What is a digit span test?
A digit span test shows you a sequence of digits, one at a time, and asks you to repeat it. Each time you get it right, the next sequence is one digit longer. Your digit span is the longest sequence you can repeat correctly. It is one of the oldest and simplest ways to measure how much you can hold in mind at once, for a few seconds, without writing anything down.
Forward and backward digit span
Forward means typing the digits back in the order you saw them: 7 2 9 is answered 7 2 9. Backward means typing them in reverse: 7 2 9 is answered 9 2 7. Backward is harder because you have to rearrange the digits while still holding them, not just keep them. That is why the backward test here starts at 2 digits and the forward test at 3. Try both: the gap between your two spans is part of the picture.
How this test works
- Digits appear one at a time, each for 0.8 seconds with a short blank after it: one digit every second.
- When the last digit has gone, a keypad appears. Type your answer and press OK, or use your keyboard.
- A correct answer makes the next sequence one digit longer. If you get one wrong, you get another sequence of the same length. After 2 wrong answers at the same length, the test ends.
- Nothing is timed. Take as long as you like to type.
How is your result calculated?
Your result is the length of the longest sequence you repeated correctly, in the direction you chose. It is capped at 16 digits. The digits are random each time and never repeat back to back, since a doubled digit is easier to hold than two different ones.
What is a good digit span?
A typical forward digit span on a test like this is about 6.43 digits, and a typical backward span about 5.33. Those are the averages of TestMyBrain's web-based norms: 9,858 people for forward span and 6,269 for backward, published by Singh and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology in 2021. Their tests, like ours, show the digits on screen and score the longest sequence recalled. Your span is rated using five bands of our own, set so that the typical span falls in the middle one.
Forward
| Rating | Result |
|---|---|
| Exceptional | 11 digits or more |
| Excellent | 9–10 digits |
| Good | 8 digits |
| Average | 5–7 digits |
| Below average | under 5 digits |
Backward
| Rating | Result |
|---|---|
| Exceptional | 10 digits or more |
| Excellent | 8–9 digits |
| Good | 7 digits |
| Average | 4–6 digits |
| Below average | under 4 digits |
These are One Quick Try's bands, not clinical norms: real assessments compare you with people of your own age and education, and we don't store anyone's results.
How can you remember more digits?
- Group them. 7 2 9 4 1 8 is easier as 729 418, two chunks instead of six digits. This is called chunking, and it is the main reason people can hold more than they expect.
- Say them to yourself. Repeating the digits silently as they appear keeps them fresh.
- For backward, build the answer as you go. Some people picture the digits in a row and read the row from the right.
Where the digit span test comes from
The digit span is well over a century old. In 1887 the scholar Joseph Jacobs published experiments in the journal Mind on how many digits or letters schoolchildren could repeat after hearing them once. In 1956 the psychologist George Miller's paper "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two" made the limits of short-term memory famous, and introduced the idea of chunking. Digit span tasks are still part of many standard memory and cognitive test batteries.
What this test does not measure
It measures how many digits you repeated on this page, in one sitting. It isn't a memory assessment and can't tell you anything about memory problems or intelligence. If you are worried about your memory, talk to a doctor. For a test of remembering where things were rather than what they were, try the Visual Memory Test.