CAST-R: What Changed From the Original CAST Test

CAST-R is the revised version of the EEI CAST battery, and there is one substantive change: the 18-question Mathematical Usage test is gone, replaced by a 105-item Work Preferences Inventory taken in 30 minutes. Graphic Arithmetic, Mechanical Concepts and Reading for Comprehension are unchanged. The battery therefore runs to 197 items and 110 minutes of timed work, still inside a session of about two hours, and still reported as an index score from 1 to 10.

Side by side

Test	CAST	CAST-R
Graphic Arithmetic	16 q / 30 min	16 q / 30 min, calculator permitted
Mechanical Concepts	44 q / 20 min	44 q / 20 min
Reading for Comprehension	32 q / 30 min	32 q / 30 min
Mathematical Usage	18 q / 7 min	— removed —
Work Preferences Inventory	— not present —	105 items / 30 min
Total	110 / 87 min	197 / 110 min

The item count roughly doubles while the testing time only grows by 23 minutes, which tells you something useful about the new section: 105 items in 30 minutes is about 17 seconds each, and they are statements you agree or disagree with rather than problems you solve.

The Work Preferences Inventory

EEI describes this test as assessing an individual's preferred work style, behavior and environment by asking how far they agree with a series of statements, answered on a five-point scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree. It is not an ability test and there is nothing to revise.

It is also the part of the battery EEI does not provide practice material for. The stated reason is that its practice tests cover tests of basic ability, not preferred work style — which is a fair position, and worth knowing before you go looking for a Work Preferences practice test that does not exist. What you can usefully do is understand the format, decide in advance how you want to handle the five-point scale, and get used to answering 105 statements without stalling. That is what our Work Preferences demo is for: it gives you a reflective profile of your own answers rather than a score, because a score is not what this test produces for you.

Two practical points. First, answer at a steady clip — 30 minutes for 105 statements does not allow deliberation, and over-thinking a work-style questionnaire tends to produce inconsistent answers rather than better ones. Second, answer as the person who would actually do this job day to day. Questionnaires of this type generally include internal consistency checks, so a picture assembled from what you imagine the employer wants is more fragile than an honest one. Our fuller guide to the inventory goes into how to approach it.

The calculator sentence

The CAST-R brochure contains one of only two calculator statements anywhere in EEI's published brochures: "The use of a calculator is permitted during this test", printed under Graphic Arithmetic. It does not appear under any other section, and the original CAST brochure contains no calculator statement at all.

Do not over-read that. Whether you actually have a calculator on the day is an administration decision, and a proctor's instructions beat a brochure. Southern California Edison, for one, tells candidates they may not bring any electronic device including a calculator, and that it provides all necessary equipment itself. Plan to do the arithmetic yourself and treat a calculator as a bonus. The full picture is here.

Which one will you sit?

Employers are not consistent, and you cannot tell from the invitation alone. Southern Company is the employer most visibly using the CAST-R name in its published material, while a number of others still write plain "CAST" on their careers pages — some of them may well be administering the revised battery under the old name.

Since three of the four tests are identical either way, this is less of a problem than it sounds. The safe plan is to prepare Graphic Arithmetic, Mechanical Concepts and Reading properly, spend one session getting familiar with Mathematical Usage in case it appears, and spend fifteen minutes understanding the Work Preferences format in case that appears instead. Our CAST-R practice and CAST practice run the two orders separately so you can rehearse either.

Scoring and what carries over

CAST-R is reported the same way as CAST: component scores combined into an index score ranging from 1 to 10, and EEI's brochure states that there is no penalty for guessing or wrong answers. As with every EEI battery, the level a given utility hires at is not published, and EEI's own CAST brochure says cutoffs are tailored to local company employment needs.

One thing worth knowing if you are hoping to reuse a result: CAST and CAST-R are not the same instrument. If you sat one battery at one utility and a second utility uses the other, do not assume a transfer request will be straightforward. How score transfer actually works covers the process and its limits.

Frequently asked questions

Is CAST-R harder than CAST?

Not in the cognitive sections — they are the same three tests with the same counts and time limits. Whether the battery as a whole feels harder depends on how you find a long work-style questionnaire at the end of a two-hour session.

Can you fail the Work Preferences Inventory?

It is not scored right or wrong; it measures preferences, and it feeds into the overall result alongside the ability tests. The useful framing is that there is nothing to revise and a lot to be said for answering consistently and honestly.

Is there practice material for the Work Preferences Inventory?

EEI does not provide any, and says its practice material covers tests of basic ability rather than preferred work style. What you can practice is the format and the pace, which is what our demo offers.

Does CAST-R still have math?

Yes, but only inside Graphic Arithmetic, which is arithmetic applied to drawings. The standalone 18-question Mathematical Usage sprint is the test that CAST-R removed. See what is included if you want both versions covered.