The Predictive Index Cognitive Assessment: Format, Scores and 15 Practice Items

What the PI Cognitive Assessment is

The Predictive Index built the assessment in 2010, responding to client demand for a short cognitive test, and says it was validated exclusively for workplace use. Each candidate gets 50 questions drawn from a larger pool by a linear-on-the-fly engine, which assembles each form while holding content and difficulty equivalent across administrations. The questions cover simple math, basic logic and language comprehension, reported as verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning. The company lists 64 supported languages.

The publisher is explicit about the target: general cognitive ability and the capacity to learn. It says the score indicates how fast a person can be expected to acquire new knowledge, and that the test does not measure IQ or previously acquired knowledge. For how full IQ batteries differ, see how IQ tests work.

How the score works

The raw score is the count of correct answers. The Predictive Index converts it to a scaled score between 100 and 450 and tells employers to interpret only the scaled score. Its documentation states that scores are not weighted by the number of questions attempted. Two candidates with the same number right get the same score, whether one answered 30 questions or 45.

There is no universal pass mark. Employers compare a candidate's score with a cognitive target set for the specific role, and the platform hides those numbers by default. A good score is the one that clears the target for the job in question. To compare speeded hiring tests, see our guide to the highest Wonderlic scores in the NFL.

The arithmetic of 12 minutes

Fifty questions in 720 seconds leaves 14.4 seconds per question. The instructions ask candidates to complete as many as they can. The publisher cites John Carroll's 1993 theory that speeded completion of tasks is a common facet of many abilities in the domain of general cognitive ability, so speed is part of what the test samples.

• Cap your time. A question that has eaten 30 seconds is costing two easier ones further on.
• Answer rather than abandon. The score counts correct answers only, so a reasoned guess on a question you were about to drop costs nothing but seconds.
• Do the arithmetic roughly. Many numerical items yield to estimation; exact long division is a luxury the clock does not allow.
• Read the final words of each question first. Knowing what is asked keeps you from solving the wrong problem.

15 original practice items

These questions were written for this page. They imitate the three published categories, not any item from the PI pool. Give yourself about 15 seconds each.

1. What number comes next: 5, 8, 14, 26, ?
   Answer: 50. Each term is double the last, minus 2.
2. A jacket costs $120. A sale takes 25 percent off, then a coupon takes 10 percent off the sale price. What is the final price?
   Answer: $81. 120 × 0.75 = 90, and 90 × 0.9 = 81. The two discounts do not add to 35 percent.
3. Which is largest: 0.62, 5/8, 3/5 or 0.6?
   Answer: 5/8, which equals 0.625.
4. Ephemeral most nearly means: (a) lasting (b) brief (c) heavy (d) bright.
   Answer: (b).
5. Which word is the opposite of candid: (a) honest (b) open (c) guarded (d) blunt?
   Answer: (c).
6. Assume the first two statements are true. All of the reports were filed on time. Some files submitted on time were reviewed. Is this true, false or uncertain: all of the reports were reviewed?
   Answer: uncertain. Only some on-time files were reviewed, and the reports may or may not be among them.
7. Which number does not belong: 121, 144, 169, 175, 196?
   Answer: 175. The others are perfect squares: 11, 12, 13 and 14 squared.
8. AZ, BY, CX, ?
   Answer: DW. The first letter moves forward through the alphabet; the second moves backward from Z.
9. Four staff complete 60 orders in 3 hours. At the same rate per person, how many orders do six staff complete in 2 hours?
   Answer: 60. Each person handles 5 orders an hour, and 6 × 2 × 5 = 60.
10. Pilot is to aircraft as captain is to: (a) crew (b) ship (c) harbor (d) uniform.
    Answer: (b). Each commands the vessel named.
11. Which word does not belong: sprint, dash, stroll, race?
    Answer: stroll. The others mean moving fast.
12. What is 15 percent of 240?
    Answer: 36. Ten percent is 24, five percent is 12.
13. A train leaves at 9:40 and the trip takes 2 hours 35 minutes. When does it arrive?
    Answer: 12:15.
14. A triangle holds four dots, a square holds three, a pentagon holds two. What comes next?
    Answer: a hexagon holding one dot. Each step adds a side and removes a dot.
15. Assume the first two statements are true. Lena is older than Omar. Omar is older than Pia. Is this true, false or uncertain: Pia is older than Lena?
    Answer: false. Lena is older than Omar, who is older than Pia.

What cognitive tests predict at work

Long the reference point was Frank Schmidt and John Hunter's 1998 review, which made general cognitive ability the focal predictor of job performance. In 2022 Paul Sackett, Charlene Zhang, Christopher Berry and Filip Lievens revisited the evidence in the Journal of Applied Psychology. They argued that the usual statistical corrections for range restriction had been overapplied and put the validity of cognitive ability at .31.

A validity of .31 is useful and far from decisive. That is the honest frame for any 12-minute score: one signal among several, alongside structured interviews and work samples. The Predictive Index itself sells a separate behavioral assessment to sit beside the cognitive one.

How to prepare, honestly

Practice makes the format familiar, and familiarity is worth points on a speeded test: less time spent decoding instructions, more time solving. It does not change the general ability the assessment estimates. Candidates who need extra time can request it through the employer; the publisher offers 18-minute and 24-minute versions for approved accommodations, with the time limit specified by a medical professional in the United States.

For broader drills, work through our IQ test questions and answers and the abstract reasoning test guide. Our free IQ test is a practice screener, not a hiring instrument and not a clinical measurement. To see where an average-plus score such as IQ 110 sits, use the IQ rarity chart, and browse the rest in our IQ guides hub.

Editorial standard: IQ figures for historical figures are retrospective estimates and are labeled as such; scores for living people appear only when the person disclosed them or a reputable outlet reported them. Corrections: contact the editors.