How's Your Memory?

To get a quick snapshot of how well your memory performs, take the quiz below. This is not a scientific test, but it can indicate how well your memory works. You'll read 5 words and then see how well you remember them. All you need is a quiet room, a piece of paper and a pen or pencil.

1. Repeat the following 5 words aloud 4 times:

carrot, purple, elephant, fork, guitar.

Don't look at the words again until the quiz is completed.

2. With a pen or pencil, draw the face of a clock. Put in all the numbers.

Draw the hands of the clock, setting the time to read 10 minutes after 11.

3. Draw a picture of a 3-dimensional cube.

4. Write down all the words you can remember without looking at the original list.

If you can't remember all of them, use the following cues to jog your memory:

One of the words was a vegetable.
One was a color.
One was an animal.
One was a kitchen utensil.
One was a musical instrument.

5. If you are still unsure, choose the correct word from the following:

Which vegetable? Carrot, zucchini, broccoli
Which color? Yellow, green, purple
Which animal? Rabbit, egret, elephant
Which utensil? Plate, fork, spoon
Which instrument? Piano, guitar, flute

6. Check what you wrote against the original list of words. A person with normal memory performance typically remembers at least 4 of the words without cueing.

Author: Beth Cook, PhD