Rice Purity Test FAQ

The Rice Purity Test is a 100-question survey that measures your innocence across life experiences. Each question asks whether you've done a specific thing — held hands, kissed someone, used a substance, encountered authority, and so on. You start at 100 and subtract one point for each item you check. Your final score, between 0 and 100, becomes your purity score.

There's no objectively good or bad score. The global average is around 64. Higher scores mean you've checked fewer items; lower scores mean more. Both are valid. The test isn't a measure of moral worth — it's a snapshot of accumulated experiences against a specific list.

The global average is around 64. Scores tend to decline with age as people accumulate more experiences: teens under 18 average roughly 90, 18–24-year-olds around 80, 25–34 around 75, 35–44 in the high 60s, and 45+ around 60. These age figures are approximate — they describe a well-observed pattern rather than precise measured values. Women tend to average a few points higher than men across age groups.

Read the 100 questions and check the ones that apply to you. Each checked item subtracts one point from a starting score of 100. Take it privately to ensure honest answers. The test takes about 8 minutes.

It's accurate at measuring what it measures — which is your accumulated experience against a specific 100-item list compiled originally at Rice University in the 1920s and updated over the decades. It's not a psychological assessment, a moral measurement, or a clinical tool. Treat your score as one specific data point, not a verdict on your character.

It was originally published in the Rice Thresher (Rice University's student newspaper) in 1924 as a questionnaire for incoming female freshmen. Over the decades, it expanded to its current 100-question gender-neutral form. By the 1980s, it had become a standard Orientation Week tradition at Rice and many other universities.

MPS stands for 'Member of the Preferred Sex' — the original test's awkward 1920s-era abbreviation for whoever you're attracted to. Modern versions of the test (including this one) typically replace MPS with 'partner' or 'someone' for inclusive framing.

The 100 questions on this site are based on the canonical Rice Thresher version. Modern updates have replaced the awkward 'MPS' framing with gender-neutral language and clarified some 1920s-era phrasings, but the underlying questions match the standard version. The Rice Thresher's official version remains at ricepuritytest.com.

No. Your answers stay entirely in your browser and never leave your device. We don't run a database, don't track users, and don't save scores. If you choose to share your score, only the final number is included in the shareable URL — never your individual answers.

Sharing your score creates a temporary URL containing only your final number. The link works for 14 days and then expires. We don't store any data about who shared what or who viewed what. The URL itself is the only artifact, and it disappears automatically.

Yes, as many times as you want. Most people take it once. Some people retake it years later to see how their life has changed — the original test was designed for exactly this purpose at Rice University, where students would take it as freshmen and again before graduation.

Every individual score from 0 to 100 has its own dedicated page on this site with detailed analysis, demographic placement, and percentile interpretation. Visit the score guide and click your exact number for a detailed reading.

Your score changes because your life experiences accumulate. If you take the test in your early 20s and again in your late 20s, you'll typically have checked 5–15 additional items in the intervening years, dropping your score accordingly. This is the test's intended use — measuring change over time.

Yes, and it's one of the most common use cases. The standard approach is for both partners to take it independently first, then come back together to share scores and discuss specific questions. We have a dedicated couples version at /couples with guidance on how to take it together productively.

Functionally, very little. The 100 questions are based on the canonical Rice Thresher version with light modernization. We've added: a sectioned format that lets you skip categories you don't want to engage with, age-appropriate filtering, gender-neutral language updates, dedicated pages for every individual score, and a sharing system that lets you compare with friends. The core test is the same.

On the original Rice Thresher version at ricepuritytest.com, question 69 famously appears as just '?' — a known quirk of the canonical version. This site fills in question 69 with a real question to give you a complete 100-item experience.

This site is not affiliated with Rice University. The original test was published by the Rice Thresher (Rice University's student newspaper), but the university itself doesn't formally endorse any modern version. This site builds on the canonical questions with our own modernizations, statistics, and analysis.