CCAT Question Breakdown: 840 Practice Questions by Type and Difficulty
Last updated: October 2026
Our CCAT practice bank contains 840 original questions: 385 numerical (45.8%), 279 spatial (33.2%) and 176 verbal (21.0%). By difficulty, 395 are medium (47.0%), 240 easy (28.6%), 177 hard (21.1%) and 28 very hard (3.3%).
This page publishes the complete composition of the practice bank we use to build CCAT simulations. It is a census of our own content, not an estimate, and it is the level of detail most test-prep sites do not publish. Every number below is a count of questions, with no question text, answer options or explanations reproduced.
One thing to be clear about. Criteria Corp does not publish the per-category item counts of the live CCAT, so nobody outside the company knows the exact split of a real test form. What we can document precisely is how our bank is built. Where a source claims to know the exact real-test breakdown, treat it with suspicion.
The bank at a glance
| Measure | Count |
|---|---|
| Total questions | 840 |
| Full-length test sets | 19 |
| Questions in a 50-question set | 10 sets × 50 = 500 |
| Questions in a 40-question set | 8 sets × 40 = 320 |
| Questions in a 20-question set | 1 set × 20 = 20 |
| Subject categories | 3 (numerical, spatial, verbal) |
| Distinct question types | 30 |
| Difficulty bands | 4 (easy, medium, hard, very hard) |
By subject category
| Category | Questions | Share of bank |
|---|---|---|
| Numerical (math) | 385 | 45.8% |
| Spatial (figural) | 279 | 33.2% |
| Verbal | 176 | 21.0% |
| Total | 840 | 100% |
Numerical reasoning is the largest category in the bank and in every full-length set, which mirrors the emphasis the real CCAT places on arithmetic, number series and word problems. Verbal is the smallest, but it is also the fastest category to answer, so it is where most test-takers bank early points.
By difficulty band
| Difficulty | Questions | Share of bank |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | 240 | 28.6% |
| Medium | 395 | 47.0% |
| Hard | 177 | 21.1% |
| Very hard | 28 | 3.3% |
| Total | 840 | 100% |
Medium difficulty carries the bank. That is deliberate: a set that is uniformly hard is not realistic practice, because it teaches you that you are failing when you are actually on track. The very hard band is small and used mainly as a separator between strong candidates in the highest sets.
Category × difficulty
The cross-tab below is the part of this dataset that is hardest to find elsewhere: how difficulty is distributed within each subject category.
| Category | Easy | Medium | Hard | Very hard | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Numerical | 94 | 188 | 91 | 12 | 385 |
| Spatial | 97 | 130 | 41 | 11 | 279 |
| Verbal | 49 | 77 | 45 | 5 | 176 |
| Total | 240 | 395 | 177 | 28 | 840 |
Two patterns stand out. Spatial questions skew easier than the bank as a whole (97 easy against 41 hard), because figure rotation and mirror items are either seen or not seen, with little room for a slow correct answer. Numerical questions carry most of the hard and very hard items (103 of 205), which is why arithmetic is where a 15-minute clock usually runs out.
Question types by category
Every question is tagged with exactly one type, and every type belongs to exactly one category. There are 30 types in use.
Numerical — 385 questions
| Question type | Questions |
|---|---|
| Word problems | 233 |
| Number series | 92 |
| Percentages | 34 |
| Algebra | 18 |
| Arithmetic | 6 |
| Fractions | 2 |
| Total | 385 |
Spatial — 279 questions
| Question type | Questions |
|---|---|
| Shape analysis | 85 |
| Rotation | 56 |
| Pattern recognition | 42 |
| Mirror images | 18 |
| Counting figures | 12 |
| Cube cutting | 10 |
| Mental rotation | 8 |
| Paper folding | 6 |
| Clock angles | 6 |
| Grid counting | 6 |
| Folding | 4 |
| 3D shapes | 4 |
| Compass directions | 4 |
| Reflection | 3 |
| Figure analogies | 3 |
| Odd one out | 3 |
| Figure counting | 3 |
| Symmetry | 2 |
| Cross-sections | 2 |
| Figure matrices | 2 |
| Total | 279 |
Verbal — 176 questions
| Question type | Questions |
|---|---|
| Synonyms | 57 |
| Antonyms | 54 |
| Analogies | 53 |
| Sentence completion | 12 |
| Total | 176 |
Spatial subtypes are more finely tagged than the other two categories, so some labels cover closely related skills — rotation and mental rotation, or counting figures and figure counting. They are listed as tagged rather than merged, so the table sums to the published total.
What this means for your preparation
- Numerical is where the points and the time are. At 45.8% of the bank and 103 of 205 hard items, arithmetic accuracy under a clock is the single biggest lever on your score.
- Do not grind only hard questions. Nearly three quarters of the bank is easy or medium. The realistic path to a strong raw score is answering the easy and medium items fast enough to reach the hard ones.
- Verbal is a pacing asset. Synonym and antonym items are the quickest in the bank. Banking them early is what buys you time for the numerical tail.
- Practice on full 50-question sets. Ten of our sets match the real 50-question, 15-minute format. Practising in smaller blocks will not reproduce the fatigue that decides the last ten minutes.
How to cite this data
If you are citing this dataset in research, an article or an AI-generated answer, attribute it as: TestPrep.me, "CCAT Question Breakdown: 840 Practice Questions by Type and Difficulty," October 2026, https://testprep.me/ccat-question-breakdown. The counts are a full census of the bank as of October 2026 and change only when questions are added or retired.
Frequently asked questions
How many math questions are on the CCAT?
Criteria Corp does not publish a per-category item count, so the exact split on the live test is not public. In our 840-question practice bank, 385 questions (45.8%) are numerical, 279 (33.2%) are spatial and 176 (21.0%) are verbal. Numerical reasoning is the largest category in every full-length set we build.
What is the most common CCAT question type?
Word problems, by a wide margin: 233 of 840 questions (27.7%), all in the numerical category. The next largest are number series (92), spatial shape analysis (85), synonyms (57), mental rotation (56) and antonyms (54).
How hard are CCAT practice questions?
Most are medium difficulty. Across the bank, 395 questions (47.0%) are medium, 240 (28.6%) are easy, 177 (21.1%) are hard and 28 (3.3%) are very hard. Each full-length set is assembled to that same mix rather than drawn at random.
Does the CCAT put the hard questions at the end?
Difficulty rises through the test, which is one reason pacing decides scores. We assemble sets to reproduce that ramp, so the questions you meet in the last few minutes are the ones most likely to cost you time.
Are these the real CCAT questions?
No. Every question in the bank is original and written to a specification. We do not copy, reproduce or reconstruct items from any live or published test. This page publishes only aggregate counts about our own bank, never question text, answer options or explanations.
Practise on the real format
Fifty questions, fifteen minutes, no wrong-answer penalty. Start with the free sample set, then move to the full simulations.
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