The Rice Purity Test has been around for a century, but most of its cultural baggage was acquired in the past few years through TikTok virality. With that virality came a lot of misinformation. Here are the ten most persistent myths about the test and what's actually true.
Myth 1: A high score means you're a good person
The Rice Purity Test catalogues experiences, not values. A score of 95 could belong to a 16-year-old who hasn't lived enough yet, a 40-year-old with deeply traditional values, a person raised in a strict religious household, or a recluse who avoids most social activity. None of these people are inherently "better" than people who scored 50. The test measures one thing: how many of these specific 100 items you've done. It doesn't measure character.
Myth 2: A low score means you're a bad person
The flip side of the same myth. Plenty of items on the test are morally neutral or actively positive — being in love, having had a serious relationship, traveling for an experience. Other items represent choices most people would consider regrettable but understandable. Reducing all of this to "low score = bad" misses what the test is actually doing. It catalogues breadth of experience. Breadth of experience isn't a moral category.
Myth 3: The test is psychologically validated
It isn't. The Rice Purity Test was created by college students in 1924 and refined by other college students over the following century. It was never designed by psychologists, has never undergone clinical validation, and has no scientific standing. Treating your score as if it were equivalent to a psychometric assessment misunderstands what the test is. It's a culturally significant 100-item checklist, nothing more.
Myth 4: You're supposed to try to lower your score
The original test famously warns: "completion of all items on this test will likely result in death." It's not a bucket list. It's a snapshot of where you are right now. People who treat the test as a list to complete have fundamentally misunderstood it — and would also have a legitimately dangerous time, since several items on the list are genuinely harmful, illegal, or both.
Myth 5: Your score predicts your future
It doesn't. Your Rice Purity score reflects your past. It says nothing about what you'll do next month, next year, or next decade. People with identical current scores can have radically different futures, and people with very different current scores can end up in similar places. The test is descriptive, not predictive.
Myth 6: A score gap with your partner means you're incompatible
Two people can score 30 points apart and have an extraordinary relationship. Two people can score identically and be entirely incompatible. Score gaps reflect different past experiences, not different future potentials. The test is a snapshot of where each of you has been; relationships are about where you're going together. Treating purity score gaps as compatibility signals is both bad statistics and bad relationship advice.
Myth 7: The test was designed by Rice University
Sort of. The test was originally published by the Rice Thresher, which is Rice University's student newspaper. But it was created by students, published in a student-run publication, and has never been officially endorsed by Rice University as an institution. The university acknowledges the test exists in connection with their student newspaper, but the test isn't a Rice University product the way Rice's academic curriculum is.
Myth 8: The test produces honest answers
Like any self-report instrument, the Rice Purity Test produces answers that reflect what people are willing to admit, not necessarily what they've actually done. In group settings, people often inflate or deflate their reports based on what they think will land best socially. Even in private, people sometimes shade their answers based on how they'd like to think of themselves. Aggregate statistics from the test should be treated as approximate, not gospel.
Myth 9: The questions haven't changed since 1924
They have, substantially. The 1924 original was about 30 questions long, gendered, and reflected very different cultural concerns. The modern 100-question form was largely settled in the 1980s after decades of additions and modifications. The test you take today bears only superficial resemblance to the original. The 100-year history is real, but the specific questions on the modern test are mostly from the past 40 years.
Myth 10: Your score is private if you don't share it
On most online versions of the test, this is true — your answers stay in your browser and never get sent anywhere. But several online versions of the test do save answer data, sometimes without making this clear. If privacy matters to you, check the privacy policy of whatever site you're using. This site's version saves nothing — your answers exist only in your browser session and are gone the moment you close the tab.