Crossover CCAT Practice
Preparation guide for the Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test in Crossover's selection process
Test Length
50 in 15 min
Under 18 seconds per question
Where It Sits
Step 2 of 5
Then repeated proctored at step 5
Target Score
Per role
Each role has its own range
About Crossover's CCAT
Crossover is a talent marketplace that recruits for full-time remote roles at US tech and education-technology companies. Unusually among employers, Crossover documents its use of the CCAT publicly on its own selection process page: because it accepts applications worldwide and every role attracts thousands of candidates, it uses a 15-minute Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test to shortlist. Crossover's stated reasoning is that measured problem-solving and learning ability predicts real-world performance better than a résumé does. This makes Crossover one of the few employers where you do not have to guess which assessment you will be sent.
Crossover's Selection Process
Crossover publishes five steps. The CCAT appears twice, which is the single most important thing to understand before you sit it.
- 1. Chat-style screening interview.A 15–20 minute conversation with an AI interviewer that checks your background and eligibility against the role. You upload a CV and answer straightforward questions about skills and experience.
- 2. Cognitive aptitude test. The 15-minute CCAT. Each role carries its own target score range. Crossover states that candidates who miss the range can retake after six months.
- 3. Real-world skills assignment.A job-specific task that mirrors the actual work — engineers write code, marketers produce campaign content — graded blind.
- 4. Hiring manager interview. By this point the objective screening is done, so this conversation is about working style and mutual fit rather than further filtering.
- 5. Proctored CCAT. The same 15-minute test again, this time live-monitored. A trained examiner verifies your ID and checks your workspace and session by webcam. Crossover applies this to every successful candidate.
Because step 5 re-runs step 2 under supervision, your first score has to be a score you can reproduce on your own. Any assistance at step 2 buys you an interview you will lose at step 5. The only strategy that survives the process is genuinely raising your unassisted score.
What the CCAT Actually Contains
Criteria publishes the format. There are 50 questions and 15 minutes, and no calculators are allowed. Three question types are interleaved rather than grouped into sections, so the type switches beneath you as you go:
- Verbal— antonyms and synonyms, word analogies, and how context fixes a word's precise meaning.
- Math and logic— basic algebra, proportions, number series and word problems, all solvable by mental arithmetic.
- Spatial reasoning— rotating and flipping shapes in your head, completing patterns, and identifying the figure that does not belong.
How It Is Scored, and What That Means for Strategy
Crossover receives what every CCAT employer receives: a raw score, meaning the number of questions you answered correctly, and a percentile showing how that compares with everyone else who has taken the test. Criteria reports that fewer than 1% of candidates answer all 50 questions and that the average test taker gets 24 right.
Two consequences follow, and they are the whole of CCAT strategy:
- Never leave anything blank.There is no penalty for a wrong answer — Criteria's own advice to candidates is to guess and move on. A blank is a guaranteed zero, while a guess among five options is worth 0.2 marks in expectation. Over ten abandoned questions that is two free marks you would otherwise throw away.
- Triage, do not try to finish. Almost nobody finishes and the average is 24 out of 50, so the test is not designed to be completed. The winning behaviour is to bank every question you can answer quickly and abandon the ones that would cost you a minute. Criteria itself suggests guessing and moving on once you have spent a minute on an item.
Crossover says each role has its own target score range, so there is no universal pass mark and 50% is not a meaningful benchmark. Treat the goal as maximising raw score rather than clearing an imagined threshold.
Crossover Roles Using the CCAT
Crossover applies the cognitive aptitude step across its role families rather than to one programme. Roles are remote and hired globally.
Technical
- Software Engineering
- Engineering Leadership
- Cloud and DevOps
- Product and QA
Non-Technical
- Marketing and Content
- Sales and Customer Support
- Finance and Accounting
- Education and EdTech roles
Confirm the exact stages for the role you are applying to. Employers change assessment vendors and adjust their process between hiring cycles, and Crossover iterates on its own funnel; your invitation email is the authority on what you will actually sit.
Top Tips for Crossover's CCAT
Practise the proctored score, not the first score
Crossover re-tests you under live proctoring at step 5. Sit your practice runs the way step 5 will run: one screen, no notes, no help, no interruptions. If your practice conditions are softer than the proctored conditions, your step 2 score is a number you cannot defend.
Read the instructions slowly, then start fast
The clock covers the questions, not the instructions, and Criteria names rushing the instructions as the most common candidate mistake. Take the reading time you need, decide your abandonment rule before you begin, then move quickly once the timer starts.
Play to your strongest question type
Few people are equally strong at words and numbers. Because the three types are interleaved, you get repeated chances to skip your weakest type cheaply and spend that time on your strongest. Work out which type that is by practising each one separately.
Rebuild calculator-free arithmetic
No calculators are allowed. Percentages, ratios, averages and simple algebra need to be fluent on paper or in your head, because at under 18 seconds a question there is no time to reconstruct a method from first principles.
Treat the retake window as real
Crossover states that candidates who miss a role's target range can retake after six months. That is a long wait for a 15-minute test, which is the strongest argument for preparing properly before your first attempt rather than using it as a diagnostic.
Practise the Exact Tests
The CCAT is practised here as its three sections: 18 verbal, 18 math and logic and 14 spatial items, 50 in total, each drill clocked at the real paper's pace of 18 seconds per item — 324, 324 and 252 seconds. Sit the three back to back for a full paper's worth at Crossover's pace, or repeat the single section that is costing you marks. With a proctored re-test waiting at step 5, repetition on your weakest section is the practice that actually raises the score you can defend. CCAT Verbal is free.
CCAT Verbal
18 questions · 5-6 minutes · free
The verbal third of the paper - antonyms, analogies and meaning-in-context items - and the one Criteria test you can sit here for free.
CCAT Math & Logic
18 questions · 5-6 minutes
Algebra, proportions, series and word problems with no calculator, exactly as the real test runs them.
CCAT Spatial Reasoning
14 questions · 4-5 minutes
Rotations, flips, pattern completion and odd-one-out items, the fastest-scoring type for most people.
Other Criteria tests you may be sent
UCAT (Universal Cognitive Aptitude Test)
40 questions · 20 minutes
Criteria’s Universal Cognitive Aptitude Test, a language-reduced sibling of the CCAT.
CBST (Criteria Basic Skills Test)
40 questions · 20 minutes
Criteria Basic Skills Test, used for entry-level and administrative roles.
EPP (Employee Personality Profile)
Untimed · 15-20 minutes
Criteria’s work personality questionnaire, often sent alongside a cognitive test.
See the full range on the Criteria practice hub.
Start Practising for Crossover Today
Start free with CCAT Verbal, then drill the section that is costing you marks and sit all three back to back for a full 50-item run at 18 seconds a question
Play CCAT Verbal FreeFrequently Asked Questions
Does every Crossover role include the CCAT?
Crossover presents the cognitive aptitude test as step 2 of its published five-step selection process rather than as a role-specific extra, and describes the proctored repeat at step 5 as something every successful candidate completes. Individual campaigns can still differ, so read your invitation and confirm with the recruiter.
What score does Crossover need?
Crossover states that each role has its own target score range and does not publish those ranges. Employers using the CCAT set cutoffs by role family, so do not assume a pass mark of 50%. With an average of 24 out of 50 across all test takers, a raw score in the twenties is ordinary and the scores that clear competitive ranges are well above it.
Why do I have to take the CCAT twice?
Step 5 is the same 15-minute CCAT under live proctoring, with ID verification and a workspace check. Crossover uses it to confirm that the unsupervised score at step 2 was genuinely yours, which keeps the comparison across a global applicant pool fair.
Can I retake the CCAT if I miss the range?
Crossover says you can retake after six months. Because that is a long gap, the practical advice is to prepare before your first sitting rather than treating it as a free diagnostic.
Is it worth practising for a 15-minute test?
Yes, and more than for a longer one. At under 18 seconds a question, time spent working out what an item wants is time taken directly from your score. Practice converts format recognition into speed, and it lets you rehearse the two decisions that matter most: when to abandon a question and always to guess rather than skip.