How Does the Rice Purity Test Work? Scoring Explained

The Rice Purity Test is a simple 100-question checklist. You go through the list, check every item you have experienced, and the test turns your answers into one number between 0 and 100. That number is your score, and it only describes how many items you checked. Nothing more.

If you have not taken it yet, you can take the Rice Purity Test here and come back with your result. This guide explains exactly how the test works, how the scoring math is done, and what your score does and does not mean.

The Short Answer: How the Test Works

The test presents you with a list of 100 statements about life experiences, mostly about social life, relationships, and rule bending. You read each one and check it off if you have done it. When you reach the end of the list, you subtract the number of checked items from 100, and that is your score.

Score = 100 minus the number of items you checked

Check nothing, and your score is 100. Check every item, and your score is 0. Every item counts exactly the same, so a score of 85 means 15 checked items, a score of 50 means 50, and a score of 10 means 90.

How Scoring Is Calculated: A Worked Example

The math is deliberately simple. There is no weighting, no multipliers, and no hidden formula. Each question is worth exactly one point.

• You start with 100 points.
• Each checked item takes away 1 point.
• Unchecked items take away nothing.

Imagine you check 24 items out of 100. Your score is 100 minus 24, which is 76. If a friend checks 61 items, their score is 39. The friend with the lower score did not “fail” anything; they simply checked more items on the list.

Because every item carries the same weight, the score cannot tell you which items were checked, only how many. That is the single most important fact about how the scoring works. Two people can score 70 in completely different ways, and the number will never reveal the difference.

What Taking the Test Actually Looks Like

On most sites, taking the test goes like this:

1. You open the quiz page and see the checklist of 100 items.
2. You read each item one by one and check every statement that is true for you.
3. You scroll through the whole list until every item has been read.
4. You submit your answers and the site shows your score.

The list is roughly ordered from common experiences to rarer ones. The early items tend to be ordinary social and romantic milestones that most people encounter, while the later items describe things far fewer people have done. That ordering is why most people stop checking partway down the list, but it is not a rule. There is no requirement to stop at any point, and the order is a convention of the list, not a measurement of anything.

Answer honestly and at your own pace. The test keeps no record of your answers on our site, and rushing through it just produces a number you cannot trust.

What a High Score Means vs. a Low Score

A high score means you checked few items. A low score means you checked many. That is the entire factual content of the number.

Because the early items are common experiences, a high score usually means the person stopped checking early in the list. A low score usually means they checked items from across the whole list. Neither direction is better. A high score does not mean someone is boring or sheltered, and a low score does not mean someone is reckless. Age, upbringing, personal values, health considerations, and plain opportunity all shape how many items anyone has checked.

Our score meaning guide walks through every score range in detail if you want to see where your number sits.

Why Your Score Can Change Over Time

Your score is not fixed. Every new experience that matches an unchecked item moves your number down by one the next time you take the test. A person who scores 88 at sixteen may score 74 at twenty, not because they changed as a person, but because life added new experiences.

This is also why comparing scores across ages is misleading. Someone starting college has simply had less time to accumulate experiences than someone a few years past graduation. Retakes are allowed, and if you want a fresh number you can retake the quiz anytime.

Where the Test Comes From

The test has a real history behind it. It traces back to the Rice University student newspaper, the Rice Thresher. According to Wikipedia’s entry on purity tests, the Thresher published the results of an informal ten-question survey of 119 female undergraduates in 1924. The paper has revised the list many times since, usually as a humor feature, and purity tests began circulating online around 1980.

The Thresher’s own reporting says the version most people know today, with 100 questions worth one point each, was published online in 2012. From there it spread from Rice orientation traditions to colleges and high schools, and then to social media, where it became the viral checklist everyone recognizes.

No official body owns the test. The versions on different sites are independent copies, which is why wording can vary slightly from site to site.

Common Misconceptions About How the Test Works

A few myths come up again and again. Clearing them up makes the test easier to enjoy.

Myth: A low score means something is wrong with you. The test is not a moral grade and was never designed to rank people. It is an informal checklist that started as a campus icebreaker.

Myth: The test is a scientific or psychological assessment. No researcher validated the questions, no one verifies the answers, and the scoring treats very different experiences as identical single points. It is entertainment and a social conversation piece.

Myth: There is an official average you should match. The test is anonymous and self-reported with no central owner collecting a representative sample. Any “average” you see online describes only the people who took that particular version on that particular site.

Myth: Every site gives the same score. Sites reword, add, cut, or reorder items, so two sites can give you two different numbers. If you compare with friends, everyone should use the same site on the same day.

Myth: Once taken, the score is permanent. Scores shift on retakes because of recall, new experiences, or different readings of borderline items. For more on what retakes do to a score, see our article on whether the Rice Purity Test is accurate.

Tips for Taking It With Friends

The test is most fun as a shared activity. A few ground rules keep it that way:

• Everyone takes it on the same site, so the questions and scoring are identical.
• Make sure every box starts empty before anyone begins.
• No pressuring anyone about their answers or their score. It is a conversation starter, not a verdict.
• Remember that the number is a count of checked items, not a measure of anyone’s worth.

If you are still deciding whether your result is “good,” our article on what counts as a good Rice Purity score explains why no score is objectively good or bad.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the Rice Purity Test scored?

You start at 100 points and subtract one point for every item you check. The formula is: score = 100 minus checked items.

How many questions are on the Rice Purity Test?

The standard modern version has 100 questions. Shorter and longer versions circulate under the same name, and question lists can differ between sites.

What does a score of 100 mean?

It means zero items were checked, so none of the 100 listed experiences were marked as true by the test taker.

What does a score of 0 mean?

It means all 100 items were checked. Zero is the lowest possible score on the standard version.

Can I retake the Rice Purity Test?

Yes. Scores can shift on a retake because of new experiences, recall, or different readings of borderline items. You can retake the quiz here.

Is the Rice Purity Test anonymous?

On our site, yes. The test does not require a name, an account, or any identifying information, and your answers are not stored.

Is the Rice Purity Test official?

No. It began as a student newspaper feature at Rice University, and today’s online versions are independent copies with no scientific validation.