Trump Continues to Say He Aced His Cognitive Test - What Does That Mean?

[MineralMan]

Want to Cheat at Your Medicare Wellness Visit?

Here's some advice to anyone about to take one of those cognitive tests. Note that if you pass the simple "Mini-Cog" you won't have to go on toe take more comprehensive test. Donald always gets to take the comprehensive test, based on his statements.

In most clinics you'll get a cognitive test by the PA who takes your blood pressure and asks you some questions. What you may not know is that it is a standardized thing. It's called the "Mini-Cog" and is almost universally used. Its validity in identifying cognitive deficits has been well-demonstrated, and the "Mini-Cog" is the standard initial test everyone ends up getting. I'm very familiar with it now, having taken it 15 times at my annual Medicare wellness visits.

The "Mini-Cog" consists of just two things:

1. Writing the numbers on a clock face and drawing hands to indicate the time as 11:10. It doesn't matter if you aren't careful about the length of the hands, and the hour hand does not need to point slightly past 11 to indicate that 10 minutes have passed. The time is always the same.

This test is worth 2 points. If you get all the numbers in the right places, more or less, you get a point. If you draw the hands pointing at the right places, you get a point.

The trick? It's always the same test. if you want to, you can practice it at home. In the past, the patient also had to draw the circle. That was too hard to score, though, so you don't have to practice that.

2. Remembering three words. Before the clock test, the person administering the test will give you three nouns and ask you to repeat them. Then,
you're supposed to remember them for later.

After the clock test, you'll be asked to repeat the three words. Each word is worth one point in your score. Here's the trick:

There are only six groups of three words that are used. They are:
1. Banana, Sunrise, Chair
2. Daughter, Heaven, Mountain
3. Village, Kitchen, Baby
4. River, Nation, Finger
5. Captain, Garden, Picture
6. Leader, Season, Table

The trick? You could memorize all six, but if you can do that, you're obviously cognitively OK. However, most PAs use the same three words every time, and it's usually the #1 group. That's why this is often known as the "banana, sunrise, chair" test. In my 15 times of taking this test, in all but one of them, the #1 noun group was used. In the other, it was the #3 group. Think about it: The PA also has to remember the words, so he or she usually uses the same word group every time. If you have a memory deficit, you won't remember the words for a year, anyhow.

That's it. You don't really need to cheat, though. Both are easy tests. If you can't do them, then you probably do have some level of cognitive deficit. If that's the case, you wouldn't be able to cheat anyhow, especially on the word list challenge. So, don't worry about it. You need 3 points. If you score lower than that, the doctor will suggest the longer, more elaborate cognitive test - the one Trump has to take.

Here's a PDF used by PAs who administer the test:
https://www.ohsu.edu/sites/default/files/2023-01/05%29%20SUPPLEMENTAL%20-%20Mini-Cog.pdf

[yaesu]

1. I think he just did what he did in college, just paid or bullied someone else to take the test for him. Nt

[marble falls]

2. What does that mean? To whom - Taco and the basket of deplorables or the saner rest of us?

[MineralMan]

7. It just means that he probably failed the Mini-Cog and

had to take the longer, more intensive testing.

[marble falls]

9. Exactly. He's not being tested, he's being monitored.

[agingdem]

3. My mother-in-law "aced" her cognitive assessment

as she spiraled into full blown dementia..when asked to point to a giraffe she did but when she was shown pictures of her son she said he was her brother but she couldn’t remember his name.. she never had a brother..

[MineralMan]

6. Yes. It's very sad, indeed.

My mother had advanced dementia before she died at 96. Hard to deal with the loss of a parent, especially when that person is right in front of you.

[yardwork]

8. My mother also gamed the tests.

I witnessed it and then I'd have to chase after the medical student or social worker and tell them that they'd just been told a pack of lies by my mother. Then I'd get apprehensive side eye as the practitioner wondered if I was the problem.

Finally my mom's primary care physician stepped in and told the team that my mom started from a highly intelligent baseline and was using her decades of experience working in a healthcare setting to hide and obfuscate her severe dementia.

It's one of the things that makes being the primary caregiver for someone suffering from dementia so difficult. These are patients who fight their caregivers.

[AnnaLee]

4. My neighbor's BIL

My neighbor's relative insists that his mother had his IQ measured and found out he had a score that was the sixth highest ever recorded. Upon hearing this news I wondered who wiped the drool off his chin during evening meals but kept my mouth shut instead of sharing the thought.

[mr715]

5. It means Lindsay and Mitch are going to have company soon.

[riversedge]

10. I wish the family of McConnell would give some updates. Not sure what is going on with him at this point.

[mr715]

11. He is an ex parrot.

He is no longer alive.

He has shuffled off the mortal coil.

He is no more.

He is no longer consisting of life pulse.

He has joined his ancestors.

Mitch McConnell is as dead as Catherine the Great.

[indusurb]

12. The fact that he doesn't realize these frequent cognitive tests isn't a good thing

Proves why he needs them. You don't get a full cognitive test every six months, whether you "ace it" or not unless your cheese is seriously sliding off your cracker.

[MineralMan]

13. Well, if you have a Medicare Wellness Check, you get the Mini-Cog.

It's a required part of the appointment. Trump is getting more than that. That's concerning.

[dpibel]

14. That's odd

I just had a Medicare Wellness Check and was asked neither to draw a clock nor remember three (or any other number of words).

I guess I should counsel with my care provider about what is required.

[MineralMan]

15. Well, I can't speak for every provider. Here, every one I've been to or my wife, who is

also on Medicare, ends up getting that. But, I have only my sample to use.

[MineralMan]

16. The link below outlines the requirements for the Annual Wellness Check

https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/yearly-wellness-visits

Some sort of cognitive assessment is required. Perhaps not that particular test, but it's commonly used, nationwide.

Information is always available via a Google search. When it comes to requirements, I go to the official Medicare site. You can, too. just click the link above.

[dpibel]

22. Thanks for the hints, coach!

I had no idea about this Google thing of which you speak!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

28. I have to do this test for each annual physical

[ananda]

20. I did mine in May and don't remember a cognitive test.

Uh oh.

[MineralMan]

21. LOL! It should have.

On the other hand...you don't remember...hmm....

[wiggs]

17. It means nothing. He may not have taken a test at all. Or...he may have taken some other kind of test

and he lying to cover up the other test. Or...he may have taken the cog test and failed but is lying as usual.

Or...he has no idea what he does from one minute to the next. He may be remembering past tests.

Or...he did take a cog test and has no idea that passing is a very low bar and wants to brag.

[Wounded Bear]

18. Never took that test, but when I had my TIA, the docs were always asking me questions...

like "do you know where you are?" and "do you know why you're here?" Similar purpose, I'm sure.

If they are actually administering cog testing that often, it is obvious he is being monitored, and while he may "pass" those tests, his indicators of decline are pretty obvious to us laymen watching him on the myriad vids out there.

[MineralMan]

19. That's a different test, used in trauma cases or obvious impairment.

It measures different thing than the cognitive test I referred to. I've had those questions, too, at the time I presented at a hospital after contraction viral encephalitis. I couldn't not answer them and ended up spending a couple of weeks in the hospital until I started recovering. I was lucky to survive at all. A month later, I was back at my work, writing articles for a national magazine.

[Ilsa]

23. He aced it, meaning he got one out of five. nt

[MineralMan]

24. AHA! The other definition of "ace"

Brava!

[cksmithy]

25. My husband took the Montreal Cognitive Test (MoCA),

which is a little more difficult. I was with him when, he had to state the date, week day, draw the clock - no circle was on paper, draw a geometric square, hear 5 words, repeat them back, do math subtraction in his head no scratch paper, point to correct animals, answer a few other questions and then remember the list of 5 words. He barely passed, (you need 26 out of 30), doctor said he was early onset dementia, but he was 75 at the time, what an ox moron, and he was also dehydrated, which can affect thought processes. Went to another doctor, fully hydrated, he passed the test, no problem. The second doctor did a MRI, just to be safe, he has a completely normal brain for his age. They also did some other testing and diagnosed him with inattentive ADHD, which certainly has explained a lot of things through out our 55+ year marriage.

I think trump is taking the MoCA since he mentions animals that are on the test. Anyway, my husband has only taken the cognitive test 2 times. In the past 3 years, they are not making him take it over and over, because he can answer simple questions and make conversations with the nurses and his doctors.

[doc03]

26. He is nutier than a fruit cake.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

27. If you take a dementia test and think that it is an IQ test, then you failed both the dementia test and the IQ test

Link to tweet

[jmowreader]

29. What it means...

...is they're worried enough about his cognitive state to give him a full cognitive test in the first place.