What Is a Good Stroop Test Score?
On the Stroop test on this site, a score of 22 or more correct answers in the time allowed is average, 26+ is excellent and 29+ is exceptional. There is no single universal "good" Stroop score, because versions differ in length, timing and whether they count speed, accuracy or the interference effect — how much slower you are when the ink colour and the word disagree. That interference is remarkably stable: almost every adult is 100–200 milliseconds slower per item on mismatched trials, and reducing it below 100 ms with practice is unusual. Here is what the test measures, how it is scored, and where results recorded on this site fall.
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What the Stroop test measures
Named after John Ridley Stroop's 1935 paper, the task shows colour words printed in ink that may or may not match — the word RED in blue ink — and asks you to name the ink. Reading is so automatic in literate adults that the word's meaning arrives before the colour does, and suppressing it takes effort and time. That delay measures selective attention and inhibitory control: the ability to hold a goal in mind and override a competing habit. It is one of the most replicated findings in psychology and is used clinically to assess executive function, because interference grows with fatigue, ADHD, some frontal-lobe injuries and normal ageing.
The version here presents a run of words one at a time and scores the number answered correctly within the time limit; wrong answers are not counted, so guessing fast is not rewarded.
What counts as a good result?
Research versions report two numbers: accuracy, which is normally near-perfect (above 95%) in healthy adults, and the interference cost, typically 100–200 ms per item or, on paper versions, about 30–50 fewer items in 45 seconds than on the matching condition. Young adults show the smallest cost; children still learning to read show almost none (reading is not yet automatic), and the cost rises steadily after age 60. Bilinguals and musicians show slightly smaller interference in several studies, consistent with more practised attentional control, but the differences are a few tens of milliseconds.
On this site the bands are set from the number of correct answers in the timed run: 22 is average, 26 excellent, 29 exceptional. The distribution of results actually recorded here appears below when enough have been collected.
Why the effect never quite goes away
Stroop interference is a cost of literacy: the more fluent a reader you are, the more automatically the word intrudes. Practice on the specific task reduces the cost by perhaps a third over a few sessions, mostly through better response mapping rather than any change to reading. Strategies that help within a run are to blur your focus slightly so the letters are harder to read, to respond to the colour before the word has fully registered, and to keep a steady rhythm rather than racing — errors under time pressure cost more than a slightly slower correct answer.
How to improve your Stroop score
- Sleep. Inhibitory control is one of the first things sleep loss degrades; the same person can drop several correct answers after a short night.
- Warm up with a matching run so the response keys or buttons are automatic before interference begins.
- Don't sub-vocalise the word. Saying the colour name silently as soon as you see the ink pre-empts reading.
- Accept the cost. A steady 90% accuracy beats a fast 70%; on this test wrong answers simply do not count.
Score bands on the stroop test
These are the bands the stroop test on this site uses for its result screen.
| Score | Band |
|---|---|
| 29+ correct answers | Exceptional |
| 26–28 correct answers | Excellent |
| 22–25 correct answers | Average |
| 16–21 correct answers | Developing |
| 0–15 correct answers | Warming Up |
How players on this site compare
Every completed stroop test adds an anonymous result to this site's histogram. This page shows the median and distribution once 20 results have been recorded (3 so far); until then the bands above are the guide. The live figures are always on the benchmarks page and at /api/data/norms.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good Stroop test score?
It depends on the version. On this site, 22+ correct in the timed run is average, 26+ excellent and 29+ exceptional. In research versions, healthy adults answer over 95% correctly and are 100–200 ms slower per item when the ink and word conflict.
What does the Stroop test measure?
Selective attention and inhibitory control — the ability to suppress the automatic reading of a word in order to name its ink colour. It is a standard measure of executive function.
Can you train the Stroop effect away?
Practice reduces the interference cost by roughly a third, mainly through faster response mapping, but the effect remains in every fluent reader. Sleep and attention on the day matter as much as training.
Related guides
- Average Reaction Time: What Is a Good Score?
- What Is a Good Processing Speed Score?
- What Is a Good Number Memory Score? Digit Span Explained
- Benchmarks: how scores on this site are distributed
- All free tests
Site figures are anonymous results recorded on getmytestscore.co.uk and describe this site's players only; they are not clinical norms and should not be used for diagnosis. Research figures are cited from peer-reviewed sources and summarised in plain English.