www.thinktonight.com

The Critical Thinking Company has been publishing award winning products to help students of all abilities achieve higher test scores for over 50 years. The contents of these bundles were carefully selected by The Critical Thinking Company to ensure coverage of material tested on the Otis-Lennon School Abilities TestŪ (OLSATŪ). Each activity requires students to analyze, synthesize, and apply what they learn. The more students think about what they are learning, the more students understand what they are learning. There is no need for an expensive tutor with a resource for the OLSATtŪ like this selection of books. 

The Critical Thinking Company is recommended by Mensa, Learning Magazine, The Well Trained Mind, Dr. Toy, Creative Child Magazine, and used by Sylvan Learning Centers, Club Z In-Home Tutoring, leading U.S. public schools, and gifted and talented programs in 57 countries throughout the world. They guarantee better grades and higher test scores. 

In addition to the books each bundle contains a short OLSATŪ Test Prep Guide and a bubble sheet which you can use for practice. 

The grade level designations on these bundles are for average children. The table below the bundles shows which level of the OLSAT test Pearson Assessment recommends for use at each grade level and the Critical Thinking Prep Bundle we recommend for use with a gifted child.

The table below shows which level of the OSLAT test Pearson Assessment recommends for use at each grade level and the Critical Thinking Prep Bundle we recommend.   

 

Click on Grade for our recommendations	Test Level  Used	Prep Bundle TCTC
Pre K	A	K
Kindergarten	A	1
Grade 1	B	2
Grade 2	C	3
Grade 3	D	4
Grade 4	E	5-6
Grade 5	E	5-6
Grade 6	F	7-8
Grade 7	F	7-8
Grade 8	F	9-12
Grade 9-12	G	9-12

    

The Critical Thinking Company bases the level of its material on national standards.  A typical child working at grade level will be ready to use the material designated as suitable for that grade.  

 

If your intent is to prepare your child to take a test for gifted program entry then we recommend browsing our specific recommendations (click on the grade level link in the table) and if you then decide to purchase a bundle purchase at least one grade ahead of your child's current grade.  Gifted children, by definition, have cognitive abiltities two to three years ahead of those of their age peers.  The most difficult questions on the test will be at this higher level and you'll want to expose your children to questions they find difficult so that they're prepared for the unknown during testing.

 

In our opinion these grade level bundles would make an excellent choice if you are planning ahead to testing (test date six months or more away).  If your child will be tested sooner than that we recommend browsing our specific recommendations and making selections from there.  At some grade levels, in our opinion, the test prep bundles do not contain the optimal selection of titles.  You'll save 10% but you'll purchase more than you need.  We also strongly recommend mixing up formats if you've got a short time before testing.  Your child will happily work for longer periods if you've got some software, some games and some puzzles.

 

If your test date is further away than six months we recommend more broad preparation.  Building Thinking Skills and Mathematical Reasoning will always be good choices but browse our grade level bundles to see titles which integrate thinking skills into different subject areas and consider some of our offerings which look more like puzzles. SET is a great game to develop non-verbal reasoning skills.  Quiddler develops verbal analysis. The Advanced Dot-to-Dot books we sell develop attention to detail and require a lot more reasoning than you might expect from a puzzle.  Word Roots develops vocabulary - an important skill for any child.  Choose something that your child will enjoy doing and you can't go wrong.