COCOA test

COCOA™

the Conundrum Cognitive Assessment test™

THE TEST

COCOA is a test of your conundrum cognition ability. Are you up to it?

Download the test and then check your answers below. Good luck!

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CHECK ANSWERS & GET HINTS

Section:

HINTS

I’m stuck.

Look at the six lines you drew (and only the lines you drew) in the left panel as three sets of two lines. You now have five similar things looking at all three panels.

I need a better hint.

This uses a common code.

I'm almost ready to give up.

This is a code that is normally transmitted using signal flags.

I’m stuck.

Yes, you should say the names aloud.

I need a better hint.

The placement of the dashes is significant.

I'm almost ready to give up.

Listen to the names aloud and you’ll hear a letter in each one.

I’m stuck.

Counting to 26 will be helpful.

I need a better hint.

A is the 1st letter of the alphabet and Z is the 26th. Did you know NATO has its own alphabet?

I'm almost ready to give up.

Two of the subsections use A=1 and Z=26, and two of them use the NATO “phonetic” alphabet.

I’m stuck.

These are awkwardly worded, aren’t they? Read carefully for some hints.

I need a better hint.

For the first two sentences, find what’s left out. For the third sentence, it’s the letter that’s mentioned in the sentence.

I'm almost ready to give up.

The first two sentences each have almost every letter of the alphabet. And the third sentence is self-referential (talking about itself).

I’m stuck.

This is a real analogy with a twist.

I need a better hint.

You have to “twist” some of the words to make them analogous.

I'm almost ready to give up.

The analogies are oppposites in two different ways.

I’m stuck.

The five words together form a single clue to a five letter word.

I need a better hint.

This is a cryptic crossword clue. See http://www.puzzazz.com/how-to/cryptic-crosswords .

I'm almost ready to give up.

This is a hidden word clue and the split is between the third word and the fourth word.

I’m stuck.

This is a metapuzzle. Each of the six answers can be matched to one of the categories if you properly “reorient” it. If you think you know one of the six answers, you can enter it in the answer box to check it.

I need a better hint.

Each of the original answers can become a new word by adding a letter and, in some cases, rearranging the letters. Find new words that will answer the question “Name a ___?” for each category.

I'm almost ready to give up.

For three of the answers, add an extra letter at the front or end to make a new word. For the other three words, you will need to add one letter and rearrange all of them to make a new word. What are the extra letters you added?

Tell me which answers go with which categories.

VISUOSPATIAL / EXECUTIVE: City, NAMING: Country, ATTENTION: Day, LANGUAGE: Place, ABSTRACTION: Relative, MEMORY: President.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Click on an item below to reveal the information. Select a section above to get hints on each section.

What is this?

It’s a mini-puzzlehunt. Each labeled section is a different kind of puzzle or related puzzles. It’s a pastiche of and homage to / homage to the MoCA test. See http://www.puzzazz.com/how-to/puzzlehunts .

Tell me a little bit more.

The answer to each labeled section answer is a common word. The answers to the subsections are not necessarily words. The “points” listed in the right column gives the number of letters.

What do the []s indicate?

Each [] is an answer letter.

Do I need any special knowledge or the internet?

Familiarity with common word puzzle types, like anagrams and cryptic crosswords, will be helpful, and common codes and ciphers will come in handy. No other specialized knowledge or research is necessary.

Any general advice?

Read carefully. There are hints embedded in the text.

Do I need to print this out?

While you might find it convenient to work on a printed copy, there is nothing that requires you to print this out.

You can help the effort to find treatments for dementia by donating to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund .

I'd like to thank the test solvers who helped me develop and refine COCOA: Judy Adamski, Victor Barocas, Ben Bass, James Dean, Jon Delfin, Lilly Geiger, Justin Kalef, Roy Leban, Justin Melvin, M. Sean Molley, Kelly Moutsos, Lance Nathan, Mark Oshin, Scott Purdy, and Ashutosh Sodhani.

Disclaimer: This puzzle is a pastiche of and homage to the MoCA test (mocatest.org). It is not a real test for cognitive ability or impairment. If you think someone has a cognitive impairment, talk to their doctor. This test is not affiliated with MoCA or the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund.
© Bruce Leban 2020 — cocoa logo based on https://thenounproject.com/term/cocoa/1896252/ © Scott Dunlap