Taking the Rice Purity Test is mechanically simple — you read 100 questions and check the ones that apply to you. But getting actual value from the experience requires a bit more thought. This guide covers everything from the practical mechanics to the social dynamics of sharing scores with friends.
Step 1: Set the right expectations
Before you start, decide what you want from the experience. There are roughly three reasons people take the test, and each calls for a slightly different approach.
For self-reflection: Take it alone, in a quiet moment when you can answer honestly without worrying about how the score will look to anyone else. Plan to think about specific questions that surprise you, regardless of your final number.
For social comparison: Take it with friends, ideally in a low-pressure setting. The score itself becomes secondary; the conversations it sparks become the real experience.
For curiosity: Take it because you saw it on TikTok and want to see what your number is. This is fine. Most people fall into this category.
Step 2: Find a private moment
Even if you plan to share your score later, the actual answering should happen privately. The test takes about eight minutes if you read each question carefully. You want to be in a setting where you can answer honestly without performing for anyone — including yourself. Phones face-down, headphones on if you're in a shared space, no one looking over your shoulder.
Step 3: Answer honestly
This is the only step that matters. The Rice Purity Test only produces meaningful results if your answers reflect what you've actually done. Two common failure modes:
Soft-pedaling: Marking yourself as having less experience than you actually have because you're worried about how the score might look. This produces an artificially high score that doesn't match your reality.
Over-counting: Marking yourself as having more experience than you actually have because a low score feels more interesting or because you've heard friends with low scores talk about theirs. This produces an artificially low score that also doesn't match your reality.
Both failure modes are common, especially in group settings. The fix is to answer the test before any social pressure can affect you, and to treat each question as a simple yes-or-no factual matter rather than a statement about your character.
Step 4: Skip what you need to skip
The test has a few questions that genuinely don't apply to everyone, and a few more that some people prefer not to think about. This site's version lets you skip individual questions or entire sections — the skipped questions are counted as "no" for scoring purposes, which is the standard convention.
If a question makes you uncomfortable enough that you don't want to engage with it at all, skip it. The test isn't a comprehensive personal inventory; it's a hundred specific questions, and you have permission to decide which ones you want to answer.
Step 5: Read your score with context
Once you have your number, the meaningful next step is to compare it to the right reference points. The global average is 64. The 18–24 average is 88. The 25–34 average is 76. Your score has different significance depending on which demographic it should be compared against.
For a detailed interpretation of your specific score, visit the score interpretation guide and click your exact number. Each of the 100 individual scores has its own page with percentile placement and demographic context.
Taking it with friends: a quick guide
If you're taking the test in a group setting, the standard format is simple: everyone takes it independently first, then comes back together to share scores and discuss specific questions.
Don't share answers, share scores. The whole point is that your individual answers stay private. You share your final number, not which boxes you ticked.
Watch for performance. In group settings, people often inflate or deflate their reports based on what they think will land best socially. Take the test before you know what anyone else got, and answer honestly.
Don't compete. The Rice Purity Test isn't a contest. Neither high scores nor low scores are "winning." If your friend group treats it as a contest, your group is missing the point.
After you have your score
Most people take the test once, see their number, talk about it with one or two friends, and never take it again. This is the right amount of engagement. The test is a single data point, not a recurring measurement — your score will drift over time, but it won't change in interesting ways week to week.
Some people take it again years later as a way to see how their life has changed. The gap between your 18-year-old score and your 25-year-old score is more interesting than either number on its own. This is the use case the test was originally designed for back at Rice University in the 1920s.