CCAT Verbal Reasoning Questions: Overview, Free Practice, and Prep Tips

Tammar, Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT) Expert at JobTestPrep.

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What Verbal Questions to Expect on the CCAT?

There are about 18 CCAT verbal questions (sometimes referred to as CCAT English questions) out of 50 in total. These questions are divided into four subjects: sentence completion questions, analogies, attention-to-detail questions, and antonyms.

This portion of the exam evaluates your vocabulary level and ability to understand how words relate to one another and what role context plays in your word choice.

It does so because employers want to ensure that you'll be able to communicate clearly and accurately with co-workers, managers, and customers.

Since you have only 15 minutes to complete the CCAT, you'll need to solve some of these questions in as little as 18 seconds per question.

Below, we go over all these verbal question types and provide sample practice questions with explanations (taken from our CCAT prep course) for each type.

Sentence Completion

There are nine sentence completion questions on the CCAT, which means that 50% of all verbal questions would be of this kind. So that's why you should focus more on mastering this question type.

Sentence completion questions test your ability to identify synonyms, understand paraphrasing, scan for specific information, and understand the correct context.

These questions come in two forms - one blank and two blanks, as shown in the sample questions below.

Practice Questions

Tips for Sentence Completion Questions

• Remember that your answer should be grammatically correct. Check the type of word that fits in the space. Is it a verb, noun, adjective, or adverb? This will help you answer the question correctly.
• In two-blank sentences, you'll find it more challenging and confusing to tackle both blanks simultaneously. So, try to tackle one blank at a time, starting with the easier one.
• Eliminate answer choices based on the emotional context of the missing word - is it a positive or a negative one?
• Pay close attention to trigger words that provide clues for the correct answer: but, although (though, even though, while), rather, yet, despite, however, unfortunately, in contrast, heretofore, previously.

Analogies

There are four analogies questions on the CCAT. On these questions, you must identify the relationship between each pair of words and determine which answer has the same logical relationship.

Practice Questions

Tips for Analogy Questions

• Turn the analogies into sentences. Read the analogy problems as sentences, even if they aren’t written that way.
• Learn the eight types of possible relationships used in analogy questions: Synonyms, antonyms, cause and effect, degree of intensity, item to a category, descriptive connection, processes, and functions.
• The order of the words in the analogy is also essential. You might have another answer choice with a correct relationship, but it's reversed.
• Read all answer choices before making a decision. Since you're on a tight time budget, you might be tempted to choose the first answer that seems like a good match. But looking at the other answer choices for a few seconds is worthwhile to be on the safe side.
• If all else fails, eliminate the unlikely answers that don't have a similar type of relationship and make an educated guess.

Attention to Detail

There are 3 Attention-to-Detail questions on the CCAT. On these questions, you'll need to identify how many items are identical between two given columns.

While not being a verbal ability topic per se, it does evaluate your ability to spot differences between words.

Practice Question

Tips for Attention to Detail Questions

• Pay attention that you must choose the number of identical pairs.
• Use your scratch paper. For each identical pair, draw a line on the paper. It's much easier than keeping the number in your head under time pressure.

Antonyms

There are two antonym questions on the CCAT, making it the smallest topic of all CCAT's verbal reasoning questions.

Antonyms assess your ability to recognize two words with opposite meanings, and like analogies questions, they rely on your vocabulary level.

Practice Questions

Tips for Antonyms Questions

• Eliminate at least two answer choices that are synonyms to each other. As you can see in the two sample questions above, at least two answers are synonyms or have close meanings, meaning they are not the correct answer.
• Watch for the suffix and prefix of words to help you understand the meaning of a word. For example, the prefix "de" means "reverse" or "change" (declassify, demotivate, etc.), and the prefixes il/im/in/ir mean "not" (illegal, insecure, etc.).
• Eliminate words based on their positive or negative meanings. If the given word is positive, you can quickly eliminate all the answers that have a positive connotation and vice versa.

Continue Practicing for the CCAT Test

Keep practicing for the CCAT so that you take the test while being as prepared as possible and score high.

Try our 24-question free CCAT practice test and access the complete CCAT test prep course with six full-length simulations and dozens of extra practice drills (including verbal).

Learn More About Other CCAT Test Questions & How to Solve Them Fast

• CCAT Math Questions
• CCAT Logic Questions
• CCAT Spatial Reasoning Questions