CCAT Practice Test: Grade 5, With a Worked Answer Key

The nine subtests at a glance

The CCAT has three parts, called batteries. Each battery has three subtests. This table sets out the test as CogAT Form 7 structures it at Level 11, with the question count Riverside Insights lists for each subtest on the US edition. Each row matches two questions further down.

Those counts add up to 64 Verbal, 52 Quantitative and 60 Nonverbal questions, 176 in all. They are Riverside's figures for Levels 10 and up of CogAT. Nelson, which publishes the CCAT in Canada, does not print a count for the CCAT-7 on any page we could read, so treat 176 as close rather than confirmed.

Does a Grade 5 child in Ontario sit the CCAT?

Usually not, and that is the first thing to check. No whole-grade screen we found falls in Grade 5. The Toronto District School Board and York Region give the CCAT to every Grade 3 student. Hamilton-Wentworth, Waterloo Catholic, York Catholic and Halton Catholic test in Grade 4, and Huron-Perth Catholic tests in Grades 4 and 7. Our Grade 3 practice test and Grade 4 practice test cover the Grade 3 and Grade 4 sittings.

At several boards, Grade 5 is the year the gifted program begins, which is one reason Grade 5 families meet the CCAT at all. Here is how the boards we checked handle it.

Two more boards are worth knowing about if your child has just moved up from Grade 4. Hamilton-Wentworth tests every Grade 4 student and starts its enrichment program in Grade 5. Halton Catholic group-tests in Grade 4, and its gifted classes run from Grades 5 to 8. A Grade 5 family at either board is usually reading a Grade 4 result and waiting on a placement decision. There is no test to prepare for.

One older document shows another way it has been done. The Upper Canada District School Board's gifted protocol, revised in June 2015, set out a separate process for Grades 5 to 12: teachers could look for students who reached Level 4 on the EQAO, teachers or parents could nominate, and the school would "administer appropriate level of Canadian Cognitive Abilities Test (CCAT) to selected students." That is a 2015 document, so do not read it as the board's practice today.

If your board is not on this list, ask the school's special education resource teacher three things: whether the board uses the CCAT, in which grade, and whether a Grade 5 child can be nominated or referred.

If your child missed the earlier screening

York Region's procedure names this case directly. Its post-Grade 3 route covers students referred by the In-School Team, including "those who enrolled in the Board after the Grade 3 screening and identification process was completed". In Durham, the nomination form is open from Grades 4 to 12, and Durham adds: "If your child passes the gifted assessment, they won't need to write it again."

At York Region the school team makes the referral, and the parent does not. In Durham a parent can ask for the form, but a child can be nominated only twice, so it is worth asking the school whether this is the right year. For a child already in Grade 6, our Grade 6 CCAT practice test covers which of these routes are still open.

What "Level 11" means, and why older charts say Level C

Each edition of the CCAT comes in levels matched to a child's grade. Riverside Insights publishes a one-page chart of recommended CogAT levels by grade, for testing in the fall, midyear and spring, and for students of low, average and high ability. In the Grade 5 row, all nine cells read Level 11. Grade 4 reads Level 10 in eight of its nine cells and "10 or 11" in the ninth, for high-ability students tested in the spring. Grade 6 reads Level 12 in all nine.

That chart belongs to CogAT, and Nelson has no equivalent we could find. Three pieces of evidence tie the current CCAT-7 to CogAT Form 7:

• The Toronto District School Board calls its test "the Cognitive Abilities Test, Seventh Edition (CCAT-7)".
• Halton Catholic's special education plan writes "CCAT-7/CogAT" and cites the Form 7 planning guide.
• Nelson's own score-profile brochure names Dr. David Lohman, the author of CogAT, as the CCAT author.

You may also find a chart that puts Grade 5 at "Level C". That comes from a Nelson brochure headed "Canadian Cognitive Abilities Test (CCAT) Form K Overview". Form K is an earlier edition with letter levels, and it is not the test boards describe today.

Nelson does not publish a level chart for the CCAT-7 on any page we could read, and no Ontario board page we found names the Grade 5 level. So Level 11 is the best-supported answer, but it is not confirmed. Our full guide to the CCAT covers the test across all grades.

How long it takes

Riverside's help page on testing time is direct: "Levels 9-17/18 are given 10 minutes per subtest for a total testing time of 90 minutes." Nine subtests at 10 minutes each is the whole test. Durham says its nominated students are tested in a group, and that the school's special education resource teacher tells families the assessment date between mid-October and mid-November.

At Level 11 the verbal and quantitative questions are text. Riverside's overview says items from Level 9 (Grade 3) and above in those two batteries "are text-based". So a Grade 5 child reads every verbal and math question for themselves.

Should a Grade 5 child practise for the CCAT?

This page exists to help with format. It does not claim to raise a score.

The test is built so that practice should not matter much. Riverside says its questions show "how well students use reasoning skills they have developed to solve problems they have not been directly taught." Drilling the same puzzle types over and over teaches the puzzles, and that tells the board less about your child.

Here is what the boards say about preparation:

• Toronto District School Board (Grade 3): "The CCAT-7 and other measures of intellectual ability are designed to provide students with exposure to novel tasks. As such, no advance preparation or practice is permitted. Any evidence of prior exposure, preparation, or practice will render the results invalid and may compromise the integrity of the screening process." The rule sits on the page about the Grade 3 screen, but the reason it gives is about the test itself, not the grade. If your child is at the TDSB and being considered for testing, ask the school before you use this page.
• York Catholic (a Grade 4 school letter, October 2023): "Your child cannot study for this activity, but making sure that your child is well-rested is the best preparation."
• Durham: its only line about practice effects is about a private practitioner repeating a test that board staff already gave. In that case it wants "a waiting period of at least nine-months to minimize practice effects and to ensure validity of results."
• Durham's nomination process, York Region, Waterloo Catholic, Ottawa-Carleton and Huron-Perth Catholic: we found no stated position on preparing for the CCAT. Ask the school before you start.

So the sensible way to use this page is once, untimed, at the kitchen table. Your child sees each format, you both look at the working, and you put it away. Do not time it and do not repeat it.

The 18 practice questions

Every question below is original and was written for this article. None is reprinted from a CCAT test booklet, a Nelson or Riverside publication, or a test-preparation item bank. The real test is built around problems children have not seen, so a copied item would defeat the point.

The real nonverbal questions are pictures. Ours describe the pictures in words, which makes them a little harder to read than the real thing. It is fine to sketch them on paper first, and for the two paper-folding questions, to fold a real sheet.

The math stays inside the Grade 5 Ontario curriculum: whole numbers, multiplication facts up to 12 × 12 with their related division facts, equations with whole numbers up to 100, and, in Question 17, simple fractions. Every correct answer is 100 or less. Grade 5 is the first year the 11 and 12 facts are expected. If those are shaky, our times tables quiz is the better place to start.

Answer all 18 before you look at the key.

Verbal

Question 1 (Verbal Analogies). thermometer → temperature. scale → ?

• A. weight
• B. kitchen
• C. number
• D. heavy
• E. balance

Question 2 (Verbal Analogies). freeze → ice. evaporate → ?

• A. puddle
• B. cold
• C. vapour
• D. rain
• E. melt

Question 3 (Sentence Completion). Because the instructions were so ______, everyone in the class built the model a different way.

• A. clear
• B. vague
• C. printed
• D. colourful
• E. recent

Question 4 (Sentence Completion). Our team was ahead by four goals, but the other side scored five times in the last ten minutes and we did not score again, so the result was ______.

• A. predictable
• B. unexpected
• C. boring
• D. fair
• E. early

Question 5 (Verbal Classification). violin, cello, harp. Which word belongs with these three?

• A. drum
• B. trumpet
• C. guitar
• D. orchestra
• E. flute

Question 6 (Verbal Classification). glance, stare, peek. Which word belongs with these three?

• A. blink
• B. gaze
• C. eye
• D. listen
• E. bright

Quantitative

Question 7 (Number Analogies). 3 → 33. 5 → 55. 8 → ?

• A. 16
• B. 80
• C. 88
• D. 96
• E. 108

Question 8 (Number Analogies). 48 → 4. 72 → 6. 96 → ?

• A. 6
• B. 7
• C. 8
• D. 9
• E. 12

Question 9 (Number Puzzles). ? + 27 = 8 × 9

• A. 35
• B. 45
• C. 54
• D. 63
• E. 99

Question 10 (Number Puzzles). If ▲ = 6 × 7 and ● = ▲ − 18, what is ●?

• A. 24
• B. 25
• C. 30
• D. 36
• E. 60

Question 11 (Number Series). 96, 48, 24, 12, ?

• A. 0
• B. 3
• C. 6
• D. 8
• E. 10

Question 12 (Number Series). 2, 5, 11, 23, 47, ?

• A. 71
• B. 94
• C. 95
• D. 96
• E. 141

Nonverbal

Question 13 (Figure Matrices). The top row of a grid shows a small white circle, then a large striped circle. The bottom row shows a small white triangle, then an empty box. Which figure goes in the empty box?

• A. a large white triangle
• B. a small striped triangle
• C. a large striped triangle
• D. a large striped circle
• E. a small white triangle

Question 14 (Figure Matrices). The top row of a grid shows a large square with a small circle inside it, then a large circle with a small square inside it. The bottom row shows a large triangle with a small star inside it, then an empty box. Which figure goes in the empty box?

• A. a large triangle with a small star inside it
• B. a large star with a small triangle inside it
• C. a large star with a small star inside it
• D. a large triangle with a small triangle inside it
• E. a small triangle next to a large star

Question 15 (Paper Folding). A square sheet of paper is folded in half, top edge down onto the bottom edge. One hole is punched through both layers, close to the left-hand edge and just below the fold, but not on it. The sheet is opened out flat. Where are the holes?

• A. one hole, on the left side, at the middle
• B. two holes close to the left-hand edge, one just above the middle of the sheet and one just below it
• C. two holes close to the left-hand edge, one near the top corner and one near the bottom corner
• D. two holes close to the middle of the sheet, one near the left-hand edge and one near the right-hand edge
• E. four holes, one near each corner

Question 16 (Paper Folding). A square sheet of paper is folded corner to corner, so the bottom left corner lies on top of the top right corner. The folded sheet is now a triangle. One hole is punched through both layers, close to the triangle's square corner, which is where the top right corner of the sheet is. The sheet is opened out flat. Where are the holes?

• A. one hole, near the top right corner
• B. two holes, one near the top right corner and one near the bottom left corner
• C. two holes, one near the top right corner and one near the top left corner
• D. two holes, one near the top right corner and one near the bottom right corner
• E. four holes, one near each corner

Question 17 (Figure Classification). Three figures belong together: a circle cut into 2 equal parts with 1 part shaded, a square cut into 4 equal parts with 2 parts shaded, and a hexagon cut into 6 equal parts with 3 parts shaded. Which figure belongs with them?

• A. a rectangle cut into 8 equal parts with 4 parts shaded
• B. a square cut into 4 equal parts with 1 part shaded
• C. a rectangle cut into 3 equal parts with 1 part shaded
• D. a rectangle cut into 8 equal parts with 3 parts shaded
• E. a hexagon cut into 6 equal parts with 2 parts shaded

Question 18 (Figure Classification). Three figures belong together: a triangle inside a square, a square inside a pentagon, and a pentagon inside a hexagon. Which figure belongs with them?

• A. a hexagon inside a shape with 7 sides
• B. a square inside a hexagon
• C. a hexagon inside a pentagon
• D. a circle inside a square
• E. a pentagon inside a pentagon

Answer key, with the working

The working

Question 1. A thermometer measures temperature, and a scale measures weight. A kitchen is where a scale might sit, and heavy describes a weight rather than naming what is measured. A balance is another tool for weighing. It is a tool like the scale, so it cannot be the thing the scale measures.

Question 2. When water freezes, it becomes ice. When water evaporates, it becomes vapour. Rain is what falls when vapour cools again, and melting is the change that undoes freezing. A puddle is where evaporation often starts. It is not what evaporation makes.

Question 3. The clue is that everyone built the model a different way. Vague instructions leave room for that. Clear instructions would make everyone build it the same way, and printed, colourful or recent instructions give no reason for the different results.

Question 4. The word "but" signals a turn. A team four goals ahead that lets in five and scores no more loses by one, and that is a result nobody expected. Predictable points the wrong way, and nothing in the sentence says the result was boring, fair or early.

Question 5. A violin, a cello and a harp are all played on strings, and so is a guitar. A drum is struck, and a trumpet and a flute are blown. An orchestra is a group that plays instruments. It is not an instrument itself.

Question 6. To glance, stare and peek are all ways of looking, and so is to gaze. Blinking closes the eyes for a moment, which is not looking at something. An eye is what you look with, listening uses the ears, and bright describes light.

Question 7. 3 becomes 33 and 5 becomes 55, so the rule is multiply by 11: 3 × 11 = 33 and 5 × 11 = 55. Then 8 × 11 = 88. Check by a second route: 33 is 3 + 30 and 55 is 5 + 50, so each number gains ten times itself, and 8 + 80 = 88 again. B is 8 × 10, which misses the extra 8.

Question 8. 48 becomes 4 and 72 becomes 6. Divide by 12 fits both: 48 ÷ 12 = 4 and 72 ÷ 12 = 6. Then 96 ÷ 12 = 8. Check by multiplying back: 12 × 8 = 96. The trap is D, the first digit of 96. Taking the first digit works for 48, which gives 4, but fails for 72, which would give 7 instead of 6. A rule has to fit every pair.

Question 9. Do the side you can finish first: 8 × 9 = 72. So the missing number plus 27 must make 72, and 72 − 27 = 45. Check: 45 + 27 = 72. E comes from adding 27 instead of taking it away (72 + 27 = 99).

Question 10. First find ▲: 6 × 7 = 42. Then ● = 42 − 18 = 24. Check: 24 + 18 = 42. E comes from adding 18 instead of subtracting it (42 + 18 = 60).

Question 11. Each number is half the one before: 96 to 48, 48 to 24, 24 to 12. Half of 12 is 6. Check by looking at the steps instead: the numbers drop by 48, then 24, then 12, so the next drop is 6, and 12 − 6 = 6. This is a shrinking pattern, which the Grade 5 curriculum names alongside growing and repeating ones.

Question 12. Each number is double the one before, plus 1: 2 × 2 + 1 = 5, 5 × 2 + 1 = 11, 11 × 2 + 1 = 23, and 23 × 2 + 1 = 47. Then 47 × 2 + 1 = 95. Check by the steps: the gaps are 3, 6, 12 and 24, each double the last, so the next gap is 48, and 47 + 48 = 95. B is double without the 1, and D adds one too many.

Question 13. Across the top row, the circle keeps its shape, gets larger and becomes striped. So the small white triangle becomes a large striped triangle. Check down the columns too: the left column changes the circle into a triangle, and the right column does the same to the large striped circle, which gives the same answer. A misses the stripes, B misses the size change, D keeps the wrong shape, and E changes nothing.

Question 14. Across the top row, the square that was outside moves inside, and the circle that was inside moves outside. The two shapes swap places. So the triangle with a star inside becomes a star with a triangle inside. Check down the columns: the left column replaces the square with a triangle and the circle with a star, and doing the same to the top-right figure (a circle with a square inside) also gives a star with a triangle inside. Nothing in this question turns or flips, so there is only one answer. A copies the box on the left, C and D use one shape twice, and E puts the shapes side by side instead of one inside the other.

Question 15. Folding the top down onto the bottom puts the fold along the middle of the sheet, from side to side. The hole goes through both layers just below the fold and close to the left-hand edge. When the sheet opens, the fold is the line across the middle, and the two holes sit one on each side of it, close to the left-hand edge. C is what you would get from a punch near the open bottom edge instead of near the fold.

Question 16. Bringing the bottom left corner onto the top right corner folds the sheet along the diagonal that runs from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. The top right corner of the sheet stays where it is, and the bottom left corner lies on top of it, so the punch near that corner goes through both. When the sheet opens, one hole is near the top right corner and its mirror image across the diagonal is near the bottom left corner. Folding a real sheet is the quickest way to check.

Question 17. In each figure, exactly half of the equal parts are shaded: 1 of 2, 2 of 4, 3 of 6. A rectangle with 4 of its 8 equal parts shaded is also half shaded. B shades a quarter, C shades a third, D shades 3 of 8, which is less than half, and E shades a third. These fractions all fall inside the Grade 5 range, halves to twelfths.

Question 18. Count the sides. A triangle (3) sits inside a square (4), a square (4) inside a pentagon (5), and a pentagon (5) inside a hexagon (6). Each time, the outside shape has one more side than the inside shape. A hexagon (6) inside a shape with 7 sides follows the same rule. B jumps from 4 sides to 6, C has the larger shape on the inside, D starts with a circle, which has no sides to count, and E has the same number of sides inside and out.

What to do with your child's answers

Eighteen questions cannot give a score. The real test compares your child with a large group of children, and a percentile only means something against that group. So do not count up the right answers and read anything into the total.

What the answers can tell you is simpler. Look for a format your child did not understand at all, rather than one they got wrong. A child who could not work out what a paper-folding question was asking is the child who will lose time on it in the real test. A child who understood it and made a slip is fine.

If one battery felt much harder than the others, that is worth knowing, because boards read the batteries separately. Ottawa-Carleton's criteria, for example, look for two of the three scales at the 98th percentile and the third at the 90th or above. Nelson's CCAT score profile gives each child a shape code. "A" means the three battery scores are roughly similar. "B" means one score is substantially different, above or below the other two. "C" means "two of the battery scores are quite different (one strength and one weakness)", and "E" is a more extreme version of C that Nelson calls uncommon.

If the hard part was the reading, that is worth knowing for school in general. Next year brings the provincial EQAO test in Grade 6, and our EQAO Grade 6 practice test is a better place to practise reading and math than this page.

After that, stop. You have done what a practice page can do.

When the report comes home

CCAT results come back as a few kinds of score, and they are easy to mix up.

• Percentile rank. Riverside defines it as the percentage of students in the same age or grade group "whose scores fall at or below the score obtained by a particular student." Its own example happens to be a Grade 5 child: a percentile rank of 90 on the Quantitative Battery means 90 percent of Grade 5 students in the norm group scored the same or lower. It is not a mark out of 100.
• Stanine. "The stanine scale is a normalized standard score scale consisting of nine broad levels designated by the numbers 1 through 9." Nelson's CCAT score profile is built on a stanine for overall ability.
• Standard Age Score. On CogAT, "The SAS has a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 16."

Be careful with the number 130. Huron-Perth Catholic recommends students who "score 130+ (composite) on the CCAT" for identification. On CogAT's own conversion table, a standard age score of 130 is the 97th percentile, and the 98th percentile starts at 132. Hamilton-Wentworth's "standard score 130+" describes a different test, the WISC-V, on a different scale. So do not read a CCAT score of 130 as the 98th percentile. Nelson's Canadian conversion table was not available for us to check, so treat CogAT's table as a guide.

The cut-offs differ by board. Durham offers an individual assessment to children who score between the 95th and 97th percentile on its group test. Halton Catholic moves children at the 95th percentile or higher to a second stage. Hamilton-Wentworth says some children qualify on the CCAT 7 alone, "when both verbal and non-verbal scores are at the 98th percentile."

If your child moves on, the next step is usually an individual test arranged by the board, and then an Identification, Placement and Review Committee (IPRC), which decides whether your child is identified as gifted and where they are placed. Durham, for example, invites families who meet its criteria to an IPRC meeting in the spring. An Individual Education Plan (IEP) follows from that decision.