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LexiMap vs CogAT Practice Workbooks

Print workbooks for CogAT preparation

Bottom line

Tools like CogAT Practice Workbooks give your child cards to drill. LexiMap is the system above them — it adapts to what your child misses, teaches the word-parts that unlock new words, and shows you a skill map. Keep CogAT Practice Workbooks for quick review; use LexiMap to run the prep.

FreeNo card16–30 questions, timed

Feature-by-feature comparison

FeatureLexiMapCogAT Practice Workbooks
Cost$99.00/mo or $249.00 season passVaries by publisher
What it coversSSAT/ISEE verbal: vocabulary, analogies, context cluesCogAT-style verbal, quant, and non-verbal question sets
Daily practice10-15 min of structured daily practice your child completes independentlyPaper exercises, manually scored
Free mechanicFree timed verbal section, no cardNo free tier — one-time purchase
Parent visibilitySkill-by-skill dashboard + weekly reportManual scoring, no dashboard
Adapts to your child

LexiMap covers the verbal section — vocabulary, analogies, and context clues. It does not include reading passages, math, or essay practice; pair it with format practice for those.

See what your child actually does

SSAT Middle example

Stretch item

The question

typical : atypical

  1. Anormal : strange
  2. Bgood : bad
  3. Cmoral : immoral
  4. Dusual : odd
  5. Ecommon : ordinary

How LexiMap helps

Why this answer works

Atypical uses the prefix a- to negate typical, just as immoral uses the prefix im- to negate moral.

LexiMap check-up screen showing a real timed verbal question
The weekly check-up: a real timed verbal section
LexiMap parent report showing skill-by-skill progress
The parent report: skill-by-skill, after every week

Representative student data.

Which is right for your child?

  • Wanting a low-cost, screen-free introduction to CogAT question formats → Workbooks are a fine starting point at a low one-time cost.
  • Sustaining daily verbal practice over weeks with review that actually schedules itself → LexiMap adapts difficulty automatically, tracks retention with spaced review, and gives you a parent dashboard showing exactly what to work on — a workbook can't do any of that.

A workbook is a one-time stack of pages. LexiMap is a review system that adjusts to your child every day.

Real parent experiences

What parents tell us

Different families, the same goal: make verbal practice clear enough to keep moving.

Instead of memorizing random word lists, my son learned how words are built from roots, prefixes, and suffixes. The words kept coming back over time, so they actually started to stick.

David K

Parent of a seventh-grade SSAT student

The diagnostic gave us a clear starting point, and the weekly tests showed what my daughter was actually retaining. The dashboard made it easy to see where she was improving and where she still needed help.

Kristy M

Parent of a seventh-grade ISEE student

My daughter kept up with the quests on her own between tutoring sessions. Her tutor could see the weak areas and spend more time on mistakes, harder questions, and test strategy instead of checking workbook pages.

Lisa A

parent of a fifth-grade ISEE student

  • Foundational research suggests vocabulary is the #1 predictor of career success.

    Source: Johnson O'Connor, 20-year longitudinal study

  • Only 1 in 3 eighth graders reads at grade level — the worst reading scores on record.

    Source: NAEP 2024

  • Designed specifically to train five core verbal skill domains — vocabulary, relational reasoning, contextual inference, test execution, and metacognition — not just word lists.

    Source: LexiMap verbal-skills framework

Common questions

Workbooks are so much cheaper — is LexiMap worth it?

Workbooks are a great low-cost option. LexiMap adds adaptive difficulty and spaced review scheduling that keep practice varied and effective over weeks and months. If your child needs sustained daily practice, LexiMap tracks retention automatically instead of repeated paper drills.

Want focused verbal practice before test day?

A weekly timed verbal section shows you exactly where your child stands — before test day does.

Take a real timed section — free