Rice Purity Test FAQ

A list of 100 yes-or-no items about dating, sex, alcohol, drugs and rule-breaking. You tick what you have done and your score is 100 minus the ticks. It comes from Rice University in Houston, where the student paper printed a purity test as far back as 1924.

The Rice Thresher, Rice University's student newspaper. The current list was written in 2012 by the paper's Backpage editors, replacing older versions from 1988 onward.

The first Thresher purity test ran on 7 March 1924 as a ten-question survey of 119 women students. The 100-item format dates from 1988, and today's list from 2012.

Because it comes from Rice University, through its student newspaper. It has nothing to do with rice the food.

One point per item. Start at 100 and subtract one for each item you tick. There is no weighting.

There is no good or bad score. It counts experiences, nothing more. Our score page explains every range.

There is no reliable national average. Sourced figures: 62 for 119 Rice women in 1924, and 65 for Houston test takers on one day in 2017.

Not one with a source. We have looked and found none, so we do not publish one.

No. The Rice Thresher publishes the official version at ricepuritytest.com. This is an independent version in our own words, not connected to Rice University or the Thresher.

The 2012 wording belongs to the Thresher, so we wrote our own. Our items cover the same ground in roughly the same order, using "someone" and "a partner" instead of "MPS".

Close, but not always identical. Scores can differ slightly between any two versions of the test.

No. Answers exist only while the page is open. Nothing is stored or sent, and our analytics never carry answers or scores.

Not through this site. The only risk is someone looking at your screen while the page is open. The Clear button wipes every tick at once.

Member of the Preferred Sex: whoever you are attracted to. It replaced "MOS", member of the opposite sex, by 1998.

It is a joke that has been part of the Rice test since at least 1998. It has no official meaning.

There is no rule. On this site a tick there costs one point like any other item, so decide for yourself.

It is 100 short items, so at a few seconds each, about five to ten minutes.

It was written for college students and covers sex, drugs and crime. If you are under 18, read our guide for teens first.

No. The original even warns against it. Parts of the list carry real health and legal risks.

No. It means you have done more of the items. It says nothing about your character.

You ticked nothing, not even holding hands romantically.

It counts accurately, but "purity" is a loaded word and every item weighs the same. It is a conversation starter, not a measurement of anything about you.

Yes. Group mode shows one item at a time for reading aloud, and a scoreboard works out the group average without saving anything.

Yes. Press Clear and start again. Nothing from your last attempt is kept.

Yes. The questions page has a print button and prints cleanly.

Yes, once the page has loaded once, it keeps working without a connection.

We do not try to get around school filters. The site is a plain page with no games or downloads, but whether it loads depends on your network's rules.