Company guide
Vista Equity Partners is reported to encourage the CCAT across its portfolio of software companies, for roles from entry level to sales, engineering, consulting and finance. No Vista company publishes a cutoff, so our estimate is 26 to 33 out of 50, with 30 as a target, higher for analyst and finance roles. Some candidates also report a personality test from the same vendor.
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Estimated target score
30/50
An estimate, not a published cutoff.
Prep sites JobTestPrep and CCAT Practice Test describe the CCAT as standard across Vista portfolio companies, sometimes paired with a Criteria personality test. They cite no source, and we could not confirm it with Vista or its companies, so read this as widely reported, not confirmed.
The highest Criteria suggested floor among the reported roles is 22 (Analyst, Engineering, Finance Manager). We add 5 to 8 for a typical software employer and up to 11 for selective analyst programs, which gives 26 to 33. Each portfolio company sets its own bar, so treat this as a starting point.
| Role | Criteria job family and floor | Our estimate | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry-level and analyst programs | Analyst: 22 | 29 to 33 | Selective early-career programs draw large applicant pools, so we use the larger margin. |
| Finance | Finance Manager: 22 | 28 to 33 | Finance roles lean on tables, percentages and ratios, which are a big share of the math section. |
| Software engineering | Engineering: 22 | 27 to 31 | Typical software employer margin. Some portfolio companies may set the bar closer to Criteria's Software Development floor of 20. |
| Consulting and services | Business Operations Specialist: 20 | 26 to 30 | Client-facing implementation and consulting roles at portfolio software companies. |
| Sales | Sales / Account Executive: 19 | 24 to 28 | The lowest floor of the group. Sales-heavy roles get a smaller margin. |
The numbers below use our estimate for Vista Equity Partners portfolio: a range of 26 to 33 out of 50 with a target of 30. Nothing is saved. If you ask Clever below, it sees your numbers.
Vista Equity Partners is a private equity firm that invests in enterprise software companies. You will rarely apply to Vista itself. You apply to one of its portfolio companies, and prep sites report that many of them use the CCAT as a standard step across the portfolio.
That claim comes from prep sites that cite no source, and we could not confirm it with Vista. Still, if a software company sends you a CCAT link and you know it is Vista-owned, this is the likely reason. Mediaocean is one company that prep sites tie to this pattern.
A portfolio-wide test does not mean a portfolio-wide cutoff. Each company decides who it hires, and Criteria's own guidance gives each job family a different suggested floor, from 17 for some frontline roles to 24 for data analytics and legal. An entry-level analyst and a sales rep at the same company may face different bars.
That is why this page lists an estimate per role rather than one number. Find your role in the table, aim for the upper end of its range, and remember that every figure here is our estimate, not something a Vista company has published.
Some candidates report a Criteria personality assessment in the same invite. It asks how you see yourself, not what you can solve, so there is nothing to drill. Answer consistently and honestly, and do not try to guess an ideal profile.
If both tests come together, take the CCAT first while you are fresh. The personality test does not depend on time pressure in the same way.
Charts and tables are where analyst candidates should be strongest and often are not, because they read every cell before looking at the question. Read the question first, find the one row and column it needs, and ignore the rest.
You apply to the company itself, not to Vista. Its recruiters run the process and choose the assessments.
Reported as a standard early step: 50 questions in 15 minutes, typically an online link taken at home.
Some candidates report a Criteria personality assessment alongside the CCAT. It is untimed in style and has no right answers to practice.
Interviews with the company follow. How heavily the CCAT counts varies by company and role.
Steps are as candidates describe them. Processes change by role and over time.
These are our own practice questions, written in the CCAT's formats. Vista Equity Partners portfolio does not publish its test questions, and neither does Criteria. For a full timed run, take the free CCAT practice test.
What is the absolute difference between the Coastal and South teams in April?
| Team | April | May | June |
|---|---|---|---|
| North | 260 | 280 | 280 |
| South | 160 | 280 | 60 |
| Coastal | 250 | 280 | 120 |
Answer: A, 90
In April, the values are 250 and 160. Subtract the smaller from the larger to get 90.
Find the exact row and column before calculating.
The ratio of red to blue tiles is 3:4. There are 154 tiles in total. How many are blue?
Answer: E, 88
There are 7 parts in total. Each is worth 154 ÷ 7 = 22. Blue tiles: 4 × 22 = 88.
Convert the ratio into a total number of parts.
Vista Equity Partners portfolio 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 Vista Equity Partners portfolio or Criteria Corp. Vista Equity Partners portfolio is a trademark of its owner.
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Prep sites report that the CCAT is standard across many Vista portfolio companies. They cite no source and we could not confirm it, but many candidates at Vista-owned software companies do receive a CCAT link.
None publishes a cutoff, and each company sets its own. Our estimate is 26 to 33 out of 50, with analyst and finance roles at the top and sales at the bottom.
Some candidates report a Criteria personality assessment alongside the CCAT. It has no right answers, so answer honestly and consistently.
To the portfolio company. Its recruiters run the process, including the assessments.
Prep sites list entry-level, sales, engineering, consulting and finance roles.
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