What an online ADHD test can do
Most online ADHD tests for adults are questionnaires. They ask how often everyday things happen to you: losing track of details, putting off tasks that need a lot of thought, feeling restless when you have to sit still. A few add timed tasks in the browser. Both can be useful. They give you a structured way to describe experiences that are easy to brush off, and a record you can take to a conversation with a clinician.
The better questionnaires come from research. The best known one for adults is the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS v1.1), developed with the World Health Organization. Its six-question Part A was chosen because those items agreed best with clinicians’ diagnoses in the original study (Kessler and colleagues, 2005). Our guide to the ASRS explains how it is scored.
If you would rather see the tasks first, the ADHD check page shows each one and how long it takes.
What an online test cannot do
No online test can diagnose ADHD. A diagnosis comes from a qualified clinician who looks at much more than a score. The UK guideline from NICE (NG87, recommendation 1.3.2) says a diagnosis should not rest on rating scales or observation alone. The clinician also asks when the difficulties started, whether they appear in more than one part of life, how much they get in the way, and whether something else explains them better.
A questionnaire also cannot tell you why you answered the way you did. Poor sleep, stress, low mood, anxiety and some physical health problems can all make concentration harder, as we describe in ADHD or something else?. And a result below a threshold does not rule ADHD out. In the original ASRS study, about 3 in 10 adults whom clinicians diagnosed did not reach the questionnaire’s threshold.
Be wary of any site that turns a short quiz into a percentage or a verdict. A careful tool tells you what it measured, who wrote the questions, and what it cannot conclude.
How to judge an online ADHD test
Before you spend time on a test, a few questions help separate a careful tool from a quiz:
- Who wrote the questions? A published questionnaire such as the ASRS names its authors and its source. Home-made quizzes rarely do.
- What period does it ask about? Good questionnaires fix a time frame, such as the past 6 months, so a single bad week does not dominate.
- How is it scored? The scoring rule and any threshold should be explained, not hidden behind a percentage.
- What does it say about its limits? It should say plainly that it cannot diagnose ADHD or rule it out.
- What happens to your answers? Check the privacy policy before you enter anything personal.
A test that passes these checks is still only a starting point, but it is one you can explain to a clinician.
What the Neuropsych ADHD check measures
The Neuropsych ADHD check combines the ASRS v1.1 Part A with short attention tasks. It is 6 questions and 4 short tasks, about 20 minutes in total, and you can pause between tasks. It works on a phone or a computer.
- Six questions. The ASRS v1.1 Part A, about how often things have happened over the past 6 months.
- Go/no-go. Press for every letter except X. It shows how well you hold back a quick response.
- Flanker. Tap the side the middle arrow points to and ignore the arrows around it.
- Corsi blocks. Blocks light up one after another. You repeat the order, then repeat it backwards, which shows how much spatial information you can hold in mind.
- Stroop. Pick the color of the ink, not the color the word names.
The first task is free; to continue, you create a free account, which also keeps your results.
How to read your attention profile
When you finish, you see an attention profile: your answers to the six questions alongside how you did on each task. It is a set of indicators, not a diagnosis.
Read it as a description of one occasion. Task performance moves with sleep, time of day, medicines, caffeine, noise and the device you use. A slow or uneven run on a tired evening says something about that evening. If a result surprises you, ask yourself whether the conditions were typical for you.
The check cannot rule ADHD out either. If attention still gets in your way day to day, a specialist can look further, whatever the profile shows.
What to do next
If your answers or your tasks stand out, or if everyday life simply feels harder than it should, the next step is a conversation with a clinician. In the US, the CDC suggests starting with a healthcare provider, who may assess you or refer you to a mental health professional. In the UK, the NHS suggests starting with a GP. Our guide to what happens after an online ADHD test explains adult assessments and what to bring.
Before the appointment, write down concrete examples: what you were doing, what went wrong, how often it happens and what it costs you at work, in study or at home. If you can, ask a parent or older relative what you were like as a child, because clinicians look for signs that started before age 12. Bring your profile as one more piece of information, not as proof.
To see how the diagnostic criteria tend to show up in adult life, read signs of ADHD in adults.
General information, not a diagnosis
This guide explains how ADHD is described and assessed. It does not replace an assessment by a qualified clinician, and the sources it cites do not endorse Neuropsych.
References
- Kessler RC, Adler L, Ames M, Demler O, Faraone S, Hiripi E, Howes MJ, Jin R, Secnik K, Spencer T, Ustun TB, Walters EE. The World Health Organization Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS): a short screening scale for use in the general population. Psychological Medicine. 2005;35(2):245-256. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291704002892
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management (NICE guideline NG87). Published 2018, updated 2019. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng87/chapter/recommendations
- NYU Langone Health, Technology Opportunities & Ventures. Adult ADHD Self-Report Screener (ASRS v1.1). https://license.tov.med.nyu.edu/product/asrs6Qscreener
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ADHD in Adults. https://www.cdc.gov/adhd/about/adhd-in-adults.html
- NHS. ADHD in adults. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/adhd-adults/
- National Institute of Mental Health. ADHD in Adults: 4 Things to Know. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/adhd-what-you-need-to-know