Each trait’s score is a sum of 4 or 5 questions, each rated from 1 to 5.

• Minimum possible score: Number of questions × 1 (all Strongly Disagree)
• Maximum possible score: Number of questions × 5 (all Strongly Agree)

For example, Openness has 5 questions:

• Minimum score = 5 × 1 = 5
• Maximum score = 5 × 5 = 25

What counts as a higher or lower score?

• Higher score means the respondent strongly agrees with many statements reflecting that trait. So they likely show more of that personality characteristic.
• Lower score means disagreement or agreement with reverse-coded items indicating less of that trait.

Rough guidelines:

Important Notes:

• Because some questions are reverse-coded, the scoring accounts for that to keep the scale consistent.
• You can use the scores as a relative measure — higher or lower than average.
• For deeper insight, compare scores to population norms or use percentiles from validated tests.

Normally, if someone agrees strongly with a positive statement about a trait, their score for that trait goes up. But some statements are phrased negatively or oppositely. For those:

• Strong agreement actually means a lower level of that trait.
• So to keep scoring consistent, we reverse code those items.

How does reverse coding work in your quiz?

Say your scale is 1 to 5:

For a reverse-coded question, instead of using the answer as-is, you calculate:

Reverse-coded score = 6 - original numeric value

So:

• If someone answers 5 (Strongly Agree) on a reverse-coded item, their score becomes 6 - 5 = 1
• If they answer 1 (Strongly Disagree), their score becomes 6 - 1 = 5

This flips the scale, so higher original agreement on a reverse-coded item means a lower trait score — keeping the overall scoring consistent.

Why do we do this?

Because some questions are phrased in the negative or opposite way, reverse coding ensures all questions contribute properly to the trait score, preventing bias or confusion.