Short answer: The ten "Outlook on life" questions (Q51 to Q60) ask how you feel about time: old songs, "back in my day", the future, younger people. Two of them are nearly the same question, and three of them pay their top points for looking after other people, which depends on your stage of life more than on your mind.
I'm Muhammad Husnain Zahid. Try the ten questions above before reading on, since they take a minute. Below I go through the repeats, the "people who depend on me" pattern, and the questions I think hold up best. Every one of the ten is on the full question list.
The same question twice
Q51 says: "Something from 'when you were young' comes on." Q59 says: "A song from years ago plays somewhere." They are the same situation in different words, and the options follow the same path.
| Q51, a song from when you were young | Q59, a song from years ago | |
|---|---|---|
| First option | That was five minutes ago, are you sure (12) | That's not old, that's now (12) |
| Second option | That's basically still current (22) | Feels like yesterday (22) |
| Third option | That takes me right back (36) | A proper wave of nostalgia (37) |
| Fourth option | A full lifetime ago now, and it shows (58) | It's strange how far away that year feels now (57) |
The points are almost identical, 12 and 12, 22 and 22, 36 and 37, 58 and 57. So old music counts twice in this category: two of the ten questions, a fifth of it, ask about one feeling. If you are fond of old music at any age, you will score high on two questions at once.
Three questions where the top answer is "other people"
Q54 asks what you want most days. The top option is "for everyone I love to be alright" (52). Q57 asks about the future, and the top option is "with plans for people other than myself" (53). Q60 asks what matters most right now, and the top option is "the people who depend on me being alright" (53).
So three of ten questions put their highest points on caring for others. That is a reasonable way to describe many adults. It is also a description of a stage of life. A twenty-two-year-old who looks after a younger brother or sister picks those answers honestly, and so does a sixty-year-old with no dependents who would pick the third option. The quiz cannot tell the difference between a mind that has grown and a life that has given someone responsibilities.
To me these top options describe parents and grandparents more than they describe young carers, so the points favour people who already have people depending on them.
The questions that I think hold up
Not every question here is shaky. Q52 (someone younger disagrees with you) runs from "there is no one younger than me" (8, the lowest option in the category) through arguing loudly (20) and hearing them out (35) to "I mostly just hope they get there in their own time" (55). That is a recognisable ladder, and I think the points match how people at different ages tend to respond. Q58 (what you'd tell your younger self) also works: "I am my younger self" (9) to "a fairly long list, said gently" (56).
Q55 has the widest range in the category, from 9 ("Outside, until someone calls me in") to 57 ("In the garden, in silence, and loving it"). It is a nice picture at both ends, though it assumes you have a garden.
A phrase that scores as old
Q53 is about the phrase "back in my day". The options go from "not something I've ever had reason to say" (10) to "a full sentence I now say without irony" (56). I like this one because it is about language, not about what has happened to you. People of any age can say the phrase as a joke, which is exactly what option two (21) describes.
The wide and the narrow
Averaged over the ten questions, the first option is worth about 10 points and the last about 55. That gap of 45 is the third widest in the test. The four option positions average roughly 10, 21, 35 and 55, and picking at random gives about 30. Q54 has the narrowest range, from 11 to 52, because its top option is the lowest fourth option in the category.
Where the outlook points come from
I searched social media for questions people like answering, wrote some myself and asked friends and people around me about the others. The points come from how I see children, adults and older people think about time. A child lives in today and has no past to look back on. An adult plans. An older person remembers, and often worries about others. I placed the four options along that line.
These are my judgements, and they were not checked against real ages.
Where I think this category is unfair
It treats nostalgia as age. Fond memories of a song are not a sign that you are old. They are a sign that you have a past, and that is true at any age.
It treats responsibility as maturity. The three "other people" questions reward a life situation. A better version would score how well you look after others, not whether you have anyone to look after.
It counts one feeling twice. As shown above, Q51 and Q59 are close to the same question. If I rebuild this category, one of them will go.
Reading your outlook number
- Under 20: you leaned on the first two options. Time feels short or far away, and you are busy with today.
- 20 to 40: a mix of plans and memories, which is where most people are.
- Above 40: open the list of your answers and see whether it was the music questions (Q51, Q59), the "other people" questions (Q54, Q57, Q60) or the rest. Each of those says something different.
Why ten answers is a weak signal
This category is a tenth of the full test, and it moves your final result by about four points at most. It is also affected by mood. A quiet evening and a song you like can lift your answers for an hour. Your answers on this page stay in your own browser, so you can try it again on another day and compare. To see how it fits together, take the full test. I explain how the whole number is built in How a Mental Age Score Is Really Worked Out, and I wrote about why people feel older than they are in Why Do I Feel Older Than My Age?.
What this does not tell you
It is not a measure of wisdom, nostalgia or how well you look after people. It is a light quiz for fun and self-reflection, with no scientific validation. If thoughts about the past or the future are weighing on you, a trusted person or a professional is a better place to start, and the help resources page lists free, confidential support.
Sources and further reading
- How the whole number is built: the age guide and How a Mental Age Score Is Really Worked Out.
- Every question and answer option: the full question list.
Frequently asked questions
Which two questions are almost the same?
Q51 and Q59 both ask about an old song playing. Their options score 12, 22, 36 and 58 in one and 12, 22, 37 and 57 in the other, so music counts twice.
Why do three questions reward caring for others?
Q54, Q57 and Q60 put their top points on looking after people. That describes a stage of life as much as a way of thinking.
Does missing the past mean I am old?
No. Having a past is not the same as being old. The quiz scores nostalgia as age, and I think that is one of its weaker habits.
Is this a measure of wisdom?
No. It is a short quiz for fun and self-reflection and it has not been scientifically validated.