You opened your application portal and there are two assessments waiting: a CCAT and a “Predictive Index.” One has a countdown timer and math questions. The other asks you to check off adjectives that describe you. If you assumed they are the same kind of test and started drilling practice questions for both, stop, because you are about to waste hours on one of them. This page is not a general cognitive comparison (our CCAT vs Wonderlic vs SHL guide already covers the CCAT against the PI cognitive test in depth). It is about the specific mix-up that trips up almost every candidate sent both: telling the CCAT apart from the PI Behavioral Assessment, and knowing which one you can actually study for. 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
- “Predictive Index” is a platform with two very different pieces: a Cognitive Assessment and a Behavioral Assessment.
- The CCAT compares to the PI Cognitive Assessment (both timed, right and wrong answers). It has no equivalent to the PI Behavioral Assessment.
- The PI Behavioral Assessment is an untimed personality questionnaire with no right answers, and you should not study for it.
- If your test has a countdown and correct answers, it is cognitive. If it asks which adjectives describe you, it is behavioral.
- Prep transfers fully between the CCAT and the PI Cognitive Assessment, and not at all to the behavioral one.
- Trying to “game” the behavioral assessment usually backfires, because it flags inconsistent answers.
The mix-up that wastes your prep time
Here is the trap. “I have a Predictive Index test” tells you almost nothing, because Predictive Index is not one test. It is a hiring platform, and companies use two entirely separate instruments from it, often sending both alongside a CCAT.
- The PI Cognitive Assessment (sometimes called the PI CA or PLI). This is the one that looks and feels like the CCAT: a timed test with right and wrong answers, measuring numerical, verbal, and abstract reasoning. It is 50 questions in 12 minutes.
- The PI Behavioral Assessment. This is completely different. It is an untimed questionnaire where you pick adjectives describing how you are expected to act and who you really are. There are no correct answers. It produces a behavioral “profile,” not a score you pass or fail.
So when a portal shows “CCAT” and “Predictive Index” side by side, the real question is which PI instrument you were sent. If it is the cognitive one, your CCAT prep already covers it. If it is the behavioral one, there is nothing to drill, and treating it like a test you can cram for is exactly how candidates burn time they do not have.
How to tell in ten seconds which one you are looking at
Open the assessment and check for one thing: does it have right answers?
- It has a countdown timer and questions with clear correct answers (arithmetic, word analogies, pattern-matching). That is a cognitive test, either the CCAT or the PI Cognitive Assessment. Prepare the same way for both.
- The timer shows 15 minutes for 50 questions. Almost certainly the CCAT.
- The timer shows 12 minutes for 50 questions. Almost certainly the PI Cognitive Assessment.
- It shows you a list of adjectives and asks which ones describe you, with no timer and no right answers. That is the PI Behavioral Assessment. Do not study for it. Answer honestly.
- The invite mentions “Criteria” or “Criteria Corp.” CCAT.
- The invite mentions “Predictive Index,” “PI,” or predictiveindex.com. You are in the PI ecosystem, so confirm whether it is the cognitive piece, the behavioral piece, or both, since companies often send both.
Right answers and a clock means prepare. Adjectives and no clock means just be honest. That single distinction saves most candidates their wasted study session.
Side by side: CCAT vs both halves of Predictive Index
Here is the full picture in one table, so you can place whatever you were sent.
| Feature | CCAT | PI Cognitive Assessment | PI Behavioral Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it measures | Cognitive aptitude | Cognitive aptitude | Behavioral drives / work style |
| Right and wrong answers? | Yes | Yes | No |
| Timed? | Yes, 15 min | Yes, 12 min | No |
| Questions | 50 mixed | 50 | Adjective checklists |
| Score | Raw out of 50 + percentile | Scaled score + percentile | A behavioral profile, not a score |
| Can you study for it? | Yes | Yes | No |
| CCAT equivalent? | It is the CCAT | Direct equivalent | None |
The important line is the last one. The CCAT and the PI Cognitive Assessment are direct rivals measuring the same thing. The PI Behavioral Assessment has no CCAT counterpart at all, because the CCAT does not measure personality. That is why “CCAT vs Predictive Index” is a slightly misleading framing: the real cognitive matchup is CCAT versus PI Cognitive, and the behavioral piece sits entirely outside that comparison.
Why your CCAT prep already covers the PI cognitive test
If the PI instrument you were sent is the cognitive one, here is the good news: you are not starting over. Both tests pull from the same three areas, verbal, numerical, and abstract or spatial reasoning, and both are brutally fast with no calculator and no penalty for wrong answers.
Take a CCAT-style word problem you could see on either test:
A team of 4 people can complete a project in 6 days. How many days would it take 3 people, working at the same rate, to complete the same project?
The fast method that survives a 12-to-15-second budget is proportional reasoning: total work is 4 people times 6 days, which is 24 person-days. Divide by 3 people and you get 8 days. That method, “find the constant total, then redistribute,” is identical whether the question appears on the CCAT or the PI Cognitive Assessment. The tests differ in branding and by three minutes on the clock, not in the reasoning.
Because the CCAT is the more time-pressured of the two by reputation and mixes in heavier spatial reasoning, preparing for the CCAT tends to over-prepare you for the PI cognitive test. Train on CCAT-style material and you are covered either way.
What to actually do about the behavioral assessment (which is: not much)
The honest advice on the PI Behavioral Assessment is the advice people least want to hear: answer truthfully and move on. There is no right profile, and trying to engineer a “better” one usually backfires, because the assessment is built to flag inconsistency between the two adjective lists.
More to the point, a distorted profile that gets you hired into a genuinely bad behavioral fit is not doing you a favor. The behavioral piece is the employer trying to see how you naturally work, not a gate you outsmart. So spend zero prep hours on it. Put all of that energy into the cognitive test, which is the one where practice genuinely moves your result.
FAQ
Is the Predictive Index a personality test?
Part of it is. The Predictive Index platform has two instruments: a Cognitive Assessment, which is a timed test of reasoning with right and wrong answers, and a Behavioral Assessment, which is an untimed personality questionnaire with no right answers. When people call the PI a “personality test,” they mean the behavioral half. The cognitive half is much closer to the CCAT.
Can you study for the PI Behavioral Assessment?
Not in any useful way. It has no correct answers, and it flags inconsistent responses, so trying to game it tends to backfire. The right approach is to answer honestly. Save your study time for the cognitive test, whether that is the CCAT or the PI Cognitive Assessment, where practice actually changes your score.
Do companies send the CCAT and Predictive Index together?
Yes, it is common. Some employers use a CCAT as a quick cognitive screen and add a Predictive Index assessment, often the behavioral one, to read work style and fit. When you get both, identify which PI instrument you were sent, then prepare only for the cognitive tests and answer the behavioral one honestly.
Which PI test has right and wrong answers?
The PI Cognitive Assessment. It is timed (50 questions in 12 minutes) and scored on how many you get right, just like the CCAT. The PI Behavioral Assessment has no right answers and is not timed. If your assessment has a countdown and correct answers, it is the cognitive one.
Does prep for the CCAT help with the PI cognitive test?
Yes, directly. Both draw on verbal, numerical, and abstract reasoning under tight time limits with no calculator. The main difference is the clock: 15 minutes for the CCAT, 12 for the PI. Because the CCAT is the more time-pressured of the two, preparing for it generally covers the PI cognitive test as well.
Is 35 a good CCAT score?
Yes. A 35 sits well above the top-20% mark (around 31) and far above the average of about 24, making it competitive for most roles, including demanding ones. The most elite postings may still want low-40s scores, but a 35 is a genuinely strong result.
Related on CCAT Tests
- Comparison. CCAT vs Wonderlic vs SHL: the full breakdown. The deep side by side, including the CCAT against the PI cognitive test.
- Pillar. The complete CCAT preparation guide. Everything from format to test day in one place.
- Practice. Free CCAT practice tests. Build the speed that transfers straight to the PI cognitive test.
- Question types. CCAT practice questions by type. Drill verbal, numerical, and abstract reasoning individually.
Try CCAT Tests
Study the test that actually rewards studying
The behavioral assessment is not something you can prepare for, but the cognitive one absolutely is, and it is where your effort pays off. The CCAT and the PI Cognitive Assessment test the same three skills, so building real speed on CCAT-style questions covers both. CCAT Tests gives you a genuinely usable free tier to find your baseline, plus a question bank with real CCAT-style spatial and abstract-reasoning images, the domain candidates most often say generic sites fake. Paid tiers ($9, $29, $79 one-time) add heat-map analytics showing exactly which question type costs you seconds, with an “until you pass” guarantee on the Elite tier.
