Why couples take it together
For couples who've been together long enough to think they know each other, the Rice Purity Test has a way of surfacing stories that hadn't come up in normal conversation. The test catalogues 100 specific experiences across relationships, social life, substance use, and encounters with authority — and in any long-term partnership, there will always be a few items on that list that one partner has done and the other has never asked about. The test creates a structured way to ask.
Most couples who take it together describe the experience the same way: the score itself stops mattering after about thirty seconds, but the conversations that follow can last hours. "Wait, when did you do that?" tends to come up a lot. The test doesn't generate the stories — it just gives you permission to discuss them.
How to take it together
The cleanest approach is for both partners to take the test independently first — same time, different rooms, or on separate devices in the same room. You each get your own score privately, then come back together to share. This avoids any temptation to soften answers based on what your partner just ticked, which would defeat the purpose entirely.
Once you each have your number, the comparison itself is the easy part. The interesting part is the discussion — going through specific sections together and exchanging stories. Some couples turn this into an entire evening, working their way through one bottle of wine and six sections of memories. Others rip through it in twenty minutes and move on. There's no wrong way.
What to do if your scores are very different
Score gaps between partners are normal and don't mean what people sometimes worry they mean. Two people can score 25 points apart and have equally rich, fulfilling lives — the test just measures one specific list of experiences, not "how lived-in" someone's life is. Someone who lived abroad for a decade in their twenties might have a much lower score than someone who built a successful business during the same years; that doesn't make either life less valid.
If a particular question or section reveals something you genuinely didn't know about your partner, the right response is curiosity, not judgment. The test was created in 1924 as a bonding activity. The bonding works in long-term relationships too — but only if both people approach it as a conversation tool rather than a scorecard.
Things this test isn't
It isn't a compatibility test. Two people with identical scores can be completely incompatible, and two people with wildly different scores can be perfect for each other. The Rice Purity Test measures past experiences, not future fit.
It also isn't a measure of fidelity, character, or relationship value. Plenty of items on the test predate when you and your partner met. The score is a static fact about your past, not a comment on your present relationship. Treat it that way.