CCAT Grade 3: What to Expect and How to Prepare

Grade 3 is the year most Canadian school boards administer the CCAT, usually as part of gifted program screening. If your child is in Grade 3 this year, here is exactly what they will meet — and how to make test day feel familiar instead of scary.

What the Grade 3 test looks like

The Grade 3 CCAT has three batteries — Verbal, Quantitative and Non-verbal — with short multiple-choice questions. At this age, questions are read aloud or presented with picture support, and the pace is brisk: children typically have limited time per question, so recognizing the question style quickly matters as much as reasoning ability.

Sample questions by battery

Notice that none of these need Grade 3 math or reading knowledge — they need pattern spotting. That is the whole test.

• Verbal classification: "The words are: Jupiter, Mars, Earth. Which word belongs with this group?" — the answer is Saturn, because all four are planets.
• Verbal analogy: "Puppy is to dog as kitten is to ___" — the answer is cat, because a kitten is a baby cat.
• Number series: "3, 6, 9, 12, ___" — the answer is 15, counting up by threes.
• Figure classification: three shapes share a property (for example, all have four sides) and your child picks the shape that shares it.

A simple 4-week preparation plan

• Week 1: Try a few questions from each battery together. Talk about how the answer was found, not just whether it was right.
• Week 2: Ten questions a day, focusing on the battery that felt hardest.
• Week 3: Mix all three batteries. Start gently timing sessions so the pace feels normal.
• Week 4: One short mixed set per day. Keep it light — confidence is the goal.

The night before

No new questions. A good sleep, a normal breakfast, and a reminder that the test is a puzzle game, not an exam. Children who feel relaxed reason measurably better.