CCAT rules: what you can and can't do on test day

The CCAT rules at a glance

The CCAT is published by Criteria Corp. It is short and strict. (It is not the Canadian Cognitive Abilities Test that schools use to place children in gifted programs.) Some of its rules are published by Criteria. Some are left to the employer who invited you. A few are repeated online but aren't published by Criteria at all.

50 questions, 15 minutes, and you're not meant to finish

Criteria gives you 15 minutes "to answer as many questions as you can" (Criteria). That works out to 18 seconds per question if you spread the time evenly. You won't, and you shouldn't. Some questions take five seconds; a word problem can take forty.

Fewer than 1% of candidates answer all 50, and Criteria's help docs say that is "by design": the test measures "how quickly someone processes information" (Criteria Help Docs). So the rule that matters most isn't written on the test. It's this: a question you're stuck on costs you the questions after it.

Criteria's own advice is to make an educated guess and move on if you've spent more than a minute on one question. We'd set the limit lower. With an average of 18 seconds per question, a full minute is the cost of three other questions.

The clock does not start on the instructions. Criteria says you "can take all the time you need to read and understand them." Use that time. Read the instructions, settle in, then start.

No calculator. Scratch paper depends on your employer

Criteria's candidate page says it in three words: "No calculators allowed." It also says none of the questions require one: put "those mental math skills to work." The math is arithmetic, percentages, ratios, averages and short word problems, not algebra you'd need a calculator for.

Scratch paper is a different matter. Criteria doesn't mention it on any public page we found: not the candidate page, not the candidate FAQ, not the help docs. At least one employer's own CCAT guide says pen and paper are allowed. Others may say nothing, and a proctored sitting may restrict what's on your desk. Read your invitation and the instructions screen. If it's unclear, ask the recruiter before you start, not during the test.

Practice both ways. If you can use paper, you want the habit of jotting two numbers, not working a full solution. If you can't, you want the mental shortcuts. Our CCAT math questions page shows the fast route for each type.

Can you go back or skip questions on the CCAT?

You can skip. There's no penalty for a wrong answer, and Criteria tells you to "make an educated guess and move on" when stuck, so in practice skipping means picking your best guess and moving forward.

Can you go back to a question later? Criteria doesn't publish a rule either way. Its candidate page, FAQ and help docs are silent on it. Candidates online ask the same question and get conflicting answers. Prep sites state it both ways, and none of the ones we read cite Criteria.

Here is the safe assumption: plan as if you can't go back. If your test turns out to allow it, you've lost nothing. If it doesn't, and you planned to return to five skipped questions, you've lost five guesses.

Our full CCAT practice test is forward-only for this reason: you answer or skip, then move on. That's our simulator's rule, not a claim about Criteria's. It's the stricter case, and it trains the habit that works under either rule: decide once, guess if you have to, and keep moving.

Can you retake the CCAT?

Criteria doesn't set a retake rule for candidates. Each employer controls it through Criteria's platform:

• An employer can invite you to retake. Criteria's help docs describe how employers re-administer a test. Your new result is stored "alongside" the old one (Criteria Help Docs).
• An employer can reuse your old score instead. Criteria's default setting reuses results for candidates who tested "for up to 12 months" if you apply to that employer again (Criteria Help Docs). If you reapply soon after a low score, your old result may be the one they see.
• A different employer means a new test. Criteria's candidate FAQ says results "are not shared with any other companies," so each company you apply to asks you to take its assessments (Criteria Candidate FAQs).
• A retake will have different questions. Criteria draws from an item bank so that someone taking a test again gets a different selection of items (Criteria Help Docs).

You may read that you must wait six months to retake the CCAT. That's one employer's policy, not Criteria's. Another employer may never offer a retake, or may offer one next week. Treat your first sitting as your only one, and prepare for it that way.

Is the CCAT proctored?

Usually not. Criteria's Information Brief says the CCAT "can be completed remotely over the internet under unsupervised conditions" (CCAT Information Brief). Criteria protects unsupervised tests in other ways: a large item bank so "no two candidates will ever receive the exact same set of questions," and session logs that record what happened during the test.

Employers can add proctoring. It's an add-on in Criteria's platform, and it can apply to any round, including a second sitting after you pass the first (Criteria Help Docs, Proctoring FAQ). If yours is proctored, Criteria's help docs say to expect:

• No software to install. A supported browser and a webcam, with camera and microphone permission.
• Periodic photos, a check that your face stays in view and matches your reference photo, and flags if a second person or a phone appears.
• Optionally, a second camera linked by QR code, audio clips when a voice is detected, and screen capture on a computer (not on a phone).
• A report for the employer marked "Clear" or "Review." Criteria changed to these labels in August 2026. "Review" means a person looks at it; it isn't an automatic fail (Criteria Help Docs, Proctoring).

If an employer asks for a proctored sitting after an unproctored one, prepare as if it's the first. Criteria's help docs say proctored results can't be reused later, so the proctored score may be the one that counts.

Extra time and accommodations

Criteria's candidate help says to contact "the employer, individual, or organization that has asked you to complete an assessment" if you need a reasonable accommodation (Criteria Candidate Help). The employer makes the decision and applies it.

Criteria's platform supports a 1.5x time adjustment. For the CCAT, Criteria's help docs give the example: 15 minutes becomes "approximately 22 minutes" (Criteria Help Docs). The employer is responsible for the adjustment, so ask before you open the test, not after you've started it.

Test-day setup that the rules don't cover

A few things Criteria recommends on its How to Prepare page, plus what we've learned from building a timed simulator:

• Use the device you're most comfortable with. Criteria supports phones and tablets, but a spatial question with five small figures is easier to read on a laptop. See our CCAT spatial reasoning questions for what those look like.
• Block 15 uninterrupted minutes, plus time for the instructions. Silence your phone.
• Keep your Event ID. If your connection drops, Criteria's FAQ says you can return to the assessment center, enter the Event ID and continue.
• Know your pacing before the day. Take a free timed practice test under the same conditions: 50 questions, 15 minutes, no calculator, forward only. Your first one shouldn't be the one that counts.

Want to know what your score will mean once you've taken it? See what is a good CCAT score. New to the test? Start with what the Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test is, or try CCAT practice questions by type. If an employer sent you a different test, our CCAT vs Wonderlic comparison covers how the two differ.