What is the Big Five personality test?
The Big Five personality test measures five broad traits that every person has in some amount. The model is also called OCEAN, after the first letter of each trait. Psychologists use it more than any other personality model in research, because it has been tested on many people in many countries and languages.
Unlike tests that sort you into a type, the Big Five gives you a score on each trait. Most people land somewhere in the middle on most traits, with one or two that stand out.
The five traits, in plain English
- Openness (O)
- How much you enjoy new ideas, art and imagination.High: You are curious and full of ideas.Low: You are practical and down to earth.
- Conscientiousness (C)
- How organized, careful and dependable you are.High: You plan ahead, keep things in order and finish what you start.Low: You are flexible and spontaneous.
- Extraversion (E)
- How much energy you get from being with other people.High: You are outgoing and talkative.Low: You are quiet and reserved.
- Agreeableness (A)
- How kind, warm and cooperative you are with others.High: You are warm, caring and trusting.Low: You are direct and competitive.
- Neuroticism (N)
- How easily you feel stress, worry or a low mood.High: You feel emotions strongly.Low: You are calm and steady.
How this test is scored
Each trait has 10 statements. Some are worded so that agreeing raises the score, and some so that agreeing lowers it. This stops a habit of always agreeing from pushing every score up. Each answer counts from 1 to 5, so a trait adds up to between 10 and 50. Your result moves that onto a scale from 0 to 100.
A score below 35 is shown as low, above 65 as high, and anything in between as middle. The score shows where your answers fall on the scale. It is not a percentile, so a 70 does not mean you scored higher than 70% of people.
How accurate is the Big Five test?
The Big Five is the most studied personality model, and people who take it twice a few weeks apart usually get similar scores. A self-report test still depends on how honestly and carefully you answer, and on how you feel that day. Read your results as a description of your habits, not a fixed label. This test is not a medical or mental health assessment.
Big Five vs MBTI
MBTI puts you into one of 16 types, such as INTJ or ESFP. The Big Five gives a score on each of five traits instead. Researchers prefer the Big Five because people rarely fall neatly into types, and because Big Five scores stay more stable when people take the test again. Extraversion appears in both models and means much the same thing.
Using the Big Five in hiring
Many companies send a Big Five test to job applicants. Used well, it tells the interviewer what to ask about, such as how a candidate with low conscientiousness keeps track of deadlines. It should never decide a hire on its own. Use it next to a skill test and a structured interview.
Goodfit sends the Big Five test to every applicant and gives your team each person’s trait scores, a written profile and interview questions. See the Big Five test for hiring.
Where the questions come from
The 50 statements are the Big Five factor markers from the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), published by psychologist Lewis Goldberg in 1992. The IPIP is in the public domain. We changed a few words to make the statements easier to read.