Vertafore and the CCAT: what engineering interns should know

Vertafore and the CCAT at a glance

Where the CCAT sits in Vertafore's hiring process

1. 1

   Application and recruiter contact

   You apply to an internship or early-career posting. A recruiter or campus team reaches out if your application moves forward.

2. 2

   Emailed assessment link

   In a typical Criteria flow, you get an email with a link to take the test online, unproctored, on Criteria's platform within a few days. Vertafore's exact timing is not reported.

3. 3

   CCAT, sometimes with a personality test

   The CCAT is 50 questions in 15 minutes with no calculator. Employers often pair it with a Criteria personality questionnaire; that part has no right answers to study for.

4. 4

   Technical and team interviews

   Reports do not describe the later rounds. For engineering internships, expect a coding or technical conversation after the screen.

Steps are as candidates describe them. Processes change by role and over time.

Can your pace reach Vertafore's target?

The numbers below use our estimate for Vertafore: a range of 27 to 30 out of 50 with a target of 29. Nothing is saved. If you ask Clever below, it sees your numbers.

Who Vertafore is

Vertafore makes software that insurance agencies, carriers and managing general agents use to run policies, quotes and client records.

Prep sites group Vertafore with companies tied to Vista Equity Partners. Vista was a past owner, and Vertafore is now part of Roper Technologies, so treat any portfolio-wide testing habit as history rather than current policy. Our Vista Equity Partners page covers what candidates report across that group.

Why the CCAT matters more for interns

Internship applicants usually have thin resumes: a few classes, a project or two, maybe a hackathon. When every applicant looks similar on paper, a timed aptitude score is one of the few numbers a recruiter can sort on. That is the likely reason a company would call the CCAT key to intern recruiting.

It also means the test arrives early, sometimes before you have talked to anyone. You may get the link during midterms or finals. Plan for that: block 20 quiet minutes, close other tabs, and take it when you are rested, not between two exams.

Criteria reports that the average test taker gets about 24 questions right and that fewer than 1% finish all 50. You do not need to finish. You need to answer the questions you can answer quickly and not get stuck.

Where engineering students lose points

Computer science students tend to do well on number sequences and logic, then lose time on two things they rarely practice: verbal questions under a clock and spatial tile puzzles. Analogies and sentence completion reward a broad vocabulary, not code. Rotations and visual sequences reward a method, not talent.

The other trap is over-solving. An engineer's instinct is to prove the answer. On the CCAT, if you can eliminate three options in ten seconds, pick from the remaining two and move on.

• Number sequences: check differences, then ratios, then alternating terms.
• Rotations: track one corner cell, not the whole tile.
• Analogies: say the relationship as a sentence before reading the options.

Question types to drill first

• Number sequencesA common strength for engineering students. Make it fast so it buys time for harder sections.Number series with worked examples
• RotationsSpatial items are where many technical applicants stall. A fixed method keeps each one under 30 seconds.Spatial reasoning with worked examples
• AnalogiesVerbal questions are the usual gap for CS majors, and analogies are the most learnable verbal type.Verbal questions with worked examples

Roles at Vertafore reported to include the CCAT

Tips for the Vertafore CCAT

• Take one timed 50-question test before your invite arrives, so the first time you feel the 15-minute clock is not the one that counts.
• If you are a student, take the test right after a rest day, not the night after an exam.
• On number sequences, say the differences between terms to yourself in order (plus 3, plus 6, plus 12) before you look at the options.
• Skip any spatial item you cannot read within 15 seconds and come back to the habit in practice, not on test day.
• Ask the campus recruiter whether the test is the CCAT or another Criteria test, and whether a personality questionnaire comes with it.

Practice questions in the same formats

These are our own practice questions, written in the CCAT's formats. Vertafore does not publish its test questions, and neither does Criteria. For a full timed run, take the free CCAT practice test.

How we estimate

Vertafore does not publish a CCAT score, so the numbers on this page are our estimate. We start from Criteria's published job-family floors for the roles candidates report, then place them against Criteria's two norm groups, where the median raw score is 24. We adjust for how competitive the applicant pool is, and we use an employer's own published baseline whenever one exists.

Percentiles come from a normal model on Criteria's published median and standard deviations, shown as a range across both groups. See the CCAT percentile chart for the method and what a good CCAT score is for the published job-family floors.

Clever Cat Prep is not affiliated with Vertafore or Criteria Corp. Vertafore is a trademark of its owner.