test scores.
Think Analogies A1
Think Analogies A1
Our Price: $11.99

Grade(s): 3-5
Activities: 48
Pages: 56

Think Analogies® clearly, easily, and effectively teaches students how to analyze and classify analogies by relationship, category, and structure.
ThinkAnalogy Puzzles A software
ThinkAnalogy Puzzles A Software
Our Price: $21.99

Grade(s): 3-5
Activities: 20

ThinkAnalogy® Puzzles is a fun, engaging program that helps students truly understand the basis of an analogy. These activities develop razor-sharp analogy, vocabulary, word analysis, and comprehension skills for the highest academic and test performance.
Creative Thinking Puzzlers A1
Creative Thinking Puzzlers A1 (Dr Funster's)
Our Price: $7.99

Grade(s): 3-5
Activities: 40
Pages: 45

Creative Thinking Puzzlers helps students become fluent, flexible problem solvers who can generate different solutions and different ways to find solutions. Students start with given criteria, determine possible solutions, evaluate them, then eliminate possibilities before determining a final solution. Includes seven engaging verbal and visual skills categories.
Building Thinking Skills Level 2
Building Thinking Skills Level 2
Our Price: $29.99

Grade(s): 4-6
Activities: 1374
Pages: 416

Building Thinking Skills®provides highly effective verbal and nonverbal reasoning activities to improve vocabulary, reading, writing, math, logic, and figural-spatial skills, as well as visual and auditory processing. This exceptional skill set provides a solid foundation for academic excellence and success on any assessment test.
Building Thinking Skills Level 2 software
Building Thinking Skills Level 2  Software
Our Price: $36.99

Building Thinking Skills®provides highly effective verbal and nonverbal reasoning activities to improve vocabulary, reading, writing, math, logic, and figural-spatial skills, as well as visual and auditory processing. This exceptional skill set provides a solid foundation for academic excellence and success on any assessment test.
Mathematical Reasoning Book 2, Student
Mathematical Reasoning Book 2, Student
Our Price: $24.99

Grade(s): 4-8
Activities: 283
Pages: 296

Mathematical Reasoning™ helps your child devise strategies to solve a wide variety of math problems. These books emphasize problem solving and computation to build the math reasoning skills necessary for success in higher level math and math assessments.
Instruction/Answer Guide is sold separately.
Mathematical Reasoning Book 2. Teacher
Mathematical Reasoning Book 2, Parent
Our Price: $13.99

Grade(s): 4-8
Activities: 283

Instruction/Answer Guide includes concept overviews, answers, and focus questions that lead students to think mathematically as they verbalize the steps of working through concrete and abstract processes.
Scratch Your Brain B1
Scratch Your Brain B1
Our Price: $15.99

Grade(s): 4-5
Activities: 180
Pages: 136

Scratch Your Brain® contains a variety of engaging, often humorous activities, puzzles, patterns, sequences, writing multi-step solutions, and more. It also encourages brainstorming and teaches students there is usually more than one way to solve a problem. Activities are sequenced by difficulty throughout each chapter to allow students to gradually build their skills.
Think-A-Minutes B1
Think-A-Minutes B1 (Dr Funster's)
Our Price: $7.99

Grade(s): 4-5
Activities: 40
Pages: 46

A collection of fast, fun riddles, puzzles and teasers from a variety of out of print and currently available books published by The Critical Thinking Company. Activities include language development, math, writing, visual-spatial, and perceptual skills activities that build deductive, inductive, and logical reasoning.
Think-A-Minutes B2
Think-A-Minutes B2 (Dr Funster's)
Our Price: $7.99

Grade(s): 4-5
Activities: 40
Pages: 48

A collection of fast, fun riddles, puzzles and teasers from a variety of out of print and currently available books published by The Critical Thinking Company. Activities include language development, math, writing, visual-spatial, and perceptual skills activities that build deductive, inductive, and logical reasoning.
Math Detective A1
Math Detective A1
Our Price: $18.99

Grade(s): 5-6
Activities: 40
Pages: 113

Math Detective® uses topics and skills drawn from national math standards to prepare your students for advanced math courses and assessments that measure reasoning, reading comprehension, and writing in math.
Math Detective, A1 software
Math Detective A1 Software
Our Price: $29.99

Grade(s): 5-6
Activities: 40

Math Detective® uses topics and skills drawn from national math standards to prepare your students for advanced math courses and assessments that measure reasoning, reading comprehension, and writing in math.

Students read a short story that includes a chart, table, or graph. Next they answer critical thinking questions to improve their understanding of the math concept and develop their critical thinking (comprehension) skills. Students can’t just scan the story for answers—they must carefully analyze and synthesize the information from the text and the chart, table, or graph to explain and support their answers.
Punctuation Puzzlers: Run-On Riddlers B
Punctuation Puzzlers: Run-On Riddlers B1
Our Price: $9.99

Grade(s): 5-6
Activities: 80
Pages: 43

Fast, fun grammar, punctuation, and reading comprehension activities students really enjoy! Students analyze context clues and apply punctuation rules to clarify the meaning of odd, convoluted, and misleading statements . These deductive thinking activities are fun, fast, and lots of laughs
Visual Mind Benders A1
Visual Mind Benders A1 (Dr Funster's)
Our Price: $6.99

Grade(s): 4-6
Activities: 27
Pages: 30

Like solitaire Mastermind Visual Mind Benders® are fun to solve visual puzzles that provide practice in using and developing deductive reasoning skills and visual-spatial reasoning.
Spectrum Test Prep Grades 5
Spectrum Test Prep Grade 5
Our Price: $9.99

Boosts confidence and helps learners improve test scores by offering children the preparation they need for standardized tests.
Spectrum Test Practice Grade 5
Spectrum Test Practice Grade 5
Our Price: $15.99

Practice with both content and format on standardized tests.