CCAT practice test

Before you start: what this page is

The CCAT is Criteria Corp's Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test. IQ Octopus is not affiliated with or endorsed by Criteria Corp. We do not reproduce CCAT questions, and nothing here is drawn from the real test. What you get is practice for the CCAT in the broad sense: timed reasoning on number patterns and shapes, the kind of thinking cognitive aptitude tests are built around.

According to Criteria's own candidate materials, the CCAT has 50 questions with a 15-minute limit, in three kinds: verbal, math and logic, and spatial reasoning. Calculators are not allowed, and employers receive a raw score (the number correct) and a percentile (Criteria: CCAT prep). Criteria says fewer than 1% of candidates answer all 50 and the average test taker gets 24 right (Criteria: CCAT prep), so finishing is not the goal. The full guide is the CCAT, explained. Formats can change, so confirm with your invitation.

What the ten questions practice

The set mixes five formats and runs easy to hard:

• Number series (three). Find the rule in a list of numbers and choose the next one. Rules include a steady gap, doubling or tripling, gaps that grow by a fixed step, two series taking turns, and each number being the sum of the two before.
• Shape sequences (two). Tiles change step by step: turning, adding shapes, growing, cycling fills.
• Figure analogies (two). A is to B as C is to which tile? Name every change, apply it exactly.
• 3x3 matrices (two). Rules run across rows and down columns; find the missing tile.
• Odd one out (one). Five figures share a rule, one breaks it. Count sides or check where the dot sits.

What it does not practice: vocabulary, reading comprehension, or math word problems. If the format you are facing includes those, pair this page with material written for them.

The skill that matters most: speed with accuracy

Timed aptitude tests reward people who can decide quickly when they have enough information. That is a learnable habit. On every question here, try this rhythm:

1. Five seconds to classify. Which format is this, and what is its usual first check? Gaps for numbers, neighbors for sequences, rows for matrices, A-to-B for analogies.
2. Fifteen seconds to find one sure rule and eliminate every option that breaks it.
3. Ten seconds to decide. If one option is left, take it. If two are left, compare them directly: the difference between them is usually the second rule.

Each question has its own 30-second ring here. When it empties, the question is recorded as unanswered and the next one loads. Practicing with a hard stop per item builds the habit of moving on, which on a real timed test is often worth more than solving the hardest item.

Methods for the number questions

Since number series are the largest part of this set, a little more on them. Always write the gaps first. If the gaps are equal, you are done. If they climb by the same step, extend them. If each number is roughly double the last, check “double, then add or subtract a constant.” If nothing fits, split the list into odd and even positions; two simple series taking turns look chaotic until you separate them. The number series guide walks through each rule type.

A week of preparation, in plain steps

1. Read the publisher's or employer's description of the format, and list the question types it includes.
2. Take this practice set once, cold, and note which formats cost you points or time.
3. Work through untimed worked puzzles for your weakest format until you can explain each solution.
4. Add the clock back with fresh items, such as the other practice tests on this site.
5. The day before, stop practicing early and sleep. Fresh attention is worth more than one more set.

Nothing here requires special materials. The goal is simply to meet the real test with the formats already familiar, so that your time goes into reasoning rather than reading instructions.

Why employers use cognitive tests

Across large groups, general mental ability relates to job performance. A meta-analysis of 85 years of personnel research estimated that relationship at 0.51 (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998). That is a group-level trend, not a verdict on an individual, and it is one input among many in any hiring process. It also does not mean that a practice score here tells you anything about how a particular employer will read your CCAT result. It does not.

Your practice score

At the end you see how many of the ten you got right and a short description of that practice performance. Use it to decide what to practice next. Missed number series? Drill the number series puzzles. Missed analogies? Work through the analogy puzzles, each with a worked answer. Ran out of time? Do untimed sets until the methods feel automatic, then come back to the clock.

How much can practice help?

Familiarity with a test format genuinely raises scores. A review of retesting studies found that taking a cognitive ability test again raised scores by about a quarter of a standard deviation on average, roughly 4 IQ points, and more when the same form was reused (Hausknecht et al., 2007). You cannot retake the real test as practice, but you can arrive already comfortable with the formats and the pace, which is the fair version of that gain.

Other practice pages

The Wonderlic practice test leans harder on number series, and the cognitive ability test adds a rotation item. If you are curious where your general reasoning stands, the full IQ Octopus test gives an estimated IQ with a confidence range. It is a personal estimate and cannot be used for employment screening.