SAGE Test
How the Scales are Structured
Who Usually Takes This Test?
See How You Compare
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.
Example Questions From the Test
- Cannot do
- Can do with major difficulty
- Can do with minor difficulty
- Can do easily
- Almost never
- Sometimes
- Often
- Almost always
- 4 animals
- 7 animals
- 10 animals
- 11+ animals
SAGE Test - Description and methodology of the test
Adults concerned about changes in memory, thinking, or everyday problem-solving can use the SAGE test online to organize those concerns into an overall view of cognitive functioning. Someone supporting an older relative can use this online SAGE assessment as a structured starting point for a conversation with a clinician. For people considering cognitive screening, this questionnaire may offer an overall indication across sampled domains.
What This Assessment Explores
The questionnaire is intended for adults who want a structured look at cognitive abilities relevant to daily functioning. Its prompts touch memory, language, attention, calculation, planning, flexibility, visuospatial construction, and orientation to time and place. The SAGE test questions use familiar tasks, allowing the respondent to rate performance rather than answer personality items.
The results are combined into one overall scale:
- SAGE Total Score (0-22) summarizes memory, language, visuospatial, executive/problem-solving, and orientation performance; Higher range is 16-22, Middle range is 8-15, and Lower range is 0-7.
Because the displayed result is a single total, it summarizes performance across the sampled abilities rather than providing separate domain scores. A higher band indicates stronger overall functioning in this display, while a lower band signals greater difficulty across those abilities. This overall indication can support self-reflection and discussion of concerns.
Methodology and Scientific Basis
Each item presents a cognitive or everyday task with four ordered response options, moving from inability or frequent difficulty toward accurate or easy performance. This graded format is different from a yes-or-no checklist. Responses are combined into a total, but the point value assigned to each option is not specified, so the displayed bands should not be reverse-engineered into a scoring rule.
The closest published instrument is SAGE (Self-Administered Gerocognitive Examination), a brief cognitive screening instrument studied in relation to mild cognitive impairment and early dementia. The 2014 community study, 2017 eSAGE comparison, and 2021 longitudinal study examined links with clinical assessment, neuropsychological testing, and dementia conversion. For someone considering an early Alzheimer's test, this questionnaire offers a structured point of comparison; it is conceptually consistent with that work, not automatically the validated paper instrument or eSAGE.
For this online questionnaire, responses may reflect fatigue, education, language, sensory factors, mood, current health, and self-awareness; the format should not be assumed to use paper SAGE norms, and no diagnostic threshold is established for its displayed score.
- Scharre DW, Chang SI, Murden RA, Lamb J, Beversdorf DQ, Kataki M, Nagaraja HN, Bornstein RA. Self-administered Gerocognitive Examination (SAGE): a brief cognitive assessment instrument for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early dementia. Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders. 2010;24(1):64-71. 10.1097/WAD.0b013e3181b03277
- Scharre DW, Chang SI, Nagaraja HN, Yager-Schweller J, Murden RA. Community Cognitive Screening Using the Self-Administered Gerocognitive Examination (SAGE). The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. 2014;26(4):369-375. 10.1176/appi.neuropsych.13060145
- Scharre DW, Chang SI, Nagaraja HN, Vrettos NE, Bornstein RA. Digitally translated Self-Administered Gerocognitive Examination (eSAGE): relationship with its validated paper version, neuropsychological evaluations, and clinical assessments. Alzheimer's Research & Therapy. 2017;9(1):44. 10.1186/s13195-017-0269-3
- Scharre DW, Chang SI, Nagaraja HN, Wheeler NC, Kataki M. Self-Administered Gerocognitive Examination: longitudinal cohort testing for the early detection of dementia conversion. Alzheimer's Research & Therapy. 2021;13(1):192. 10.1186/s13195-021-00930-4
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