Verbal Memory Test
Seen this word before, or is it new?
How to Play
You get one point for each correct answer, your score will be the total number of points you scored.
What is the Verbal Memory Test?
The verbal memory test shows you words one at a time. For each word you decide: have I seen it earlier in this run, or is it new? You start with three lives, lose one per mistake, and score a point per correct call. It measures recognition memory for words, the ability to tell familiar from unfamiliar.
What's a good score?
| Rating | Score | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Exceptional | 50+ points | Top 1% |
| Excellent | 30–49 points | Top 10% |
| Above Average | 20–29 points | Top 30% |
| Average | 10–19 points | Top 50% |
| Below Average | Under 10 points | Bottom 50% |
Frequently asked questions
What is a good verbal memory score?
Scoring 10 to 19 points is typical, 30 or more puts you in the top 10%, and runs past 50 are top 1%. The game gets harder the longer you survive because the pool of words you've already seen keeps growing, so late-game decisions carry more chances to confuse similar words.
What's the difference between recognition and recall?
Recall means producing a memory from nothing, like naming everyone at a meeting yesterday. Recognition means judging whether something is familiar, like spotting a face in a crowd. Recognition is easier because the word itself acts as its own retrieval cue, which is exactly what this test exploits.
Why do I confuse words I've never seen with seen ones?
False familiarity. Words that look or sound like ones you saw earlier, or that you simply encounter often in daily life, generate a familiarity signal without an actual memory behind it. Telling genuine memory apart from mere familiarity is the real skill this test measures.
How can I improve at the verbal memory test?
Give each word a quick flash of meaning when it appears: picture it, connect it to something, notice something odd about its spelling. Elaborative encoding like this leaves a stronger trace than passively reading. Deliberately noting unusual words also helps, since those cause the most second-guessing later.