IPIP-NEO

The short, free Big Five (OCEAN) inventory

IPIP-NEO-120: the short, free Big Five test

One hundred and twenty statements, four for each of your thirty facets. John A. Johnson built this short form from the strongest items of the full inventory, so you keep the complete Big Five picture while the clock stays kind to you. Big Five, the five-factor model and OCEAN are different names for the same model, and this short form keeps all of it.

  • 120 statements
  • about 15 minutes
  • 5 domains, 30 facets
  • norms from 385,000+ people

Free, no sign-up. Your answers save in this browser, so you can pause and come back.

Want reference-grade depth? The full 300-question version measures every facet with ten items instead of four. Take the full test

Short, but nothing is missing

Most quick personality tests drop the facets and hand you five vague numbers. The IPIP-NEO-120 keeps all thirty.

The same 35 scales

Five domains and thirty facets, exactly the structure of the full inventory. The map does not shrink, only the route gets faster.

Four best items per facet

Each facet is measured by the four statements that carried the most signal in the full pool. Mean facet reliability stays near .80 (Johnson, 2014).

A quarter of an hour

A steady pace finishes in 12 to 20 minutes. Every answer is saved in your browser as you go, so a coffee break costs you nothing.

What the 120-question test measures

The Big Five (OCEAN) domains you have heard about, and the six narrower facets inside each of them. Facets are where a short test usually gives up; this one does not.

35
scales scored
30
facets kept
15
minutes on average

Neuroticism

  • Anxiety
  • Anger
  • Depression
  • Self-Consciousness
  • Immoderation
  • Vulnerability

Extraversion

  • Friendliness
  • Gregariousness
  • Assertiveness
  • Activity Level
  • Excitement-Seeking
  • Cheerfulness

Openness to Experience

  • Imagination
  • Artistic Interests
  • Emotionality
  • Adventurousness
  • Intellect
  • Liberalism

Agreeableness

  • Trust
  • Morality
  • Altruism
  • Cooperation
  • Modesty
  • Sympathy

Conscientiousness

  • Self-Efficacy
  • Orderliness
  • Dutifulness
  • Achievement-Striving
  • Self-Discipline
  • Cautiousness

120 or 300: which one to take?

Both versions score the same profile. The difference is the evidence behind each facet and the time you spend.

IPIP-NEO-120

time to finishabout 15 min
statements120
items per facet4
facets scored30

IPIP-NEO-300

time to finishabout 40 min
statements300
items per facet10
facets scored30
Read about the full version

The 120 items are the official subset of the 300-item inventory. Start short today, and if you ever take the full version, you will be walking the same map in finer detail.

Take the 120 if it is your first Big Five test or your day is packed. Choose the 300 when you want the most stable read of every single facet.

How it works

  1. 1

    Rate 120 statements

    From very inaccurate to very accurate, at your own pace. Autosave keeps your place for seven days.

  2. 2

    Add sex and age if you wish

    Both are optional and make your percentiles sharper: you are compared with people like you among 385,000+ real profiles.

  3. 3

    Get the full profile instantly

    A radar of five domains, thirty facet bars with percentiles, plain-language interpretations and a link that restores your result anywhere.

The science behind the short form

The IPIP-NEO-120 was developed by personality psychologist John A. Johnson from the public-domain International Personality Item Pool started by Lewis Goldberg. For every facet he kept the four items with the best psychometric behaviour and validated the short form on large web samples, publishing the method and reliabilities in the Journal of Research in Personality (2014).

Your percentiles on this site are computed from the open dataset Johnson released: after quality filters, 385,801 complete IPIP-NEO-120 protocols, split by sex and age group. We publish derived norm tables only, never raw answers.

Primary sources

  • Johnson, J. A. (2014). Measuring thirty facets of the Five Factor Model with a 120-item public domain inventory: Development of the IPIP-NEO-120. Journal of Research in Personality, 51, 78-89.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2014.05.003

  • Kajonius, P. J., & Johnson, J. A. (2018). Sex differences in 30 facets of the five factor model of personality in the large public (N = 320,128). Personality and Individual Differences, 129, 126-130.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2018.03.026

  • 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.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2005.08.007

  • Goldberg, L. R. (1999). A broad-bandwidth, public-domain personality inventory measuring the lower-level facets of several five-factor models. In Personality Psychology in Europe, Vol. 7 (pp. 7-28). Tilburg University Press.

  • Open dataset

    Johnson's IPIP-NEO data repository (OSF)

  • Item pool

    International Personality Item Pool (ipip.ori.org)

The IPIP-NEO is an independent public-domain inventory. It is not the NEO PI-R and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publishers of commercial tests. Trademarks belong to their owners.

Quick answers before a quick test

What people ask about the 120-question version before they press start.

Is the test free?

Yes. All 120 questions, the scoring and the complete 35-scale profile cost nothing and need no account. The only paid extra is an optional written deep-dive report.

How long does it really take?

Most people finish in 12 to 20 minutes. Answers save in your browser after every question and are kept for seven days, so you can stop and continue any time.

Is 120 questions accurate enough?

For a first full profile, yes: mean facet reliability is close to .80 and domain scores are very stable. The 300-question version simply measures each facet with more evidence, which matters most at the facet level.

What exactly are the thirty facets?

Each domain splits into six narrower traits. Neuroticism, for example, contains anxiety, anger, depression, self-consciousness, immoderation and vulnerability. The full map of all thirty is right on this page.

Can I take the full 300 version later?

Yes, and it will feel familiar: the 120 items are the official subset of the 300. Many people start short and go deep once the map proves useful.

Where do the percentiles come from?

From 385,000+ real IPIP-NEO-120 protocols published openly by the author, split by sex and age group. A percentile of 78 means you scored above about 78% of people like you.

Is a short online personality test scientific at all?

This one is a published research instrument, not a quiz: the development, item selection and reliabilities appeared in a peer-reviewed journal, and the five-factor model behind it has decades of evidence.

Do I have to sign up? What about my data?

No sign-up. Your answers live in your browser while you take the test, nothing is tied to your name unless you create an account, and individual responses are never sold.

Big Five, OCEAN or five-factor: which one is this?

All three, since they name the same model. The Big Five (OCEAN) is the five-factor model of personality, and IPIP-NEO-120 is a short, free way to measure it. Whether you searched for a Big Five test, an OCEAN test online or a five-factor test, this is it.

Fifteen minutes to meet thirty sides of you

Pour something warm, answer honestly, and the whole map is yours.

Free, no sign-up. Your answers save in this browser, so you can pause and come back.