Pre-Employment Tests
US employers test applicants at every level, from a 12-minute cognitive screen to a proctored exam for a federal or public-safety post. Which test you get depends on the vendor the employer licenses, so two similar jobs can test very differently.
This page covers the 16 tests and vendors US applicants meet most, what each measures, where the law draws lines, and how to prepare.
Salaried and corporate roles
Salaried hiring in the US often starts with a short, speeded cognitive test, sometimes paired with a personality or behavioral questionnaire. Our guide to US pre-employment cognitive tests explains how they differ from European testing.
Criteria (CCAT)
The CCAT: 50 verbal, math and logic, and spatial questions in 15 minutes, with no penalty for a wrong answer. Criteria also sells a language-independent test, a basic skills test and personality profiles.
Practice here: CCAT Verbal, CCAT Math & Logic, CCAT Spatial Reasoning, Criteria UCAT (Universal Cognitive Aptitude Test), CBST (Criteria Basic Skills Test). Work style: EPP (Employee Personality Profile), SalesAP (Sales Achievement Predictor).
Employer guides: Teladoc Health
Wonderlic
Short-form cognitive tests since 1937, in a format that has barely changed: 50 questions in 12 minutes. Now sold with personality and motivation sections as Wonderlic Select.
Practice here: Wonderlic Cognitive Ability. Work style: Wonderlic Personality, Wonderlic Motivation.
Employer guides: Duracell, Sedgwick County, Subway, Sweetwater
Predictive Index (PI)
Two very different tests: the PI Cognitive Assessment, 50 mixed questions under a single 12-minute timer that most people do not finish, and the untimed PI Behavioral Assessment adjective checklist.
Practice here: Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning. Work style: Behavioral Assessment.
Employer guides: Centier Bank, Civitas Senior Living, DocuSign, Encore Companies
Kenexa / IBM Talent Assessments
The Kenexa and Prove It tests, which IBM bought and SHL now delivers. Common wherever BrassRing is the applicant tracking system, which is a frequent source of confusion about the vendor.
Practice here: Kenexa Verbal Reasoning, Kenexa Numerical Reasoning, Kenexa Logical Reasoning, Kenexa Computer Adaptive Test, Kenexa Situational Judgement, Basic Office Skills (Prove It). Work style: Rapid Personality Questionnaire.
TestGorilla
A library of short tests that the employer assembles into its own battery, most of them about ten minutes each, so two TestGorilla invitations can look nothing alike.
Practice here: TestGorilla Numerical Reasoning, TestGorilla Critical Thinking, TestGorilla Verbal Reasoning, TestGorilla Problem Solving, TestGorilla Abstract Reasoning, TestGorilla Rapid Cognitive Index, TestGorilla Attention to Detail (Textual), TestGorilla Reading Comprehension, TestGorilla Mechanical Reasoning, TestGorilla Basic Double-Digit Math, TestGorilla Basic Triple-Digit Math, TestGorilla Intermediate Math, TestGorilla Basic Math Calculations, TestGorilla Computational Thinking, TestGorilla Understanding Instructions, TestGorilla Attention to Detail (Visual), TestGorilla Spatial Reasoning.
Hogan
Personality inventories describing how you work day to day, under pressure, and what motivates you, plus the HBRI business reasoning test.
Practice here: Hogan HBRI (Business Reasoning). Work style: Hogan HPI (Personality Inventory), Hogan HDS (Development Survey), Hogan MVPI (Motives & Values).
Hourly and high-volume hiring
Vendors build separate, shorter products for high-volume hiring. Harver, for example, aims its hourly work-style questionnaire at retail, hospitality and outsourced customer service roles, and it runs to 67 items against 146 in the professional version.
Harver
A journey of modules the employer picks: short cognitive subtests, a situational judgment test, a chat or typing simulation and a work-style questionnaire with a version built for high-volume hourly roles.
Practice here: Logical Reasoning (Exclusion), Verbal Reasoning (Word Analogies), Perceptual Speed and Accuracy (Checking), Numerical Reasoning (Number Sequences), Spatial Ability (Components), Situational Judgement Test, Live Chat Support Simulation, Typing Test. Work style: Personality Print (Hourly).
HireVue
Sells video interviews and, separately, short game-based tests, work-style questionnaires and the Virtual Job Tryout, which came to HireVue through Modern Hire.
Practice here: Numerosity, Shapedance, Singularity, Pathfinder, Digitspan, Flashback, Puzzle Picture, E-Motions, Virtual Job Tryout, CodeVue. Work style: Portrait, PortraitXT, Teamchat.
Employer guides: American Electric Power (AEP), AT&T, Capital One, CVS Health
Pymetrics, now part of Harver, sells game-based tests instead of questionnaires. Those are covered on the game-based assessments page.
Federal, military and public-safety exams
Government and public-safety tests are set by the agency or a standards body rather than chosen from a vendor catalog, and they tend to publish more about scoring. Our police, fire and emergency services guide covers the wider process around them.
USA Hire
Federal jobs on USAJOBS
OPM decides which parts you take from the job’s series and grade, never shows you a score, and reuses your answers for 12 months.
USPS (Postal Exams)
Postal Service jobs
The Virtual Entry Assessment comes in four versions, one per job family, mixing work situations, checking for accuracy and work-style questions.
TSA CBT (Officer Test)
Transportation Security Officers
A proctored computer test at a test center in three timed visual sections: connect the dots, image matching and 2D to 3D shape folding.
FAA ATSA (Air Traffic Controller Test)
Air traffic controller trainees
Seven sections at a test center, from memory and spatial tasks to a collision simulation and a work-style questionnaire.
ASVAB
Military enlistment
Four subtests make up the AFQT percentile that decides whether you can enlist; the rest feed the line scores that decide which jobs you qualify for.
PELLETB (California POST)
California peace officers
Clarity, vocabulary, spelling and reading comprehension, converted into T-scores. POST recommends agencies set a pass mark of 42 but does not require one.
CritiCall
911 dispatchers and call-takers
Modules each agency chooses and sets its own pass mark for, from data entry with interruptions to map reading and memory recall.
EEI
Electric utility jobs
The Edison Electric Institute batteries for line work, plant operation, maintenance and technician roles, built from mechanical, reading and math subtests.
What the law says about testing
Employers are free to test, within limits. The ones below come from the EEOC’s guidance on employment tests and New York City’s rules on automated hiring tools. This is a summary, not legal advice.
A test cannot discriminate
Title VII, the ADA and the ADEA prohibit discriminatory employment tests. A test that screens out a protected group at a higher rate must be job-related and consistent with business necessity, the standard set in Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971).
Scores cannot be adjusted by group
Employers may not adjust scores, use different cutoff scores or otherwise alter results on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
Accommodation applies to tests
The ADA requires reasonable accommodation in how a test is given, so that the result reflects the skill being measured rather than a disability. Medical exams and disability-related questions are off limits before a conditional job offer.
AI tools face audits in New York City
Since July 5, 2023, NYC employers using an automated employment decision tool must have it bias-audited within the year before use, publish a summary and give candidates 10 business days’ notice.
How to prepare
- 1
Identify the test before you practice
The invitation email, the platform it links to and the employer guide usually name it. A CCAT and a Wonderlic look alike but pace and score differently.
- 2
Practice against the real clock
The CCAT, Wonderlic and PI Cognitive are built so that very few people finish. Rehearse moving on from a hard question, because that is the skill the clock is really testing.
- 3
Check the guessing rule
The CCAT has no penalty for a wrong answer, so a blank is the only avoidable zero. Not every test says so plainly, which is why the vendor guides spell out each one.
- 4
Answer personality items consistently
Work-style questionnaires look for consistent answers across similar items. Answer as you actually work rather than as the job ad sounds.
Take a practice test today
Sign up free to try a test from every vendor on this page, then unlock the one your employer uses. No subscription.
Get started freeCommon questions
Is it legal for an employer to make me take a test?
Yes. Federal law allows employment tests, but Title VII, the ADA and the ADEA prohibit tests that discriminate. A test that screens out a protected group more than others has to be job-related and consistent with business necessity.
Can I ask for an accommodation?
Yes. Under the ADA, employers must provide reasonable accommodation, including in how a test is administered. Ask before you start rather than after a result.
What is a passing score?
Usually whatever the employer sets. CritiCall leaves pass marks to each agency, POST only recommends one for the PELLETB, and OPM never shows USA Hire candidates a score at all.
How long do pre-employment tests take?
The best-known cognitive tests are short: 15 minutes for the CCAT and 12 for the Wonderlic and the PI Cognitive Assessment. Public-safety exams can run much longer: the PELLETB alone is 1 hour 45 minutes.
Can I retake a pre-employment test?
It depends on the test. USA Hire reuses your answers for 12 months, the PELLETB can be retaken after 30 days, and for most commercial tests it is the employer's call.
Are AI hiring tools regulated?
In New York City, yes. Local Law 144 requires employers using an automated employment decision tool to have it bias-audited within the year before use, publish a summary and notify candidates at least 10 business days ahead.
Keep going
Cognitive ability tests
The format behind the CCAT, Wonderlic and PI Cognitive, practiced on its own.
Psychometric tests outside the US
SHL, Aon, Saville and the publishers behind UK and international graduate hiring.
Video interviews
One-way recorded interview practice with feedback, for the HireVue stage.
Tests by employer
Which test a specific company uses, with the evidence for it.