“What’s a good CCAT score?” The short answer: the median raw score in Criteria’s norm group is 24 out of 50, and there’s no single passing score. Each employer decides what it’s looking for. Here’s how the score works and how to read your own result.

What your score report shows

According to Criteria’s score report guide, an employer sees:

• your raw score: the number of questions you answered correctly, out of 50
• your percentile: the share of the norm group you scored higher than
• a separate percentile for each area: spatial reasoning, verbal ability, and math and logic
• a chart of where your raw score falls, and, if the employer chose a job family, the suggested score range for that job

Unanswered questions simply don’t add to your raw score. Criteria’s prep page says there’s no penalty for wrong answers, so guessing can only help.

Average score

Criteria’s technical summary describes a norm group of 106,740 adults, made up of job applicants and current employees, with a median raw score of 24 and a standard deviation of 7. Criteria’s prep page puts the average test taker at 24 correct as well. In the sample score report Criteria publishes, a raw score of 24 is shown at the 50th percentile.

Very few people answer everything: Criteria says fewer than 1% of test takers answer all 50 questions.

Approximate percentiles

Criteria doesn’t publish its full raw-score-to-percentile table. The figures below are our rough estimates, worked out from the published median (24) and standard deviation (7) on the assumption that scores follow a normal curve. Your real percentile comes from Criteria’s own norm tables and may differ by a few points.

What’s a good CCAT score?

It depends on the job. Criteria provides suggested score ranges for more than 40 job families, including accounting, customer service, software development, project management, sales, nursing, management and senior leadership. Criteria says the ranges are based on large samples of scores from people applying for or working in similar roles. Employers can use them, adjust them or set their own.

Criteria doesn’t publish the full table of ranges openly. The one example in its public score report material is a Management range of 20 to 50. Lists of “required scores” by job that you’ll find around the internet aren’t from Criteria and can’t be verified, so treat them with caution.

A few things you can say with confidence:

• 24 or more is at or above the norm group’s median.
• 31 or more is roughly one standard deviation above the median, which puts you around the top sixth of test takers.
• Criteria says cognitive aptitude matters most in jobs that involve processing a lot of information, such as complex technical and managerial roles, so expect employers hiring for those roles to look for higher scores.

If you want to know what a particular employer expects, it’s fine to ask the recruiter. Many won’t say, but some will.

Can you retake it?

Retakes are the employer’s decision. Criteria’s score report guide also says the system can mark a result as invalid if the speed and accuracy of the answers suggest the person has already seen that version of the test.

How to raise your score

The questions aren’t individually hard; the clock is. The fastest gains come from recognizing question types instantly and not getting stuck. Work through the verbal, math, logic and spatial practice, then read the time management tips.

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