Cracking The Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT)

Published on: 13 September 2018 Last Updated on: 16 December 2021

The process of getting the desired job and hiring skilled people have now become races, where both teams have to surpass a series of hurdles to get the coveted prize. Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT) focuses on one’s ability to learn new skills and solve problems.

While it might not be as surprising for you, but the diminishing number of employed people and increasing skill sets has created a talent deficit. As per reports from Manpower Group, over 45% of global employees have talent issues, with most of them lacking interpersonal skills.

But does a shortage of skills means someone not much talent for a respective niche? Or, is that recruiters who aren’t hiring from the right places to have good talent on-board?

Well, in a professional term, talent shortages mean an inability to hire and find the right talent which is required to run any business.

The SOLUTION- hiring candidates not only on the basis of respective degrees but also on the basis of cognitive tests!

Criteria Cognitive aptitude test is a pre-employment test that focuses on measuring one’s ability to solve problems, learn new skills, digest and apply information, and critical thinking capabilities. Regardless of the candidate’s experience, these tests are used to hire potential candidates for the company’s success.

Further, these tests provide a vehicle to access the potential of employees, enabling a rapid workforce scale thereby reducing hiring cost and increasing the quality of each hire.

Why Recruiters Use Cognitive Ability Tests?

Cognitive aptitude measures a candidate’s ability to solve problems and the ability to use new information, recruiters consider it as one of the best predictors of a candidate’s job performance. Also, it’s more predictive than verbal interviews, job experience, and one’s educational background. You can either prepare it from hard-notes or can prepare online for the criteria cognitive aptitude test (CCAT).

Fast Facts Related To The Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT):

The Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT) comprises of 50 questions
Candidates will be given only 15 minutes to answer each question
The questions will be divided into three different sections, viz. verbal, math and logic, and spatial reasoning
Use of calculators is restricted
Less than 1% of candidates can answer all 50 questions
Your score will be sent to employers with the total number of questions one has completed and the percentile score.

CCAT Practice Test:

You should solve sample questions for the CCAT practice test. As calculators are not allowed in the CCAT test, so make sure that you are not using calculator while practicing for the ccat test.

For tough math problems, use a pencil and paper. While solving the maths questions, take a watch and note the exact time you are taking while solving it. You have to be aware of the length of time you are taking while solving questions for the CCAT practice test.

How to Pass a Cognitive Test:

Do Not Jump Instructions:

One of the most common mistakes candidates do is rushing over the instructions. Instead, take time to read and understand each instruction, and based on that, plan your strategy. Since there’s no negative marking on each wrong answer, don’t skip any question- Guess and move!

Do What is Important:

Many people favor either 123s or ABCs, as not everyone is master in both. So, find your strengths and work accordingly. Try first to solve questions of the section that you find comfortable with. For instance, if your vocabulary is rusty and paragraph questions throw you for a loop, skip it or guess it.

Time Is Everything!

Candidates will be given only 15 minutes to solve 50 questions, which accounts for less than 18 seconds on each question. That’s Too FAST!

Folk! You don’t have to checklist every single question; this will not impress hiring managers. So, focus on the correct score. If you think you have spent more than 45 seconds, guess the answer and move to the next.

Focus for the CCAT Test:

Aim at attempting all questions, but if you are unable to do so, don’t stress. The test is designed in a way so that only 1 or 2 % of the candidates can answer all questions in that specific time slot.

Let The Clock Stop!

If you have completed your test, don’t stop working. Let the time finish and then relax. Utilize your time as much as possible; go to your guessed questions (the one that you are unsure of) and double-check your answers. Take that extra time to solve them correctly.

Although Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT) would be one of the methods that recruiters will use, it’s the most important one. And to crack it, the best thing you can do is simply PREPARE!

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Is Your Company Offering Enough to Potential Employees?

In a world where businesses can rise and fall in a single day, it’s important that your company offers your current and potential staff something that sets you apart from others in the industry. Not only does your company become more attractive to hard-working talent, but you can better retain employees who you have spent time and resource training. This is particularly important when you have hired account managers who are often the sole point of contact for your contracted customers or regular clients, you don’t want to have a revolving door of contacts as this can reflect poorly on the company as a whole. Catering to Staff Needs: While salary is a large part of keeping employees happy, without sufficient managerial training, dedicated employee support or a good working environment, you’ll find your employee turnover isn’t as low as you should be aiming for. To ensure your staff are comfortable while at work, they should at the very minimum have unrestricted access to the bathroom and freely able to quench their thirst with water. Additionally, you can offer facilities for tea and coffee, which the majority of workers drink, although if you find time spent making drinks or in the kitchen increases to non-productive levels, consider introducing tea breaks or reducing tea and coffee to a handful of rounds a day. Some offices offer their employees a mixture of healthy or unhealthy snacks or offer breakfast foods so staff can get into the office a bit earlier and settle at their desk before the day officially begins. The more you offer in the way of refreshments, the less your staff will need to leave the premises for lunch or tea breaks, this prevents employees from getting caught up in lunchtime traffic around cities and towns or busy industrial areas and sees productivity rise as staff feel less rushed to have their lunch and get back to work. Providing Quality Break Out Areas: If your company premises have space for a breakout area, it should be a nice area that staff wants to be, rather than somewhere they want to avoid. Add comfortable chairs, rather than cold, hard, fast food benches, fun colours or decoration that is aesthetically pleasing such as your company rewards and images of the company workforce. You can also provide a means of entertainment, whether this is a pool table, air hockey table or a games system. Something that not only gives your staff something to do while on their break but gives them the opportunity to socialise with each other in a less rigid environment. Talk to your existing staff about what they’d like to have available to them in a breakout area, take suggestions and possibly organise a fundraiser between the staff if their favourable and unanimous asks go above the company budget. Offer Bonuses and Rewards: In addition to a competitive salary, employees like to see rewards and/or bonuses for hitting goals and targets or when they have been working particularly hard for a specific client or to meet an impending deadline. While in the past, bonuses were typically monetary, there are alternative options for rewarding staff without having to cut an increased cheque. Where time and resource are available, consider gifting staff an extra paid day of annual leave or a more flexible working schedule to improve their work-life balance. You can also offer vouchers, meals out and experiences for your employees, although not everyone will appreciate these types of rewards so talk to your employees personally about setting up a reward or bonus scheme in your company. Together you can come up with some suitable personal rewards or general bonuses that can be given out and gratefully received by any hard-working individual. Spend some time looking for inspiration from bonus scheme examples with your staff and encourage them to set goals together as a team. Competitive Salary: The unfavourable topic, everyone wants more of it, some people may be eligible while others don’t meet the minimum requirements but sometimes companies can find themselves struggling to meet demands and keep all their staff happy. If you are concerned the salaries you are offering are not competitive enough for the industry, considering investing in a salary survey. This is a survey carried out by a dedicated pay review company that returns salaries currently being paid by unnamed competitors in the surrounding and expanded industry based on the employee’s job responsibilities. This allows you to compare like for like and check that your employees are being paid both competitively and fairly for the cost of living in your area and help you make informed remuneration decisions. Talk to your staff about what they feel is lacking in their work environment and work together to ensure needs and reasonable wants are catered to, this will show your staff you care and are loyal to their requirements as individuals. Don’t forget, a happy workforce is a productive one! Read Also: Tips To Improve The Onboarding Process At Your Company How To Live Healthily Even If You Have A Full-Time Job

Secrets to the Perfect Bedroom Light

Gorgeous atmosphere in a home is essential, and nowhere more so than in your bedroom. Seeing how this is a place where we go when we want to rest or be romantic, the setting needs to reflect the mood. Now, this can be done in several ways, mostly by using eye soothing colors and cozy furniture, but for the overall atmosphere, tending to the lighting the right way is a must. Here are a few secrets for a perfect bedroom light. Read also: A Rundown of the Basic Led Lighting Natural Light: The first thing you need to consider when it comes to your bedroom is having a good natural light source. However, this is a slippery slope. If the bedroom faces your backyard, you could easily replace an entire wall with folding glass system and maximize the amount of natural light. On the other hand, if your bedroom is on the ground floor and facing the street, this is the last thing you want to do for both security and privacy reasons. Finally, there is nothing more beautiful than being woken up by sunlight gleaming through your window. However, when this happens at 5 AM on a Sunday, you might want to consider getting quality blinders. For an extra touch, you can always add curtains that will match the rest of your interior. Spice it Up: Apart from being a place where you rest, the bedroom is also a romantic hotspot. This is why it needs to have a lighting system to match. Dimming your lights can do the trick, but truth be told, there are many, more interesting solutions you could resort to. Some of them are DIY, like homemade lanterns and lamps, while others are of more traditional. Using candles to enhance the bedroom atmosphere is the oldest trick in the book. However, the choice of these candles matters as well. If you are planning a special evening, you might want to go with something more daring like a heart- or flower-shaped candles. Color-wise any shade of red will do, but you can also go with purple, white or even black. Candles also come in different scents so going with cherry, vanilla or strawberry may spice up the atmosphere. Lighting System: No matter how romantic or sexy it may feel, using candles and natural light won’t be enough on its own. You will need an artificial lighting system as well. There are several interesting solutions. While a lot of people go for luxurious chandeliers in their bedroom, others see this as a bit over the top. Some think that there is nothing more elegant, tasteful and efficient than using LED downlights. Apart from looking good, these fixtures also save energy, to a great extent, especially on the annual level, making them quite convenient, both visually and practically. A bedside nightlight for the nighttime reading sessions is also essential. As you can see, the bedroom light is not to be taken lightly. In fact, if done correctly, it can bring numerous benefits to both your health and your love life. There are only a few principles you have to follow and few rules to abide by. The first one is that you should use natural light for as much as you can, not only to be frugality but for the soothing effects it has on one’s psyche. The second one, light bulbs are not the only artificial light source and they are definitely not the most romantic one. Finally, saving some more on your power bill by switching to LED is never a bad idea. Read More: Seven Simple Ways For Achieving Cozy Bedroom Environment: For Perfectly Night Sleep 5 Perfect Ways To Create Size Illusion In Room With Home Accessories How To Make Your Home Look Like A Splendid Hotel?

How can Art Help Medical Students Become Better Doctors?

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Cracking The Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT)

Why Recruiters Use Cognitive Ability Tests?

Fast Facts Related To The Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT):

CCAT Practice Test: