WorkKeys/ACT National Career Readiness Certificates

The ACT National Career Readiness Certificate is an industry-recognized, portable, research-based credential that certifies essential skills needed for workplace success.

This credential is used across all sectors of the economy and documents the following cognitive skills:

• Problem-solving.
• Critical thinking.
• Reading and using work-related text.
• Applying information from workplace documents to solve problems.
• Applying mathematical reasoning to work-related problems.
• Setting up and performing work-related mathematical calculations.
• Locating, synthesizing, and applying information that is presented graphically.
• Comparing, summarizing, and analyzing information presented in multiple related graphics

Assessments

Individuals can earn the ACT NCRC by taking three WorkKeys® assessments.

• Applied Math – For more information about the Applied Math assessment – click here
• Graphic Literacy – For more information about the Graphic Literacy assessment – click here
• Workplace Documents – For more information about the Workplace Documents assessment – click here

Each of the assessments listed above has a maximum time limit of 55 minutes. Additional time may be required prior to and after the assessments for registration, an examinee tutorial, and/or printing a score report.

WorkKeys assessments measure real-world skills that employers believe are critical to job success. Test questions are based on situations in the everyday work world.

To find out more about specific careers and their skills requirements, check out the ACT job profiles database.

Certificate Levels

Individuals can earn four levels of certifications by taking the three WorkKeys® assessments.

• Bronze Level – Signifies an individual has scored at least a Level 3 on each of the three assessments and has the necessary skills for 16% of the jobs in the WorkKeys Job Pro database.
• Silver Level – Signifies an individual has scored at least a Level 4 on each of the three assessments and has the necessary skills for 67% of the jobs on the WorkKeys Job Pro database.
• Gold Level – Signifies an individual has scored at least a Level 5 on each of the three assessments and has the necessary skills for 93% of the jobs on the WorkKeys Job Pro database.
• Platinum Level – Signifies an individual has scored at least a Level 6 on each of the three assessments and has the necessary skills for 99% of the jobs on the WorkKeys Job Pro database.