You have already taken three ADHD tests on Instagram this week. One said you have an "87% chance," another that you are the "creative type," the third was selling a course at the end. None of them explained where the questions came from, or what the score means.
This one is different in exactly one way: it is the test the World Health Organization uses (the six questions, the scoring rule and the official wording), with an honest explanation of what it can and cannot tell you.
Screening test · ASRS v1.1
Adult ADHD test
Six questions, the same ones the World Health Organization uses to screen adults for ADHD. It takes under two minutes. The result is a screen, not a diagnosis: only a clinical assessment can tell whether it is ADHD.
Answer thinking about how you have felt and conducted yourself over the past 6 months.
The 6-question Adult Self-Report Scale-Version 1.1 (ASRS-V1.1) Screener is a subset of the 18-question Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale-Version 1.1 (Adult ASRS-V1.1) Symptom Checklist. © New York University and the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Reference: Kessler RC et al. (2005), Psychological Medicine 35(2):245–256.
What this ADHD test measures
The ASRS v1.1 measures the frequency, over the last six months, of the six symptoms that best separate adults with and without ADHD. It does not measure intelligence, it does not measure personality and it does not measure a "level" of ADHD: it measures how much you recognize yourself in specific behaviors of inattention, disorganization and restlessness, and compares that with a threshold set in research.
The full scale has 18 questions, one for each symptom in the diagnostic manual. In 2005, Ronald Kessler's team showed that a short version, with six of them, worked better than the long one as a screener: higher sensitivity (68.7% against 56.3%) and higher specificity (99.5% against 98.3%) in a US population sample. Those six became "Part A" of the scale, and they are what you answered above.
The questions cover four inattention symptoms (wrapping up the final details, getting things in order, remembering appointments, putting off what requires a lot of thought) and two of hyperactivity: fidgeting in your seat and feeling "driven by a motor." In adults, hyperactivity symptoms rarely show up as running around the room; they show up as that restlessness on the inside, and the scale was written to catch exactly that.
A sieve, not a scale
A screening test is a sieve: it separates, in a large population, the people who deserve a more careful assessment from those who probably do not need one. It is designed to let almost nobody through who does not have the problem, but to do that it accepts missing a share of those who do. The scale, which weighs each case carefully, is the consultation. The test decides whether it is worth stepping on the scale; it does not replace the weighing.
How to read your score
There are two official readings, and the result above shows both.
Checklist rule
This is the rule printed on the WHO form. On the first three questions, an answer counts from "sometimes" up; on the last three, from "often" up. Four or more answers above the threshold = positive screen: "symptoms highly consistent with ADHD in adults and further investigation is warranted."
Sum from 0 to 24
Each answer scores from 0 (never) to 4 (very often), and the sum runs from 0 to 24. The cutoff is 14. Harvard itself published this reading as more robust for research, with bands: 0–9 negative, 10–13 negative near the threshold, 14–17 positive, 18–24 high positive. In Brazil, a validation at UFMG with 180 adults found, for this cutoff, 83.3% sensitivity and 94.4% specificity.
When the two readings agree, the result is clear. When they disagree (three items on the checklist but 15 points on the sum, for example), you are in the gray zone, which is exactly the kind of case where a professional assessment is worth more, not less.
68.7%
99.5%
14
≥ 4
What the test cannot tell you
Here is the part that social media tests skip. The ASRS measures symptom frequency over the last six months, and an ADHD diagnosis requires things no six-item questionnaire can reach.
It does not know whether the symptoms existed in childhood. Under current criteria, several symptoms must be present before age 12. An adult who developed inattention at 30, after a depression or years of poor sleep, can tick the same answers as someone who has had ADHD all along.
It does not measure impairment. The scale asks "how often"; it does not ask "and does this get in the way of your life?" The diagnosis requires clear evidence of interference at work, in studies or in relationships, in two or more settings.
It mistakes other things for ADHD. A 2021 study applied the ASRS to general-population samples in the United Kingdom and the United States: the test indicated "probable ADHD" in 26% and 17% of people, when the expected prevalence was 2.5%. The estimated positive predictive value came out around 11.5%. In other words, in those samples, most positives did not have ADHD. The authors' conclusion: the scale captures impulsivity and inattention from many sources, not only ADHD.
Why six questions and not eighteen
Two reasons, and both are honest.
The first is scientific: as we saw, the six-item version works better as a screener than the eighteen-item one. The remaining twelve questions (Part B) serve, in the clinic, as additional clues; the WHO form itself says that "no total score or diagnostic likelihood is utilized" for them.
The second is licensing: the WHO, New York University and Harvard release the six-item screener for use, including in electronic form, as long as the text, the answer options and the scoring rule are not altered and the copyright notice appears. The full scale requires a license. That is why the test above shows the official WHO wording exactly as published, down to the punctuation: changing a single word would strip the test of the validity it has.
ADHD test for children
There is no self-test for children, and be suspicious of anything that presents itself as one. A childhood diagnosis depends on observing the child in more than one setting, and the scales (in Brazil, the most used is the SNAP-IV, validated in Portuguese in 2006; elsewhere, the Vanderbilt and Conners scales are common) are answered by parents and teachers, not by the child.
If you are a parent and recognize signs, the path is different: talk to the school, write down what you observe at home (with examples and frequency) and see the pediatrician or pediatric neurologist. In Brazil, since 2021, Law 14.254 guarantees students with ADHD early identification and support within the school system; most countries have an equivalent, such as 504 plans and IEPs in the United States or SEN support in the United Kingdom. The full list of symptoms by age is in ADHD symptoms by type and age.
What to do with your result
- Keep the score, both readings. Write it down or take a screenshot. Bringing the result shortens the first conversation with the professional, since they know exactly what the scale measures.
- Add the context the test does not ask for. What were you like at school? Does anyone (parents, teachers, partner) comment on your inattention or impulsivity? What has it already cost: deadlines, money, relationships? Sleep, anxiety, mood?
- Find the right person. A psychiatrist or neurologist for the diagnosis; a psychologist or neuropsychologist for the assessment. In Brazil, if you use the public health system (SUS), start at your primary care unit and ask for a referral; elsewhere, your GP or primary care doctor is usually the gateway.
- Do not wait for the appointment to get organized. External structure (reminders at the right moment, visible lists, small tasks) helps any tired brain, with or without a diagnosis. It is what the guidelines recommend before any medication.
- If you screened negative and the struggle is real, go anyway. The test misses a third of cases. What defines the need for help is the impairment, not the score.
What the real diagnosis looks like
What happens in the clinic is a long interview, often more than one, about current symptoms, your history since childhood, performance at school and work, relationships, sleep, substance use and other conditions. Scales like the ASRS come in as support. Tests are ordered only to investigate other causes; none confirms ADHD.
In adults, the American Psychiatric Association notes that diagnostic accuracy is "often complicated" by the presence of other conditions (up to 70% of adults with ADHD have sleep problems, for example), and that is why a complete assessment includes reviewing "the presence and absence" of other disorders. A good evaluator spends as much time ruling out as ruling in. The whole process is described in what is ADHD, and the signs specific to adult life in ADHD symptoms in adults.
The gap that remains
If you screened positive, you will leave here with a list of things to do: book the appointment, write down your history, organize your routine. And you probably see the irony: the difficulty remembering appointments and finishing what you start is exactly what was just measured. The list exists; what is missing is someone to bring it back at the right time.
That is what made me build ASB. Sofia, the assistant, lives on WhatsApp: you send "book psychiatrist" in a voice note, she turns it into a task with a deadline, and at the agreed time she calls. And she insists, at the level you choose, until the appointment is booked. It is not treatment. It is the external structure every guideline recommends, just one that does not depend on you remembering to open an app.