What Big Five Test Questions Actually Look Like
The questions on a Big Five test aren’t really questions, but statements about you that you rate according to how much you agree. Behind that simple format sit several design decisions: how many statements measure each trait, how many are written “in reverse” and why. Here we explain it using the real items from our Big Five test.
The format: statements and a five-point scale
Each item is a first-person sentence, such as “I have a very active imagination” or “I get irritated easily when things don’t go my way.” To answer, there’s a five-option Likert-type scale:
- Strongly disagree
- Somewhat disagree
- Neutral
- Somewhat agree
- Strongly agree
It’s the same format used by the major questionnaires of the model, such as Costa and McCrae’s NEO-PI-R or Soto and John’s BFI-2 (2017). Other scales use four or seven options; five options with a neutral midpoint is the most widespread.
How many questions each version has
The test comes in three lengths, and all three measure the same five traits:
| Version | Statements | Per trait | Reverse-worded items | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quick | 10 | 2 | 5 (one per trait) | A first snapshot of the profile |
| Standard | 50 | 10 | 21 | A more stable profile |
| Full | 120 | 24 | 60 (half) | The six facets of each trait |
In the full version, each trait is divided into six facets with four statements each, following the structure of the NEO-PI-R. For openness, for example, the facets are fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas and values. The original NEO-PI-R has 240 items; our version uses the same structure with half the statements, for informational purposes.
The questions aren’t grouped by trait: they rotate (one on extraversion, one on agreeableness, one on conscientiousness, one on neuroticism, one on openness, and back to the start). That keeps the answer to one statement from “carrying over” to the next one on the same topic.
Real examples, trait by trait
These are pairs of statements from the full version. The first in each pair adds to the trait when you agree; the second is worded in the opposite direction.
- Extraversion. “I enjoy parties and large gatherings” versus “An ideal plan for me is staying home without company.”
- Agreeableness. “I believe most people have good intentions” versus “I’m suspicious of people until they prove otherwise.”
- Conscientiousness. “I keep my things organized and in their place” versus “My workspace tends to be messy.”
- Neuroticism. “I worry about things that will probably never happen” versus “I rarely get anxious about what might happen.”
- Openness. “A work of art or piece of music can move me deeply” versus “Art doesn’t interest me much.”
Notice that no statement is “good” or “bad.” Being wary until there’s proof, or preferring to stay home, describe ways of being, not flaws, and the test scores them exactly like their opposites.
Why some statements are “in reverse”
The main reason isn’t to catch anyone lying. It’s to control for acquiescence: the tendency, which all of us have to different degrees, to agree with whatever statements are put in front of us.
If every extraversion statement were worded positively, a highly acquiescent person would look more extraverted than they are. When half of the statements point the other way, that bias adds on some and subtracts on others, and it evens out. That’s why the BFI-2 was designed with the same number of direct and reversed items in each domain (Soto and John, 2017), and why our full version follows the same principle.
When the result is calculated, answers to reversed statements are flipped: a “Strongly agree” with “Art doesn’t interest me much” counts as a 1 on openness, not a 5.
Reversed items also have a known cost: some people read more slowly or get confused by negative wording, which adds some noise. It’s a trade-off most questionnaires accept.
Our test doesn’t include social desirability scales or consistency-check questions: it assumes you answer honestly, because the result is for you alone.
Where the questions in free tests come from
Many free Big Five tests online are based on the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), a public-domain item bank that Lewis Goldberg launched in the 1990s so that research wouldn’t depend on commercial questionnaires (Goldberg et al., 2006). Its items are short phrases, such as “Am the life of the party” or “Pay attention to details,” which readers will recognize from many tests.
Our statements are written as longer sentences with concrete situations, but they follow the same logic: each one measures a facet of a trait, with direct and reversed items balanced.
How to answer so the result looks like you
- Think about how you normally are, over time, not about how you feel today or about an exceptional situation.
- Don’t try to stay consistent with earlier answers. If two statements seem to say the same thing, that’s intentional; answer each one on its own.
- Use “Neutral” when you genuinely don’t lean either way, not as a safe harbor. A profile with lots of neutral answers gets flattened toward the middle.
- Answer everything. Each trait is calculated from all its statements, and a skipped item weighs more in the short versions.
With this in mind, you can take our Big Five test knowing what to expect from each question. And if you want to know exactly what each scale measures and what it leaves out, we explain it in what the Big Five test actually measures.
Sources
- Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual. Psychological Assessment Resources.
- Goldberg, L. R., Johnson, J. A., Eber, H. W., Hogan, R., Ashton, M. C., Cloninger, C. R., & Gough, H. G. (2006). The international personality item pool and the future of public-domain personality measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 40(1), 84-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2005.08.007
- Soto, C. J., & John, O. P. (2017). The next Big Five Inventory (BFI-2): Developing and assessing a hierarchical model with 15 facets to enhance bandwidth, fidelity, and predictive power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(1), 117-143. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000096
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Frequently asked questions
How do you answer Big Five test questions?
Each statement is rated on a Likert-type agreement scale. In our test it has five options, from "Strongly disagree" to "Strongly agree," with a neutral point in the middle; other questionnaires use four or seven.
Why are some questions worded in reverse?
Mainly to offset acquiescence, the tendency to agree with any statement. If half of the statements for each trait point in the opposite direction, that bias cancels out. Their scores are reversed before the final result is calculated.
How should I answer so the result is reliable?
Think about how you usually are, not about one particular day, answer each statement on its own and don't leave any blank. Save the neutral point for when you genuinely don't lean either way.
How many questions does the Big Five test have?
It depends on the version. Ours has three: 10 statements (two per trait), 50 (ten per trait) and 120 (twenty-four per trait, spread across six facets). Costa and McCrae's professional NEO-PI-R has 240 items.
