The five areas
The site has more tests than this, but some of them lean on the same ability. Visual memory, the chimp test and sequence memory all ask you to remember positions. Putting all three in would count spatial memory three times. So the full test takes the clearest test for each area. We also thought about the order: speed goes first while you are fresh, and memory comes after.
- Processing speed: Reaction timeHow fast you click when a simple signal appears. Tiredness hits it hardest, so it goes first.
- Focus: Focus TestYou find 1 to 25 in order on a scrambled grid. It shows how fast your eyes search and how well you ignore numbers you have already used.
- Working memory: Number memoryYou hold a growing string of digits in your head for a few seconds. This is the classic digit span.
- Spatial memory: Sequence memoryYou remember which squares lit up and in what order. We picked it because, of the position tests, it has the best published norms.
- Verbal memory: Verbal Memory TestYou tell new words from ones you have already seen, while the list keeps growing. It closes the run.
What you get
A full run puts your five results on one page. Each area gets a bar, and all of them together give you an overall type. You also get a combined score out of 1000, which you can put on a leaderboard under a nickname.
| Area | Test | Score shown |
|---|---|---|
| Processing speed | Reaction time | ms |
| Focus | Focus Test | seconds |
| Working memory | Number memory | digits |
| Spatial memory | Sequence memory | level |
| Verbal memory | Verbal memory | correct calls |
How the combined score works
Each area is worth up to 200 points, so the five add up to 1000. Points follow the grade scale on each result screen. Every step up a grade is worth the same number of points. A result between two grade lines gets points in proportion to where it falls. That is how milliseconds, seconds, digits and levels can be added together.
Take a typical run: around 250 ms on reaction time, 38 seconds on the Focus Test and a 7-digit number span. That earns roughly 55 to 85 points per area and 300 to 350 in total. Each grade line has a documented reason, and you can find it in the grade table on that test's page.
The total puts five tasks on one scale and adds them up. It is not an IQ score. Two people with the same total can be strong in very different areas. The bars on your summary show where your strengths are, and we think they are more fun to look at than the total.
When you submit, the server ignores the total your browser sends. It works the score out again from your five results before saving, so editing the number on screen changes nothing. The full board is on the rankings page.
The limits of measuring in a browser
A browser is not a lab. Screen refresh, input handling and the page itself add roughly 71 to 87 ms of delay that has nothing to do with you (Anwyl-Irvine and colleagues, 2021). The amount differs between devices. So your reaction time is best compared with your own earlier runs on the same device, not with a lab average.
We handle a few other problems for you. Browsers slow down timers in hidden tabs, so every timed test pauses and tells you when the tab goes to the background. On narrow phones, the grid tests size their tiles from the real panel width. The guide on online reaction test accuracy has the details.
Making your next run comparable
In our view, the comparison that tells you most is you against yourself. To see a real change, keep these the same between runs.
Same device
A mouse, a trackpad and a touchscreen give different numbers. The gap between them is bigger than your day-to-day swing.
Same time of day
Alertness rises and falls through the day. That moves reaction time more than an evening of practice does.
Tab in front
Keep the tab visible for the whole run. The timed tests pause if you leave, but stopping and starting again breaks your rhythm.
Several runs
Your first runs include getting used to the tasks, so they usually come out lowest. Use the trend across about five runs as your real number.
Frequently asked questions
Can I stop partway through?
Yes. Each test is saved as you finish it, so the scores you already have are kept. When you come back to this page, you can pick up from the first test you have not done.
How do I get on the combined leaderboard?
Finish all five areas and this page shows your combined score and the leaderboard. Type a nickname and submit. If you beat your score later, the entry updates under the same nickname by itself. Each test's own result can also go on that game's board.
Where do my scores go?
Your personal records stay in this browser's storage. There is no account, so clearing site data clears them. When a test finishes, we send an anonymous statistics record (game, mode, score, device class, language and date), with nothing that identifies you. A nickname and score go to a leaderboard only if you choose to submit one.