About the test
OCD test
Twelve statements from a public research scale show how well typical obsessive-compulsive symptoms fit you. The test can give you something to reflect on and a starting point for talking to a doctor or psychologist.
Questionnaire / instrument: IPIP Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms
The test at a glance
- Price
- Free, including results
- Registration
- No account required
- Length
- 12 statements
- Time
- About 2 minutes
- Format
- Self-report · five response options
- Your report
- Overall score and five themes
The five themes
We group the 12 statements by content. This grouping is our own, so read it as a guide:
Checking
Checking doors, windows and other things more often than necessary.
Numbers
Feeling that numbers are good or bad, or that some must be repeated.
Order
Needing things arranged in a particular way and being upset when they are not.
Unwanted thoughts
Unpleasant thoughts that come into your mind and are hard to get rid of.
Washing and contamination
Washing or cleaning more than necessary, and finding it hard to touch things others have touched.
What your results show
Your report is available straight after the last statement. You can preview an example before starting.
- An overall score from 0 to 100 and what it means.
- Your score on each of the five themes, and the statements that fit you.
- What OCD is and is not, what helps and what to do next.
What does it measure?
How well 12 statements about typical obsessive-compulsive symptoms fit you: checking, numbers, order, unwanted thoughts, and washing and contamination.
Where does it come from?
The statements come from an IPIP scale keyed to the research of Foa and colleagues (2002) on the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory. It is a public-domain scale, not the original inventory (OCI-R). The grouping into five themes is our own.
How is the result calculated?
Answers are scored from 1 to 5 and shown as a score from 0 to 100. The labels few, some and many signs only describe where your answers fall on the answer scale. The theme scores are calculated the same way from two or three statements each.
What can the result tell you?
This scale has no clinical cut-off and no norms, so it cannot tell you how you compare with others or whether you have OCD. It asks how well statements fit you, not how much time they take or how much they bother you, and hoarding is not included. Themes with two or three statements are only rough indications.
Languages and adaptations
English follows the IPIP statements. Other languages are our own AI-assisted translations and have not been independently validated. Our explanations and result commentary are written for this website.
Frequently asked questions
Can this test tell me if I have OCD?
No. It shows how well some typical symptoms fit you. OCD is diagnosed by a health professional, who also looks at how much time the symptoms take and how much they affect you.
Is this the OCI-R?
No. It is a public-domain IPIP scale keyed to the research behind that inventory. The statements are worded differently and the two give different scores.
I have disturbing thoughts. Does that mean I am dangerous?
Most people have unwanted thoughts now and then, and having a thought is not the same as wanting to act on it. If such thoughts frighten you or take up a lot of your time, talk to a doctor or psychologist.
I like things tidy. Is that OCD?
Not in itself. Liking order or being careful is common. OCD is about obsessions and rituals that take up a lot of time or cause real distress.
Are my answers anonymous?
Answers are stored without your name or contact details, only after you consent. There are no ads on this test, and you can delete your result later.
License and reuse
Public domainIPIP places its items and scales in the public domain. They may be used, copied, adapted and translated for commercial and non-commercial purposes without a fee or separate permission.
The terms below apply to the test materials. Articles, translations, software and our result descriptions may have separate terms.
Sources and further reading
IPIP scale keyed to Foa, E. B., Huppert, J. D., Leiberg, S., Langner, R., Kichic, R., Hajcak, G., & Salkovskis, P. M. (2002). The Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory: Development and validation of a short version. Psychological Assessment, 14, 485–496. IPIP key: https://ipip.ori.org/newSingleConstructsKey.htm