Do I Have ADHD Symptoms?

Key Takeaways

The "Do I Have ADHD Symptoms?" assessment is a self-screening quiz designed to help identify potential ADHD symptoms in adults, not in children.
The quiz is not a diagnostic tool, but it may offer insight into your experiences and patterns.
Responses are based on how often you have experienced certain behaviors over the past six months.
The assessment is 8 questions. Each offers four descriptions of a situation and you pick whichever sounds most like you, rather than rating a symptom by how often it happens.
The questions explore everyday experiences such as difficulty staying organized, trouble concentrating on boring tasks, restlessness, distractibility, losing items, interrupting others, and procrastinating on important tasks.

0 of 8 answered

1. At work, the thing that costs you most is:

2. Admin — forms, bills, emails, appointments:

3. In conversation:

4. Keys, wallet, phone, glasses:

5. Waiting — a queue, traffic, being put on hold:

6. Decisions you later regret — spending, saying yes, saying it out loud:

7. Looking back at school, before you were twelve:

8. Where does it show up?

How this compares with a validated screener

What this quiz is, and is not. These questions, and the way they sort answers, are ours. They are not a validated instrument, and this quiz does not score you — it points at the pattern your answers lean toward. That is a starting point for a conversation, not a substitute for a clinician's assessment. Free, validated brief screeners do exist — the ASRS-v1.1, developed with the World Health Organization, is the one most widely used with adults¹ — and a clinician will use one alongside history, and information from more than one setting, before reaching any conclusion.

A diagnosis in adults also requires that several symptoms were present before age 12 and that they cause difficulty in more than one setting, which no questionnaire can establish on its own.²

Frequently Asked Questions

Can this quiz diagnose ADHD?

No. The quiz is not a diagnostic tool, but it may provide insight into your experiences. A diagnosis would need to come from a qualified professional.

What kinds of symptoms does the quiz ask about?

It asks about common ADHD-related experiences such as struggling with organization, having trouble concentrating on boring or repetitive tasks, feeling restless, getting easily distracted, losing or misplacing items, interrupting others, acting on impulse, and delaying important tasks.

How do I answer the ADHD self-assessment questions?

You pick one of four descriptions for each of the 8 questions — whichever is closest to your experience. Nothing is rated by frequency and nothing is added up.

What time period should I think about when answering?

You should answer each question based on your experiences over the past six months.

Is the ADHD symptoms quiz meant for adults or children?

This particular assessment is designed for adults. The questions ask you to reflect on your own experiences and behaviors rather than a child's.

Sources

Kessler RC, Adler L, Ames M, et al. The World Health Organization Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS): a short screening scale for use in the general population. Psychological Medicine. 2005;35(2):245–256. doi:10.1017/S0033291704002892 (PMID 15841682)
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR). American Psychiatric Association Publishing; 2022. Asperger's disorder was folded into autism spectrum disorder in DSM-5 (2013) and remains so in the text revision.

Medical disclaimer. This page is for general educational purposes and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider about your child.