The California Critical Thinking Skills Test is the premier critical thinking skills test in the world today. Called the "gold standard" of critical thinking tests, the CCTST is based on the Delphi Expert Consensus Definition of Critical Thinking. The CCTST has been proven to predict strength in critical thinking in authentic problem situations and success on professional licensure examinations. The CCTST in all its forms provides an objective measure of critical thinking skills.

Form A and Form B are designed to parallel one another question for question and response for response. These forms are recommended for testing approaches, such as a split-half pretest posttest design, which call for the use of two forms of the same instrument that parallel each other as closely as is reasonably possible. Form A and Form B are intended for college level and post-baccalaureate student populations. Test questions represent the reasoning skills required to succeed in a broad range of higher education and workplace settings. Different questions progressively invite test-takers to analyze or to interpret information presented, to draw accurate and warranted inferences; to evaluate inferences and explain why they represent strong reasoning or weak reasoning; or to explain why a given evaluation of an inference is strong or weak.

Form A and Form B are the original forms of the CCTST. As with more recent forms, specialized information needed to respond correctly to a given question is provided within the item itself. Unlike the other members of the CCTST family of critical thinking skills tests which presents some data using charts or graphs, all the questions are on Form A and Form B of the CCTST text-based.

Both of these Forms contain 34 multiple choice items of varying levels of difficulty, and both can be administered in a 50 minute period. Both are available on-line or in paper-and-pencil format.