The CCAT (Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test) is a short, timed aptitude test that many employers use when hiring. This guide explains what it measures, how the format and scoring work, and how to prepare so the 15-minute limit doesn’t catch you off guard.

This site is an independent practice site. It isn’t affiliated with Criteria Corp, and none of the questions here are real CCAT questions. Everything is original practice written to match the published format.

What the CCAT measures

Criteria describes the CCAT as a measure of cognitive aptitude: your ability to solve problems, digest and apply information, learn new skills and think critically. It covers three areas:

Area	What it tests	Typical questions
Verbal ability	Word meaning, reading, logic and attention to detail	Antonyms, analogies, sentence completion
Math and logic	Arithmetic, number reasoning and logical thinking	Word problems, number series, averages, syllogisms
Spatial reasoning	Picturing shapes and how they move or change	Odd shape out, next shape in a series, rotations

All three areas are mixed together in one test, and they combine into a single overall score.

Who uses it

Employers send the CCAT to job applicants as part of screening. Criteria says it’s popular for mid- to senior-level roles such as managers, sales executives, software developers, executive assistants and analysts, and for roles with a lot of training, such as apprentice, intern and graduate jobs. You usually get an email invitation with a link and take it online, on your own, on a computer, tablet or phone.

The format

• 50 multiple-choice questions
• 15 minutes in total, which works out to about 18 seconds a question
• No calculator. Criteria says none of the questions need one.
• No penalty for wrong answers, according to Criteria’s own prep page, so a guess is better than a blank.

The time limit is the hard part. Criteria’s prep page says fewer than 1% of test takers answer all 50 questions, and its help pages say most people won’t finish, by design. Not finishing is normal, so don’t let it rattle you.

Criteria also says the CCAT draws on a large bank of questions, so two candidates don’t get the same set. Practice helps you learn the question types and get faster; it won’t show you the exact questions you’ll see.

How it’s scored

Your employer receives:

• a raw score: the number of questions you answered correctly, out of 50
• a percentile: how your raw score compares with Criteria’s norm group
• percentiles for each area: spatial reasoning, verbal ability, and math and logic

In Criteria’s published technical summary, the median raw score in the norm group is 24, with a standard deviation of 7. Employers can compare your score with suggested score ranges Criteria provides for many job families, or with ranges they set themselves. There’s no single passing score. Read the CCAT scores guide for what counts as a good score.

Retakes

Whether you can take the CCAT again is up to the employer, not you. Criteria’s score report guide also says the system can flag a result as invalid if it looks like the test taker has already seen that version of the test.

How to prepare

1. Learn the question types. Work through the sample questions, then each area: verbal, math, logic and spatial reasoning.
2. Practice under time pressure. Aim for about 18 seconds a question. Recognizing a question type quickly is most of the battle.
3. Sharpen your mental math. Percentages, fractions, averages and simple ratios come up often, and there’s no calculator.
4. Decide your skip rule in advance. If a question is going to take much longer than the rest, guess and move on. The time management tips explain how.
5. Set up for test day. Pick a quiet time, use a reliable connection, and read the instructions in your invitation before you start, since employers can set up the test in different ways.

If you only have a few days: take a timed 50-question practice set each day, then go back over every question that cost you more than 30 seconds.

Comparing tests? See CCAT vs Wonderlic. Then start practicing on the home page.