CCAT to IQ converter

Criteria has not published how the CCAT relates to IQ, and the percentile table here comes from a test-prep source rather than from Criteria. This is the least documented conversion on the site, so the ranges are wide.

Every CCAT score, from the same model as the calculator. The likely range covers about four in five people at that score. The last column is the IQ you would get if the CCAT measured IQ perfectly, which is the number most other charts show.

Going the other way, this is the CCAT score people at each IQ typically get. Scores at the same IQ vary a lot, so the range matters more than the middle figure.

The Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test is a pre-employment screen. Its 50 questions cover verbal ability, maths and logic, and spatial reasoning, and most people cannot finish all 50 in the 15 minutes allowed. Criteria describes it as a measure of cognitive aptitude, often called general intelligence or g.

That description is Criteria's own. We found no independent study that compares CCAT scores with a Wechsler test or with Raven's matrices. The reliability figure of about .86 that circulates online is also secondary. What we do have from Criteria itself is one anchor: a raw score of 24 is the 50th percentile of its global norm group.

Employers use the CCAT as one input to a hiring decision, often with a threshold that varies by role, with higher bars for roles that involve heavy learning and analysis. Those thresholds are not IQ cut-offs, and companies rarely publish them.

Because the test is speeded and its questions are of a familiar type, practice raises scores. People who take the CCAT more than once, or who prepare, typically improve. If you are comparing your score with a friend's, ask whether each of you practised.

The norm group is job applicants, mostly for mid-level and senior roles, from many countries. That group is slightly above the general population in education, so the model assumes a mean IQ of about 102.

That figure is an assumption. If you believe applicants are more or less able than that, the whole table would shift by the same amount.

If you took the CCAT for a job, the number you care about is the employer's threshold, and this page cannot tell you that. What it can tell you is roughly where you sit among applicants, and that a score a few points either side of a cut-off is not a meaningful difference. Two sittings a few weeks apart can differ by that much.

If you took a practice version, remember that practice tests use different questions and often different scoring from the real one. A practice score of 32 is a signal that you are comfortable with the format, not a prediction of a real result. The best use of the estimate here is as a reality check on how much weight one 15-minute screen deserves when you think about your own ability.

Percentiles are approximate. The estimated IQ column shows the most likely value, with the likely range in brackets.

There is no official CCAT to IQ conversion. Criteria Corp does not publish one. What we can do honestly is treat the CCAT as a good but imperfect signal of general ability. We place your score among CCAT test-takers, assume how able that group is on average, and use the correlation between the two to predict the most likely IQ. Because the correlation is below 1, high and low scores are pulled towards the middle. That is why the estimate comes with a range.

Evidence grade: weak. Only one norm point is from the publisher, and no independent study links the CCAT to IQ. The rest is assumption, which is why the ranges are wide.

Published facts we used

• A raw score of 24 is the 50th percentile of the global norm group (Criteria sample report).
• Format: up to 50 questions in 15 minutes covering verbal, maths and logic, and spatial reasoning (Criteria information brief).

Assumptions we made

• Percentiles for other scores are taken from a test-prep summary, not from Criteria.
• Mean IQ of CCAT test-takers: 102. Job applicants for mid-level and senior roles.
• IQ spread among test-takers: SD 14.
• Correlation between CCAT and IQ among test-takers: .70. No published value exists.