Sources
Items were drafted with AI and then edited so that each one maps onto a publicly described feature of adult ADHD. The anchors are the DSM-5-TR symptom criteria and the additional requirements (onset before age 12, two or more settings, impairment, and a persistent course), the ICD-11 description of 6A05, NICE guideline NG87, and the World Federation of ADHD international consensus statement (Faraone et al., 2021).
The wording is original. ADHD Screening UK is not the WHO Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale, not a Conners scale, not DIVA, and not BAARS. Those instruments are validated and copyrighted. Copying them would be both unlawful and misleading, because a validated scale’s cut-offs belong to that scale’s items. This one has not been tested against clinical diagnoses. It can be wrong in both directions.
The free screen — 15 questions
Six questions cover inattention and six cover restlessness or impulsivity, using Never through Very often. A symptom counts only at Often or Very often. Sometimes does not count: the published criteria are about what happens often. The screen is called likely only when at least four of six items in one cluster are frequent, and you also describe childhood signs, more than one setting, and a real effect on life. Anything else is unlikely on this short instrument. Unlikely does not mean unaffected, and likely does not mean you have ADHD.
The full assessment — 80 questions
The longer set is arranged so a private total can follow the adult rule more closely:
- Eighteen inattention questions — two for each of the nine DSM-5-TR inattention symptoms.
- Eighteen hyperactivity and impulsivity questions — two for each of those nine symptoms.
- Twelve childhood questions, including an explicit anchor before age 12.
- Eight questions about settings, ten about impairment, and six about course.
- Eight related experiences — time blindness, intense focus, rejection sensitivity, and similar. These are recorded. They do not decide the result.
A symptom area counts when at least one of its two questions is Often or Very often. The symptom gate is the adult DSM-5-TR count: five inattention areas, or five hyperactivity-impulsivity areas. Alongside that, the screen looks for several strongly recalled childhood difficulties including the age-12 anchor, at least two settings, at least two descriptions of real-world impairment, and a course of six months or more that is present on more days than not and not confined to a short stress. All of those gates have to be met before the result says you may satisfy the criteria.
You are not shown the arithmetic. The result page states the conclusion and, in ordinary language, which parts of the picture were or were not described. The PDF lists your chosen answers so you can take them to a clinician. It does not print a score.
What would still be missing in a clinic
- A conversation, not only tick boxes.
- Someone else’s memory of your childhood.
- A review of mood, anxiety, autism, trauma, sleep, substances, and physical health.
- Judgement about whether the impairment is enough, and whether another explanation fits better.
Privacy
Answers live in this browser tab (session storage). They are not uploaded. Closing the tab clears them. “Delete answers on this device” clears them immediately. The PDF is built on your device.