Personality
Big Five Personality test
The most researched model of personality in psychology.
What this test is
The Big Five (or OCEAN) model describes personality along five broad, independent dimensions: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Emotional Stability. It is the framework most widely used in academic personality research.
Who it is for
Anyone who wants a structured description of this side of themselves — for their own understanding, for a conversation with someone close to them, or as preparation for a decision. It is an educational self-assessment: it is not a recruitment instrument and it is not a clinical or diagnostic assessment.
How the test works
You answer 30 statements one at a time on a five-point agreement scale, which takes about 12 minutes. Roughly half the items are reverse-keyed, so agreeing with everything does not inflate your scores. Answers are averaged per dimension and reported as a percentage of the maximum for that dimension, then turned into a written profile.
What you'll receive
- A percentage score on each of the five dimensions
- A written interpretation of every trait, high or low
- Strengths, blind spots and practical next steps
What it measures
Openness to Experience
Curiosity, imagination and appetite for the new.
Conscientiousness
Organisation, discipline and follow-through.
Extraversion
Where your energy comes from socially.
Agreeableness
Warmth, trust and cooperation with others.
Emotional Stability
Steadiness of mood under pressure.
Limitations
This is a self-report questionnaire, so it measures how you describe yourself today — which is shaped by mood, recent events and how you would like to be seen. Scores are percentages within this test, not percentile ranks against a population sample. Read the result as a description to think with, not a fact about you. How to interpret your results goes into this in more depth.
Scientific basis
- Goldberg, L. R. (1993). The structure of phenotypic personality traits. American Psychologist, 48(1), 26–34. View publication
- Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) professional manual. View publication
- Goldberg, L. R., et al. (2006). The International Personality Item Pool (IPIP). Journal of Research in Personality, 40(1), 84–96. View publication
See all scientific references behind our assessments.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the big five personality test take?
About 12 minutes. There are 30 statements, each answered on a five-point agreement scale, one at a time.
Is the big five personality test free?
Taking the test and seeing your scored preview is free. The complete written report is an optional one-off unlock — there is no subscription.
How are my results calculated?
Each answer becomes a number, reverse-keyed items are flipped, and the items belonging to each dimension are averaged and expressed as a percentage of the maximum for that dimension.
Do I need an account?
No account is needed to start. You create a free account when you finish, so your answers and any unlocked report stay available to you.
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- Take the disc behaviour profile test
How you work, communicate and respond to pressure.