Rice Purity Test

Swapping scores with friends is half the fun of this classic. The rice purity test is a list of a hundred experiences, from holding hands to drugs and sex, and you simply answer yes or no to each one. You start with a full score and lose a point for every yes, so a higher number means a purer past. Most people finish this purity quiz in about eight minutes.

What the test measures

The list started at Rice University in Texas, where students used it to compare how sheltered or adventurous their lives had been. Our version keeps the spirit and the scoring but splits the 100 questions into five areas of 20, so the result explains itself. Romance and dating covers first dates, kisses, relationships and love triangles. Parties and alcohol counts drinks, clubs, hangovers and the nights you only half remember. Rules and the law goes from white lies to your parents all the way to a night in a cell. Smoking and drugs starts with a first cigarette and ends with the heavy stuff. Sex and intimacy runs from the first night in the same bed to a threesome. Think of it as an innocence test with a map: every area gets its own score out of 20.

How to answer and read your score

Answer each question for your whole life so far. One time is enough for a yes, and only what actually happened counts. The questions grow bolder as you go, the way the original list does, so the first few feel easy. When you finish, you see your score and the level it falls into:

• 77 to 100: pure soul, most of the list is still ahead of you;
• 45 to 76: average purity, a typical mix for students and young adults;
• 0 to 44: been around, with plenty of stories behind you.

The full result adds the five area scores, your purest area and the one that cost you the most points. It also shows how your number compares with everyone else who took it. Friends often take the rice test together on the same evening and compare who kept the most points, which is exactly how the tradition began.