Your recruiter did not send you one testing link, they sent you two: a CCAT and an SHL assessment, both tied to the same job. That is not a mistake, and it is not overkill on your part to prepare for both. It does mean you have a specific problem most guides ignore: these two tests reward opposite instincts, and the strategy that wins one can quietly sink the other. This page is not another general side by side (we have a full CCAT vs Wonderlic vs SHL comparison for that). It is a game plan for the candidate who genuinely has to clear both, in the right order, without letting one test’s habits sabotage the other. Quick disambiguation first: “CCAT” here means the Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test, the workplace hiring test, not the school-admissions Canadian Cognitive Abilities Test that shares the acronym.
Quick takeaways
- Employers pairing a CCAT with an SHL usually want two different reads on you: raw speed under a single clock, and depth per cognitive area.
- The CCAT is one 15-minute sprint of 50 mixed questions; SHL is usually sectioned, often adaptive, and per section.
- The strategies genuinely clash: the CCAT rewards coverage and fast guessing, an adaptive SHL rewards early accuracy.
- Prep the shared skills first (verbal, numerical, abstract reasoning), then split the last stretch into two mode-specific rehearsals.
- Prep the CCAT last if the tests are close together, so its speed reflexes are freshest for the tighter clock.
- One weak question type (usually spatial or abstract) drags both scores, so fixing it is the single highest-leverage move.
Why an employer would ask for both
Start with what the employer is actually buying, because it tells you what each score is for. When a company runs a CCAT and an SHL on the same candidate, it usually is not being redundant. It is triangulating.
The CCAT gives them one clean number: how quickly and accurately you handle a fast, mixed problem stream under a single unforgiving clock. It is a strong general signal, and it is hard to fake. SHL gives them something different: a per-area profile, often benchmarked against a specific comparison group like “graduate-level professionals,” sometimes broken into numerical, verbal, and inductive reasoning as separate scores. One test says “how fast is this brain overall,” the other says “where specifically is this brain strong or weak.”
For you, the practical read is simple. You cannot coast on one test to cover the other. A great CCAT score will not excuse a weak SHL numerical section, because they measure deliberately different things. You have to clear both bars.
The core conflict: two tests, opposite instincts
This is the part almost nobody warns two-test candidates about, and it is where scores get lost.
The CCAT is a fixed, linear sprint. Everyone sees the same style of continuous question stream, there is no penalty for a wrong answer, and your raw score is simply the number you got right out of 50. The winning instinct is coverage: attempt as many questions as you accurately can, and when one stalls you for more than about 20 seconds, guess and move, because an unanswered question is just a lost point.
Many SHL Verify tests work on the opposite logic. They are often adaptive, meaning the difficulty adjusts to your answers: get questions right and the test serves harder ones, stumble and it eases off. Your score reflects the difficulty level you reached, not just a raw count. So on an adaptive SHL section, a careless early wrong answer costs more than a blank later one, because it lowers the algorithm’s read on you. The winning instinct is early accuracy, not raw speed.
Carry the wrong instinct across and you bleed points. Bring CCAT-style fast guessing into an adaptive SHL and you can talk the algorithm down into an easier, lower-scoring band. Bring SHL-style careful deliberation into the CCAT and you will run out of clock with ten questions unattempted. Same underlying skills, genuinely different game.
CCAT and SHL, side by side for a two-test candidate
Here is the head to head framed for someone who has to clear both, rather than choose between them. SHL figures vary by which Verify test your employer picked, so treat the SHL column as typical.
| Feature | CCAT | SHL (Verify range) |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | One integrated 15-minute sprint | Separate sections, each with its own timer |
| Questions | 50 mixed, one continuous run | Grouped by cognitive area |
| Adaptive? | No, fixed and linear | Often yes, difficulty tracks your answers |
| Winning instinct | Coverage: attempt as many as you can | Accuracy, especially early in a section |
| Wrong-answer cost | None, so guess freely | No direct penalty, but adaptive scoring punishes early misses |
| Calculator | Not allowed (source: criteriacorp.com) | Sometimes allowed on numerical sections |
| Scoring | Raw score out of 50 plus percentile | Percentile per area, often vs an industry group |
The two rows that should change your prep are “adaptive” and “winning instinct.” Everything else is detail. If you internalize only one thing, make it this: on the CCAT you race the clock, on an adaptive SHL you protect your accuracy.
The two-test prep sequence
Here is how to actually train for both without one crowding out the other. The structure is: shared foundation first, then two short mode-specific rehearsals.
- Build the shared skills first (most of your time). Both tests draw on verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, and pattern or abstract reasoning. Drill these until the reasoning is fast and automatic. This is roughly 60 percent of your prep and it counts double, because it feeds both tests.
- Fix your weakest single question type. Whatever type you are slowest or least accurate on, usually spatial or abstract, is dragging both scores at once. Closing that gap is the highest-leverage thing you can do across the pair.
- Rehearse SHL mode: accuracy under sectioned timing. Find out which Verify test it is and whether it is adaptive. Practice settling into each section, prioritizing getting answers right, and using a calculator if that section allows one.
- Rehearse CCAT mode: coverage under one clock. Do full 15-minute, 50-question timed runs. Train the reflex to guess and move at the 20-second mark, and to never leave a blank in the final seconds.
- Prep the CCAT closest to test day if the two are near each other. Its speed reflexes fade fastest and its clock is the least forgiving, so you want that mode freshest.
Notice that steps 1 and 2, the shared skill work, are where most of your hours go. The mode-specific rehearsals are short precisely because they are about switching gears, not learning new skills.
A worked example: one skill, two correct plays
Let me show the conflict in a single question you could see on either test, so the “switch gears” advice is concrete rather than abstract.
What number comes next in this series? 3, 6, 12, 24, …
The pattern is doubling, so the answer is 48. The reasoning is identical wherever this appears. What changes is the optimal play.
On the CCAT, you have about 18 seconds per question and every blank is a lost point. Spot the doubling, answer, move. If a different series stumps you for 20 seconds, guess and move on with zero guilt, because coverage is what wins. The clock is your only enemy.
On an adaptive SHL section, if this question lands early, getting it right nudges the algorithm to serve you harder, higher-scoring questions. A careless miss here does real damage, because it lowers the difficulty band the test believes you belong in. So early in an SHL section it is worth an extra beat to be sure, exactly the instinct you were suppressing on the CCAT.
That is the whole two-test challenge in one example. The skill transfers completely. The risk-taking does not. Your job across both tests is to keep the reasoning sharp while consciously flipping the risk dial depending on which screen is in front of you.
FAQ
Do employers really use two aptitude tests for one job?
Yes, it happens, especially for competitive roles at companies that use SHL as a standard corporate assessment and add a CCAT for a fast general screen. Pairing them lets the employer see both raw speed under one clock and a per-area cognitive profile. If you have been sent both, treat both as real gates, not as one being a backup for the other.
Should I prepare for the CCAT or SHL first?
Build the shared skills first, since they feed both. When you move to mode-specific rehearsal, do the CCAT’s timed sprints closest to test day if the two tests fall close together. Its speed reflexes fade fastest and its 15-minute clock is the least forgiving, so you want that mode freshest in your hands.
Is SHL harder than the CCAT?
They are hard in different ways. The CCAT’s difficulty is almost entirely the pace: 50 questions in 15 minutes, no calculator. An adaptive SHL feels hard because it keeps pushing you toward your ceiling by design. Neither is universally “harder.” The CCAT punishes slowness, SHL punishes early carelessness.
Can the same practice work for both tests?
The skill practice, yes. Verbal, numerical, and abstract reasoning transfer directly between the two. What does not transfer is the timing strategy: coverage-and-guess for the CCAT, accuracy-first for an adaptive SHL. So share your skill drills, but rehearse the two timing modes separately.
Do most people finish the CCAT?
No, and that is by design. Very few test-takers answer all 50 questions in 15 minutes, which leaves only about 18 seconds each. Not finishing is normal and does not mean you failed. Your score is judged against everyone else facing the same clock, so attempting as many as you accurately can is the goal, not finishing.
Does a strong CCAT score make up for a weak SHL section?
Usually not, when both are required for the same role. The employer chose two tests precisely to see two different things, so a weak SHL numerical section is not erased by a fast CCAT. Prepare to clear each bar on its own terms.
Related on CCAT Tests
- Comparison. CCAT vs Wonderlic vs SHL: the full breakdown. The complete side by side if you first need to confirm which tests you are facing.
- Pillar. The complete CCAT preparation guide. The full roadmap from format to test day.
- Practice. Free CCAT practice tests. Build the timed-sprint speed that also sharpens SHL skills.
- Question types. CCAT practice questions by type. Drill the three shared reasoning skills that feed both tests.
Try CCAT Tests
Sharpen the shared skills, then flip the risk dial
Both tests lean on the same three reasoning skills, so the fastest way to prepare for the pair is to build genuine speed and accuracy on CCAT-style questions, then rehearse each test’s timing mode separately. CCAT Tests gives you a genuinely usable free tier to find your baseline across all three domains, plus a question bank with real CCAT-style spatial and abstract-reasoning images, the exact question type that drags both a CCAT and an SHL score. Paid tiers ($9, $29, $79 one-time) add heat-map analytics that pinpoint which question type is costing you the most, with an “until you pass” guarantee on the Elite tier. Since you are already juggling two tests, it is worth knowing the full PrepClubs platform goes further still, covering 20+ pre-employment tests beyond just the CCAT and SHL, with a pass guarantee.
