About

Purity Test is a basic self-administered survey that is designed to assess one's supposed degree of innocence or spiritual purity through a series of questions on personal habits, such as sex, drugs, deceit and other habits that are generally perceived as vices. The final score is usually displayed in percentage or in points. Following its online emergence through Usenet newsgroups, the meme has branched out into a wide variety of situations and stereotypes, from computer-related tests to political views.

Origin

One of the earliest documented instances of the test has been attributed to The Unisex Purity Test, written in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Baker House sometime before 1980. The first incarnation had two parallel versions, 100 questions each; one for male, and one for female.

The Hacker Test

The Hacker Purity Test is "a compendium of fact and folklore about computer hackerdom cunningly disguised as a test", written by Felix Lee, John Hayes, and Angela Thomas on June 16, 1989. According to the official website for the test^[1], it was last revised by William Ward on December 8th 1989.

Spread

Search Interest

External References

^[1] Armory.com – THE HACKER TEST – Version 1.0 / 6-16-1989