How a purity test score is calculated
Your score is the number of “Never” answers divided by the total number of questions, times 100. Every question counts the same, and the result tells you what share of the list you haven't lived yet.
Here's an example with the site's 6-question preview: you answer “Done that” to 2 questions and “Never” to the other 4. 4 divided by 6 is 0.667, so a score of 67 out of 100 once rounded. On a full 100-question test, like the ones in the Test de Pureté app, the math gets even easier: every “Never” is worth exactly one point. 73 “Nevers” means a 73.
Which means the shorter the test, the more each answer matters. On 6 questions, one extra tick costs you almost 17 points. On 100 questions, it costs you one. That's why a preview score shows a trend, not a final ruling.
The purity score chart: what your verdict says
At Test de Pureté, every score lands in one of the five ranges below, each with its own verdict. This is the chart the site preview uses, and it's meant to be read with a grin, not like a report card.
- 80 to 100, Choir Kid: you've never even dared a fake excuse. Your parents can sleep easy.
- 55 to 79, Casual Fibber: a few white lies here and there, nothing worth a trial.
- 30 to 54, Excuse Master: “Sorry, didn't see your text.” Yeah, we know that one.
- 10 to 29, Certified Liar: at this point, even your parents don't buy your stories.
- 0 to 9, Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: lies, stalking, fake excuses, all behind a perfectly innocent face.
Why scores from different purity tests don't compare
A 70 on one test and a 70 on another don't mean the same thing, because every test has its own list. A score only makes sense next to the questions that produced it.
- Number of questions: 10, 100 or 700 questions don't give the same precision, or the same weight to each answer.
- Themes: a money test and a relationship test just aren't asking about the same stuff. To see what ours look like, check out these purity test question examples.
- Intensity: in the app, Chill is mild while Couples, Trash, Hot and No Limit are scorching. A 40 in Chill and a 40 on the couples purity test tell two very different stories.
- Which way the counter runs: nothing forces a test to count the way we do. A quiz that tallied “impurity” points would give a high score for the exact opposite of ours.
What's the average purity test score?
The only sourced average dates back to 1924: 62 out of 100, scored by 119 female students at Rice University on a 10-question test printed in their student paper, as the Rice Thresher reports. That's the ancestor of what people now call the Rice Purity Test, and we dig into its history and origin in another guide.
Since then, there's been no reliable modern average. You'll find very precise numbers floating around online, decimals and all, but none of them trace back to a study anyone can check: nobody knows who answered, which test they took, or how the answers were gathered. And even if a real average existed, it would only apply to one specific list of questions, for the reasons above.
What does make sense is comparing yourself to people who took the exact same test. On top of the overall average, the app breaks things down by mode and by age group, so you're stacking yourself against people who answered the same questions instead of comparing apples to oranges.
High score, low score: what it means and what it doesn't
A purity test score describes what you've been through, not who you are. A high score means few of the situations on the list have happened to you. A low score means you've checked off a lot of them. Neither one is better.
A 92 could be someone careful, someone young, or someone who just never got the chance. A 25 could be someone who's traveled a lot, partied a lot, or simply answered honestly all the way through. The score has no idea about context, and that's exactly why it's funny: it boils a life down to one number with zero nuance, and everyone knows that's ridiculous.
The best use of a score is the conversation it starts. Nobody should feel judged over a number that came out of a game.
Comparing your purity test score with friends
The fairest way to compare two scores is to take the same test, with the same questions. In the app, friend comparison puts your two scores side by side. That's usually when the night really gets going, especially once everyone starts guessing each other's answers. To run it with a group, our purity test for friends page walks you through it.
For a score that really holds up, go long: the 100 questions of a full mode, or even all 700 in the Ultimate purity test if you want the most complete number possible.
