Perception of Success Questionnaire (POSQ) Test

Athletes, coaches, and anyone reflecting on competitive habits can use this assessment to examine what success means in practice: personal progress, persistence, and goal attainment, or proving superiority through comparison. The Perception of Success Questionnaire (POSQ) Test turns those tendencies into a structured profile. It can help you notice which achievement cues influence your effort and reactions, clarifying your achievement goals in sport.

What This Assessment Measures

At its core, the test distinguishes two achievement perspectives. One emphasizes personal competence, persistence, goal pursuit, and controllable, less stressful training; the other emphasizes status, winning, and superiority through comparison. Questions fit anyone examining training, competition, effort, and reactions to success or failure. Both orientations can coexist and vary by situation, giving you a clearer sense of your achievement orientation.

The result has two scales:

• Task Orientation (6-30) reflects personal competence and set-goal striving; higher scores tend to accompany persistence, goal pursuit, and more controllable, less stressful training. Lower task focus: 6-13; Moderate task focus: 14-22; Higher task focus: 23-30.
• Ego Orientation (6-30) reflects self-affirmation and superiority through comparison; higher scores may accompany greater stress and a higher likelihood of discontinuing sport after failure. Low comparison focus: 6-13; Moderate comparison focus: 14-22; High comparison focus: 23-30.

Together, the scores show whether success is framed through mastery, comparison, or both.

Methodology and Evidence Base

Each item is written in the first person and answered on a five-point scale from Strongly disagree to Strongly agree, with a neutral midpoint. The 12 responses form two six-item groups; responses scored from 1 to 5 are combined within each group, producing a profile rather than one overall score.

Achievement judgments connect with sport motivation in competition: statements cover winning and outperforming others alongside hard work, difficulty, improvement, and goal attainment.

The published Perception of Success Questionnaire (POSQ), associated with Roberts, Treasure, and Balagué, is the closest source for the task-versus-ego distinction. The achievement-goal framework associated with Duda and Nicholls links competence-focused striving with comparison-focused success judgments. This online questionnaire is conceptually consistent with that published work, but it is not the same validated instrument.

The online questionnaire uses descriptive bands rather than population norms and is not presented as a standardized or normed instrument. Because results rely on self-report, they can shift with response style, current context, and self-awareness, so the profile should guide reflection rather than serve as a diagnosis or prediction of future persistence or withdrawal.