Ever finished a 200k word slow burn in one sitting and felt weirdly proud? This AO3 purity test turns your fandom history into a score out of 100. Tick what you have done, skip what you haven’t, and see where you land. Just bookmarks, tags, kudos and one number.
Ever finished a 200k word slow burn in one sitting and felt weirdly proud? Tick what you've done, skip what you haven't, and see where you land.
This is a fan-made quiz for entertainment only. It has no connection to the Archive of Our Own or the Organization for Transformative Works, and it isn't a validated psychological or scientific measure. Compare your score only with results from this same quiz.
The AO3 purity test is a fan made checklist for people who read or write fanfiction. You go through 100 statements about fandom life, check the ones that apply to you, and get a score out of 100.
It has no connection to the Archive of Our Own or the Organization for Transformative Works, the nonprofit behind the archive. The idea comes from the Rice Purity Test, the old college checklist, with the dorm milestones swapped for things like leaving kudos at 2 a.m. or bookmarking a fic you will never reread.
You may also see it called the AO3 Rice Purity Test, the fanfic purity test or the fanfiction purity test. They all describe the same kind of quiz. Curious how other versions compare? Explore the different types of Rice Purity Tests, from the original checklist to fandom-inspired variations.
Tick what you've done, skip what you haven't, and get one number out of 100.
Read each statement and check it only if it is true for you.
Go with your first reaction. If you have to debate whether something counts, it probably doesn't, and half credit isn't a thing here.
Take it as a reader, a writer, or both. Nobody is grading you, so answer honestly even when a question makes you wince a little.
You start with 100 points, and every item you check takes one away. Whatever is left is your score.
Since the score depends on the questions, compare it only with results from this same quiz.
Scores near the top usually belong to people who are fairly new to fandom spaces, or who have been reading for years without ever commenting, posting or joining anything. If you stick to comfort reads and a handful of favorite authors, you will probably land here, and that tells you nothing about how much you love fic.
The middle is crowded with regulars. You know your way around the tag filters, you have an unreasonable number of bookmarks, and you have wandered through more than one fandom. You may have written something too, even if it is still sitting in drafts.
Low scores tend to come from people who have spent serious time on the archive: posting works, answering comments, joining exchanges, following a ship through a few fandom cycles. Plenty of people treat a low number as a badge of honor. It only says how much of the list applies to you.
The questions follow the way people actually move through fandom. They run from early reading habits to the kind of experience you only collect after years of hanging around.
This part covers marathon reading sessions, reading fic when you should be doing something else, rereading old favorites and following an author into a fandom you didn't know. On the writing side it moves from drafting and sharing a work in progress to posting, replying to comments and finishing something you once swore was abandoned.
This is where the quiz gets most of its personality. Expect items about ratings, archive warnings, genres like fluff and angst, alternate universes, slow burn and the tags that make you laugh out loud. There are also community moments such as kudos, comments, gift exchanges, challenges, ship wars and fandom discourse, plus a few checks on how well you use filters, subscriptions and bookmarks.
AO3 hosts works from General Audiences up to Explicit, so some questions may refer to mature content. Skip any you are not comfortable answering. If you are under 18, a milder fandom quiz may suit you better.
Both use the same scoring: 100 points, minus one for every item you check. The original Rice Purity Test asks about general life experiences, mostly tied to school, dating and parties, while this quiz stays inside fandom. You can read more about the history of the Rice Purity Test.
Because the questions are so different, scores from the two tests can’t be compared. A fanfiction purity test on another site will also have its own list, so a number from there won’t line up with yours here.
It does one job well, which is adding up what you checked. Beyond that, it is a self reported quiz made for entertainment, and it hasn’t been tested or validated as a psychological or scientific measure.
It also counts how many things you have done, not how deeply you did them. Someone who has read everything in one huge fandom can end up with a higher score than someone who has dipped into a dozen. Treat the result as a conversation starter, and the best part is usually comparing which questions made you laugh or groan.
Want to try a different kind of checklist? Take the Innocence Test, a 100-question quiz that scores your real-life experiences instead of your fanfiction habits.
No. It is a fan-made quiz, and the Archive of Our Own and the Organization for Transformative Works have nothing to do with it. The name just tells you which corner of fandom the questions come from.
That depends on what you are hoping for. Plenty of people aim low because it means they have done more, while others are happy to stay high. Neither one is better, and the number only reflects how many of the listed experiences you have actually had.
Not at all. You can take it as a reader who has never posted a single word. A good chunk of the questions are about reading, bookmarking, leaving kudos and commenting, so your score will simply reflect the side of fandom you spend time in.
The scoring works the same way, but the questions are completely different. The original covers general life experiences, while this one is built around fanfiction and AO3 habits. If you have taken both, don’t expect the numbers to line up.
Yes, and that is half the fun. Just make sure everyone took this same quiz. A fanfic purity test on another site uses its own list of questions, so a 54 there tells you very little about a 54 here
Leave them unchecked. That is exactly how the quiz is meant to work, since every item you skip keeps its point. If a question touches on something you would rather not answer, you can skip it, too.
It happens a lot. Because the quiz counts how many things you have done, not how intensely you did them, one long stretch in a single fandom can land you somewhere unexpected. If your result feels off, look back at which questions you ticked. That is usually where the surprise is hiding.
