CCAT verbal · 7 worked questions · 7 question types
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This page is about the Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT), the hiring test, not the Canadian school test with the same initials. Verbal questions test vocabulary and careful reading, not writing. They are short, and a strong reader can answer many in well under 18 seconds. That speed is what pays for the slow math questions. For all four domains on one page, see CCAT practice questions.
CCAT verbal questions are about words: what they mean, what they are opposite to, and how two of them relate. None of them ask you to read a long passage. Most are one line.
In our simulator's mix, verbal is 16 of the 50 questions, second only to math. That is our mix, not a published Criteria number. Our bank has seven verbal types: Synonyms, Antonyms, Word analogies, Sentence completion, Verbal odd one out, Word relationships, and Exact matching.
Exact matching sits here because it is a reading task. You compare two columns of names, addresses, phone numbers and codes, and count how many pairs are identical. Some sites file it under spatial or attention to detail. We put it with verbal because the skill is reading every character, and the same habit fixes both.
At 18 seconds a question, 16 verbal questions is 4 minutes and 48 seconds on average. Plan to beat that. A synonym or antonym you know should take 5 to 8 seconds. Spend the time you save on sentence completion and exact matching, which take longer to read.
The other half of the budget is knowing when you do not know a word. If none of the options ring a bell after one read, you will not reason your way to it. Guess and move on.
Each one is from our practice bank. Answer it first, then open the solution.
Which choice is CLOSEST in meaning to FEASIBLE?
Answer: C, workable
In this sense, feasible means workable, able to be done. Desirable and profitable are tempting because feasible plans often are, but they describe value, not possibility. The other choices do not express the same meaning.
Create your own definition before looking at the choices.
Fast route. Define the word in your own words before you look at the options. Feasible: “can be done.” Then find that. Workable.
Trap. Words that describe a feasible plan without meaning feasible. Desirable and profitable are things good plans are; they are not the same as possible.
Choose the word that is most nearly OPPOSITE to the word in capital letters. CONSENSUS
Answer: E, discord
Consensus means general agreement; discord means disagreement and conflict. Majority, compromise, and ballot belong to the language of group decisions, and debate is a process, not the absence of agreement.
Notice OPPOSITE. A word from the same register is a trap, not the answer.
Fast route. Say the meaning in two words (“general agreement”), flip it (“open disagreement”), then look for that. Discord.
Trap. Words from the same setting. Majority, compromise and ballot all live in meetings and votes. Same topic is not opposite meaning.
PLAYWRIGHT is to SCRIPT as . . .
Answer: A, SCULPTOR is to STATUE
A playwright creates a script; a sculptor creates a statue. MELODY is to COMPOSER puts the product first, ACTOR is to CAST and SCENE is to ACT are both part to whole, and DIRECTOR is to STAGE is worker to workplace.
A relation that appears twice among the options (two part to whole pairs) cannot be the answer.
Fast route. Turn the pair into a short sentence: a playwright creates a script. Then test each option in the same sentence, in the same order. A sculptor creates a statue.
Trap. The right relationship in the wrong direction. MELODY is to COMPOSER is creator and product backwards. And when two options share a relationship (two part-to-whole pairs here), neither can be the single right answer.
Choose the word or words that best complete the sentence. Although the veteran firefighters were ______ by the thick smoke filling the warehouse, it was enough to ______ the new recruits, who had never fought a real fire.
Answer: B, unfazed … rattle
Although sets up a contrast between veterans and recruits who had never fought a fire. Blank 1 means not bothered (unfazed) and blank 2 means upset (rattle). Unfazed … comfort fails blank 2, and delighted … unsettle fails blank 1.
Solve the easier blank first, then test only the survivors on the other blank.
Fast route. Find the signal word first. “Although” means contrast. Solve the easier blank, cross out options that fail it, then test only the survivors on the other blank.
Trap. An option where one word fits perfectly. Both blanks have to work. Unfazed … comfort gets the first blank right and the second wrong.
Which word does NOT belong with the other four?
Answer: C, ingenuous
Four describe sharp intelligence; ingenuous means innocent or naive, despite looking like ingenious.
Watch for look-alike words; read each one letter by letter.
Fast route. Name a precise category that holds four of the five. Here: words for sharp intelligence. The one that does not fit is the answer.
Trap. Look-alike words. Ingenuous and ingenious differ by one letter and mean nearly opposite things. Read every option letter by letter.
How are the meanings of CAUTIOUS and COWARDLY related?
Answer: A, Neither
Cautious means careful to avoid risk; cowardly means lacking courage. Both involve avoiding danger, but caution can be wise and brave people can be cautious, so the words are neither synonyms nor antonyms.
Similar topic does not mean similar meaning.
Fast route. Ask two questions in order. Can the words swap in a sentence without changing its meaning? Similar. Is one the reverse of the other? Opposite. Neither? Neither.
Trap. Words that share a topic. Cautious and cowardly both involve avoiding danger, but a brave person can be cautious. Shared topic is not shared meaning.
How many of the five items in the left column are exactly the same as the corresponding item in the right column?
| Oakmont Dental Group LLC | Oakmont Dental Group, LLC |
| 4471 Westbrook Ct. | 4471 Westbrook Ct. |
| m.oyelaran@fernhollow.org | m.oyelaran@fernhollow.org |
| INV-20417-B | INV-20417B |
| Corinne J. Abernathy | Corinne J. Abernathy |
Answer: D, 3
Three pairs match: 4471 Westbrook Ct., the email address, and Corinne J. Abernathy. The others differ: the right side adds a comma before LLC, and the invoice code is missing the hyphen before B.
Check every hyphen and comma in codes and company suffixes.
Fast route. Read numbers and codes in chunks of two or three. Check every hyphen, comma and period, and the endings of company names.
Trap. Your eye corrects small differences for you. A comma before LLC, a missing hyphen in a code: you will skip both if you read for meaning. Read for characters.
Vocabulary grows slowly, so do not try to learn a word list in two days. What you can fix in two days is method. Practice saying a definition before you look at the options. Practice finding the signal word in a sentence. Practice reading codes in chunks.
Drill each type until your method is automatic, then take a full CCAT practice test so verbal questions show up between math and spatial ones, the way they do on a CCAT-style test. The switch from a table to a synonym and back is its own skill. Your first full test is free with the free CCAT practice test, with a debrief of where your time went.
If exact matching is costing you, work a few in a row on a timer. It is the one verbal type where speed comes from a routine, not from what you already know.
Verbal is one of four. See CCAT math questions, CCAT logic questions and CCAT spatial reasoning questions.
Short vocabulary and reading questions: synonyms, antonyms, analogies, sentence completion, odd one out, and comparing lists of names or codes for exact matches. There is no long reading passage in our practice format.
Criteria does not publish a count per domain. Our simulator uses 16 verbal questions out of 50, which is our own mix.
Not much, and you do not need to. Most verbal points come from method: defining the word before you look at the options, spotting the signal word, and not falling for look-alikes.
We treat it as verbal because it is a reading task: you compare text character by character. Some prep sites call it attention to detail.
Guess and move on. In our simulator a wrong answer and a blank score the same, and the seconds you save are worth more on another question.
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