HomeBig Five personality test
Big Five personality test
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This free Big 5 personality test, also called the OCEAN personality test, shows where you sit on the five personality traits and 30 facets, compared with 619,150 people who took the same test.
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- 120 statements, about 10 minutes
- Free result, no sign-up
- Research questions (IPIP-NEO-120)
- Save and continue later
Plus all 30 facets, explained in plain words.
Start with statement 1 of 120
I worry about things.
How well does this describe you? Choosing an answer opens the test and keeps it.
In short: the Big Five personality test measures five traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism, often remembered as OCEAN. This free version uses the 120 statements of the IPIP-NEO-120, takes about 10 minutes, and compares you with 619,150 people who took the same test. It describes normal personality differences; it is not a diagnosis.
What the Big Five personality traits test measures
The Big Five are five broad personality traits that describe how people differ: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism, often remembered as OCEAN. This 5 personality traits test scores each one on a scale rather than sorting you into a box: everyone sits somewhere between low and high on all five.
Openness
Curiosity, imagination and interest in ideas, art and new experiences.
Conscientiousness
Organisation, self-discipline and following through on goals.
Extraversion
Energy from people and activity, sociability and assertiveness.
Agreeableness
Trust, kindness and cooperation with others.
Neuroticism
How strongly you feel worry, stress and other negative emotions.
The five traits come from decades of research into the words people use to describe each other. When researchers asked thousands of people to rate themselves and others on hundreds of descriptive words, the ratings kept falling into the same five clusters, in many languages and cultures. That is why the Big Five, also called the five-factor model, is the model of personality used in most scientific research today.
A Big Five test is not a pass-or-fail exam. It is a self-report questionnaire: you read short statements such as "I make friends easily" and say how well each one describes you. Your answers add up to a score on each trait, which is then compared with other people's scores. Our guide to the Big Five personality traits explains each trait in depth, with how the traits differ by age and sex.
The 30 facets
Each trait splits into six narrower facets, so two people with the same extraversion score can still differ: one friendly but quiet, the other bold and always busy. Your free result shows all 30.
| Openness | Conscientiousness | Extraversion | Agreeableness | Neuroticism |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imagination | Self-efficacy | Friendliness | Trust | Anxiety |
| Artistic interests | Orderliness | Gregariousness | Morality | Anger |
| Emotionality | Dutifulness | Assertiveness | Altruism | Depression |
| Adventurousness | Achievement-striving | Activity level | Cooperation | Self-consciousness |
| Intellect | Self-discipline | Excitement-seeking | Modesty | Immoderation |
| Liberalism | Cautiousness | Cheerfulness | Sympathy | Vulnerability |
Facet names from the IPIP-NEO scoring key, International Personality Item Pool.
What your Big Five results mean
Your Big Five test results show a percentile for each trait and facet. The 70th percentile means you scored higher than 70 out of 100 people in the comparison group. No level is better than another: each one has its strengths.
| Trait | Lower scores tend to mean | Higher scores tend to mean |
|---|---|---|
| Openness | Practical, prefers the familiar | Curious, imaginative, enjoys new ideas |
| Conscientiousness | Flexible, spontaneous | Organised, reliable, goal-driven |
| Extraversion | Reserved, recharges alone | Outgoing, energised by people |
| Agreeableness | Direct, competitive, sceptical | Warm, trusting, cooperative |
| Neuroticism | Calm, steady under stress | Feels worry and stress more strongly |
On the result page, low means below the 30th percentile, high means above the 70th, and everything in between is average. Most people score in the average range on at least two or three traits. You can also compare yourself with women, men or your own age group instead of everyone.
A high neuroticism score, for example, does not mean something is wrong with you: it means you tend to feel worry and stress more strongly than most people, which can also make you alert to risks others miss. A low extraversion score is what is often called introversion: it says nothing about shyness or social skill.
How your Big Five score is calculated
Your answers
Each facet has four statements and each trait has 24. Some statements are worded the opposite way and are scored in reverse.
Compared with others
Your scores are compared with 619,150 people who took the same test online (Johnson, 2014; data published under CC BY 4.0).
Explained in plain words
You see a percentile for each trait and facet, and what a low, average or high score tends to mean.
Prefer paper? Print the Big Five personality test PDF with all 120 questions and the scoring key.
The comparison group were online volunteers who took the test between 2001 and 2011, mostly young adults and mostly from the USA, so treat percentiles as a guide rather than an official norm. Statements are shown in the first person ("I worry about things") instead of the original short form ("Worry about things").
Who created the Big Five?
No single person. US Air Force researchers Ernest Tupes and Raymond Christal found five recurring personality factors in 1961, Warren Norman confirmed them in 1963, Lewis Goldberg's research made the "Big Five" name standard, and Paul Costa and Robert McCrae built the NEO questionnaires that measure the five-factor model (history of the Big Five).
The NEO questionnaires are commercial. To give researchers a free alternative, Goldberg started the International Personality Item Pool, a public-domain library of statements. This test uses the IPIP-NEO-120 by John A. Johnson of Penn State (Johnson, 2014): 120 of those statements, four per facet.
How accurate is the Big Five test?
The Big Five is the most researched model of personality, and well-built Big Five questionnaires give consistent scores and relate to real-life outcomes. In the 619,150-person sample, the facet scales of this test reached reliabilities of .63 to .88, where .70 is a common minimum for research use (Johnson, 2014).
It is still self-report. Your result depends on answering honestly and thinking of how you usually are, and it describes normal personality differences: it is not a diagnosis of anything.
The Big Five and careers
In a large review of job studies, conscientiousness was linked to performance in every type of job, and extraversion helped in roles built on social contact, such as managers and sales (Barrick and Mount, 1991).
Personality shapes how you like to work rather than what you can do. Someone high in openness may enjoy variety and new problems; someone lower in extraversion may do their best work with time to concentrate. The full report describes the work settings that tend to suit your profile. To see which careers match what you enjoy, take our free career test, and to see how you reason rather than how you behave, try our free IQ test. Our guide on how to choose a career shows how to bring all three together.
Big Five vs MBTI and 16 types
MBTI-style tests sort you into one of 16 types; the Big Five places you on five continuous scales. Researchers prefer the Big Five because people rarely fall neatly into one type or another, and because it is the model behind most published personality research.
| Feature | Big Five | MBTI-style types |
|---|---|---|
| Result | A score on five scales, plus 30 facets | One of 16 four-letter types |
| Based on | Statistical studies of how people describe each other | Carl Jung's theory of psychological types |
| Middle scores | Shown as average | Pushed to one side or the other |
| Used in research | Widely | Rarely |
The same goes for the popular Type A and Type B labels: studies find one smooth scale, not two groups. Our guide to Type A vs Type B personality sets out what the research found.
MBTI and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator are trademarks of The Myers-Briggs Company. Assessivo is not affiliated with it.
Tips for an accurate result
Describe yourself as you are
Answer for how you usually are now, not how you would like to be or how others expect you to be.
Think in general
Picture yourself across most of your life, not only at work or only at home.
Use "Neither" sparingly
Lean one way when you can. Your first answer is usually the most accurate one.
Your result
Your free result and the optional full report
The free result shows all five traits and 30 facets, with percentiles and plain-English explanations, and lets you compare yourself with women, men or your age group. If you want to go further, the full report explains what your combination of traits means for work, relationships and stress, with a 30-day plan and a PDF to keep.
$6.99 one-time. No subscription. Prices are lower in many countries.
Free result
Free5 traits, 30 facets, percentiles, what each score means, comparison by sex and age, share image.
Full report
$6.99 one-timeYour trait combination explained, strengths and blind spots, work style, relationships, stress, a 30-day plan and a PDF.
Big Five personality test: common questions
What is the Big Five personality test?
A Big Five personality test is a questionnaire that measures five broad traits, openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism, by asking how well short statements describe you and comparing your answers with other people's.
How long does the Big Five test take?
Most people finish this 120-statement version in about 10 minutes. Other published versions range from 10 to 240 statements, so the time depends on which one you take.
Who created the Big Five personality test?
The Big Five model came from several researchers, including Ernest Tupes, Raymond Christal, Warren Norman, Lewis Goldberg, Paul Costa and Robert McCrae. This test, the IPIP-NEO-120, was built by John A. Johnson in 2014 from Goldberg's free International Personality Item Pool.
What are the limitations of the Big Five test?
It relies on how you see yourself, so results depend on honest answers and self-knowledge. It describes how traits cluster but not why people differ, some researchers argue a sixth trait (honesty-humility) is missing, and it is not a clinical tool or a diagnosis. It also predicts tendencies, not what one person will do on a given day.
Is the Big Five personality test free?
Yes. The test and the full result, with all five traits and 30 facets, are free, with no sign-up and no email. The optional full report costs $6.99 once, with no subscription.
How many questions are in a Big Five test?
It depends on the version: published Big Five questionnaires range from 10 statements to 240. This one uses the IPIP-NEO-120, with 120 statements, four for each of the 30 facets, and takes most people about 10 minutes.
What does OCEAN stand for?
OCEAN stands for Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism, the five traits of the Big Five model. CANOE is the same five letters in another order.
What is a good Big Five score?
There is no good or bad score. Each trait helps in some situations and gets in the way in others: high conscientiousness helps with deadlines, while lower conscientiousness makes it easier to improvise. Your result describes tendencies, not grades.
Is personality genetic?
Partly. A review of 134 studies found that about 40% of the differences in personality between people are linked to genes and about 60% to environment (Vukasović and Bratko, 2015).
Can your personality change?
Yes, slowly. A review of 92 long-term studies found that, on average, people become more conscientious, more emotionally stable and more socially confident with age, mostly between 20 and 40 (Roberts, Walton and Viechtbauer, 2006).
Can I take the Big Five test more than once?
Yes, as often as you like. Small differences between tries are normal, because mood, energy and the situation you picture affect how you answer. Each result gets its own private link.
Is there a Big Five personality test PDF?
Yes. You can print all 120 questions of this test, with the scoring key for the five traits and 30 facets, from our free Big Five personality test PDF page. Scoring by hand takes about 10 minutes; the online version scores it instantly and shows percentiles.
Can I stop and finish the test later?
Yes. Your answers are saved as you go, so you can close the page and come back on the same device, or open your test link on another device, and carry on where you left off.
Is this Jordan Peterson's personality test?
No. Jordan Peterson's Understand Myself is a commercial test based on the Big Five Aspect Scales, which split each of the five traits into two aspects (DeYoung, Quilty and Peterson, 2007). It measures the same five traits as this test, which uses the public-domain IPIP-NEO-120.
Can employers use the Big Five test?
The Big Five is widely used in workplace research, but this version is made for personal insight. It is not certified for hiring decisions, so it should not be used to accept or reject job candidates.
Is my result private?
Yes. We do not ask for your name or email. Your result has a private link that only you, and anyone you share it with, can open, and you can delete it from the result page at any time.
Sources
- Johnson, J. A. (2014). Measuring thirty facets of the Five Factor Model with a 120-item public domain inventory: Development of the IPIP-NEO-120. Journal of Research in Personality, 51, 78-89. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2014.05.003
- Kajonius, P. J., and Johnson, J. A. (2019). Supplementary materials: IPIP-NEO-120 data. PsychArchives, CC BY 4.0. doi:10.23668/psycharchives.2448
- International Personality Item Pool: ipip.ori.org
- Barrick, M. R., and Mount, M. K. (1991). The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: a meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44, 1-26.
- Vukasović, T., and Bratko, D. (2015). Heritability of personality: a meta-analysis of behavior genetic studies. Psychological Bulletin, 141(4), 769-785. PubMed
- Roberts, B. W., Walton, K. E., and Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course. Psychological Bulletin, 132(1), 1-25. PubMed
- DeYoung, C. G., Quilty, L. C., and Peterson, J. B. (2007). Between facets and domains: 10 aspects of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 880-896.
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