Your CCAT report came back with two numbers: a raw score out of 50 and a percentile. The raw score is easy to understand. The percentile is the one that decides whether you move forward, and it is the one almost nobody explains clearly. If you got a 28 and it says 68th percentile, is that good? Does it compare you to other applicants, or to everyone who has ever taken the test? This page gives you a full CCAT percentile chart, tells you exactly what each band means, and shows you how to read your own report line by line.
Quick note before the numbers: this is about the Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test, the workplace hiring test built by Criteria Corp. It is not the Canadian Cognitive Abilities Test, the school gifted-and-talented exam for children that shares the same acronym. Different test, different scores, different chart. You want this one.
Quick takeaways
- A raw score of 24 out of 50 sits at roughly the 50th percentile, the average, by widely reported figures.
- Your percentile compares you to the full pool of people who have taken the CCAT, not just other applicants for your specific job.
- Around 31 correct answers puts you near the 80th percentile, which most employers treat as a strong score.
- The scale is steep in the middle: a few more correct answers near the average can jump your percentile a lot.
- Less than 1% of test-takers answer all 50 questions, so you do not need a perfect raw score to land a high percentile.
- Employers set their own cutoff percentile per role, so “good” always depends on the job you applied for.
The full CCAT percentile chart
Here is the conversion, from raw score (number of questions answered correctly out of 50) to approximate percentile rank. The commonly cited anchor point is that a raw score of 24 is the average and lands at the 50th percentile. The rest of the curve follows the normal distribution the test is built on.
| Raw score (correct out of 50) | Approx. percentile | What it signals |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | ~18th | Below average |
| 20 | ~32nd | Below average |
| 24 | 50th | Average (the midpoint) |
| 27 | ~64th | Slightly above average |
| 29 | ~72nd | Above average |
| 31 | ~80th | Strong (top 20%) |
| 34 | ~88th | Very strong |
| 36 | ~92nd | Excellent |
| 40 | ~97th | Top tier |
| 44 | ~99th | Near the ceiling |
A word on precision: you will see slightly different numbers on different prep sites, because the exact percentile for each raw score comes from Criteria Corp’s proprietary norm group and shifts a little as the norm updates. Treat these as accurate to within a couple of points, not to the decimal. The shape is what matters, and the shape is reliable: the middle of the scale is steep and the ends are flat.
What “percentile” actually means here
Your percentile is the percentage of past test-takers you scored better than. A 70th percentile means you outperformed roughly 70% of everyone in Criteria Corp’s norm group. It is not the percentage of questions you got right, and it is not your rank against the other people who applied to your specific job.
This trips people up constantly, so it is worth being blunt. If your report says 68th percentile, that does not mean 68% of the questions. It means you did better than about 68 out of every 100 people who have taken the CCAT. The raw score (say, 28 correct) is the “how many questions” number. The percentile is the “how you stack up” number.
The comparison pool is the full historical population of CCAT-takers across all jobs and industries, not a filtered group of people applying to your role. That is actually useful, because it gives the employer a stable, apples-to-apples benchmark. It also means your percentile does not change based on who else applied this week.
How the percentile is calculated
Criteria Corp scores the CCAT in two steps. First, they count your correct answers to get your raw score out of 50. There is no penalty for wrong answers, so a blank and a wrong guess cost you the same thing: nothing beyond the point you did not earn. Second, they map that raw score against their norm group to produce the percentile.
The norm group is the large sample of people who have taken the test under real conditions. Because human cognitive-ability scores cluster in a bell curve, most people land near the middle (a raw score in the low-to-mid 20s), and fewer people land at the tails. That bell-curve shape is the single most important thing to understand about your percentile.
Here is the practical consequence. Near the average, the curve is packed tight, so going from 24 to 29 correct can move you from the 50th to the 72nd percentile: five more right answers, twenty-two percentile points. But near the top, the curve is thin, so going from 40 to 44 correct might only add a couple of percentile points, because almost nobody scores up there anyway. If you are hovering around the average, a small improvement pays off disproportionately. That is exactly where focused practice moves the needle most.
A worked example: reading a real CCAT report
Let’s walk a report through, the way an actual score sheet reads.
Say you sat the test, answered 40 of the 50 questions, and got 29 of those correct. Your raw score is 29 (correct answers, not attempted answers). Blank questions and wrong answers both count as zero, and there is no deduction for guessing.
Map 29 against the chart above and you land at roughly the 72nd percentile. In plain terms: you did better than about 72% of everyone who has taken the CCAT. For a lot of roles, that clears the bar comfortably. For a highly analytical role at a company known to set a high cutoff, it might be borderline. That is why the same raw score can be a pass at one company and a near-miss at another.
Now flip it. Suppose you rushed, answered 45 questions, but only got 25 correct because accuracy dropped under time pressure. Raw score 25, roughly the 54th percentile: barely above average, despite attempting more questions. The lesson from a real report is almost always the same one: on the CCAT, careful accuracy beats frantic volume. Answering fewer questions correctly outscores answering more questions carelessly.
Typical employer cutoff percentiles by role
Employers do not use a single universal passing score. They set a suggested range per role based on the cognitive demands of the job, and the more analytical the role, the higher the expected percentile. These are commonly cited ranges, not promises for any one company, so treat them as a guide.
| Role type | Typical target percentile | Typical raw score band |
|---|---|---|
| Administrative / support | ~30th to 50th | 20 to 24 |
| Sales / customer-facing | ~40th to 60th | 22 to 27 |
| Marketing / operations | ~50th to 70th | 24 to 29 |
| Engineering / software | ~65th to 85th | 28 to 33 |
| Data science / analytics | ~75th to 90th | 31 to 35 |
| Consulting | ~75th to 90th | 31 to 35 |
| Executive / leadership | ~80th to 92nd | 32 to 36 |
If you are aiming at a tech or analytics role, the useful takeaway is that you are usually being measured against a higher bar than the raw “average” suggests. A 50th-percentile score is fine for the general population and not enough for a data-heavy role. For a deeper role-by-role breakdown, see our guide on CCAT scores for software engineers, and for the “what counts as good” question in full, what is a good CCAT score.
Turning your percentile into a study plan
A percentile tells you where you stand. It does not tell you why, and that is the gap most score guides never close. If you are at the 55th percentile and your target role wants the 80th, the honest next question is: which question types are costing you the points, and are you losing them to difficulty or to the clock?
This is where a diagnostic beats a raw number. On CCAT Tests, your practice results come back as a heat-map of exactly which question types are slowing you down (verbal, math and logic, or spatial and abstract), plus drills targeted at your weak areas. That is the same kind of weak-area analytics that team-focused assessment tools charge hundreds of dollars a month for, built into a one-time purchase. Instead of “I need to be better,” you get “I lose four points a test to spatial questions and two more to careless math under time pressure,” which is a plan you can actually act on.
The practice bank is built to mirror the real CCAT, including the spatial and abstract-reasoning images that generic aptitude sites skip, so the percentile you see in practice tracks closely with the one you will see on test day. You can start on the free tier and see your first heat-map before you decide whether to pay for anything.
FAQ
What is a good CCAT percentile?
Broadly, anything above the 70th percentile is a strong result, and above the 80th is excellent. But “good” is set by the employer and the role: a 60th percentile might pass for a support role while an analytics role wants the 85th. Aim to clear the target range for the specific job you applied to, not a generic number.
What percentile is a 31 on the CCAT?
A raw score of 31 correct answers lands at roughly the 80th percentile, meaning you outscored about 80% of past test-takers. That is commonly treated as a strong, top-20% score and clears the cutoff for most roles, including many tech positions.
What raw score is the 80th percentile on the CCAT?
About 31 correct answers out of 50. If a job posting or recruiter mentions the 80th percentile as a target, aim for roughly 31 correct on a full 50-question test.
How is the CCAT percentile calculated?
Criteria Corp counts your correct answers to get a raw score out of 50 (no penalty for wrong answers), then compares that raw score against their norm group of past test-takers. Your percentile is the percentage of that group you scored higher than.
Is 26 out of 50 good for CCAT?
A 26 sits just above average, around the 58th to 60th percentile. It clears the bar for many general roles but usually falls short of the higher cutoffs used for engineering, data, and consulting positions. Whether it is “good” depends entirely on the role you are targeting.
What is the 85th percentile for the CCAT?
The 85th percentile corresponds to a raw score of roughly 33 to 34 correct answers. It is a very strong result that clears the target range for most analytical and technical roles.
Does my CCAT percentile compare me to everyone or just my role?
It compares you to Criteria Corp’s full norm group of past CCAT-takers across all jobs, not just other applicants for your specific role. The employer then decides which percentile is their cutoff for that role.
Related on CCAT Tests
- Guide. What is a good CCAT score. The full breakdown of average, good, and elite scores with role context.
- Pillar. CCAT scores and results guide. Everything about reading, comparing, and improving your CCAT results.
- Role deep dive. CCAT scores for software engineers. What the target percentile actually looks like for tech roles.
- Practice. Free CCAT practice tests. See your own raw score and percentile before test day.
Try CCAT Tests
Turn your percentile into a weak-area plan, not just a number.
A percentile tells you where you stand. CCAT Tests tells you why, with a heat-map of the exact question types costing you points and drills aimed at your weak spots, the kind of analytics that usually costs hundreds a month, in a one-time purchase. The free tier is a real practice experience across all three domains, not a three-question teaser, so you can see your first diagnostic before deciding whether to pay. Once you know where your percentile stands, PrepClubs can take you further with a full paid platform covering the CCAT plus 20+ other pre-employment tests and a pass guarantee, useful if multiple assessments stand between you and the offer.
