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The Wonderlic Personnel Test is a 12 minute, 50 question test of general cognitive ability. For decades the NFL used it at the Scouting Combine, alongside the physical testing, to gauge how quickly a prospect could take in and apply new information under time pressure.

It is no longer part of the Combine. The league stopped administering the Wonderlic there ahead of the 2022 Combine and moved to its own cognitive assessment, with individual clubs adding tools of their own. Anything describing the Wonderlic as the NFL’s current standard test is out of date.

What follows is what the test involved, how it was scored, why it was dropped, and what to do if you are facing a timed cognitive test of your own.

Where the Wonderlic came from

The test was created in the 1930s by Eldon F. Wonderlic, then a graduate student at Northwestern University. It was built for employers: a short, standardised way to measure general problem-solving ability across any role, rather than knowledge of a particular job.

NFL teams picked it up in the 1970s, and by the time the Combine became a televised event the Wonderlic had turned into one of its most discussed elements. The appeal was simple. Football asks players to learn complex systems quickly and make decisions at speed, and a short general reasoning test looked like a cheap proxy for that.

What the test involved

  • 50 multiple-choice questions with a hard 12 minute limit
  • One point per correct answer, so the maximum score is 50
  • A rotating mix of verbal, numerical and logical items rather than blocks of one type
  • Questions that get harder as the test goes on, so very few people reach the end

No specialist knowledge is needed. The difficulty sits almost entirely in the clock, which works out at roughly 14 seconds a question if you attempt all 50.

Here are questions in the style of the test, with the reasoning shown:

1. Reverse the order of the following: 8 6 4 2.

The answer is 2 4 6 8. The only real risk is reading it as a trick and spending ten seconds looking for one.

2. If rope costs 20 cents per 2 feet, how much does n feet cost?

Convert to a unit rate first: 20 cents per 2 feet is 10 cents per foot, so n feet costs 10n cents. An answer with a letter in it tempts people into algebra they do not need.

3. In the English alphabet, what is the fifth letter to the right of the fifteenth letter from the left?

The fifteenth letter is O. Counting five to the right gives P, Q, R, S, T, so the answer is T. The trap is counting the starting letter as one of the five.

That is the pattern of the whole test: nothing conceptually hard, everything decided by how fast you can read precisely and switch between question types.

How scores were used, and why the numbers online are unreliable

Scores ran from 0 to 50 and were only ever meant to be one input among many, sitting beside physical testing, interviews, film study and board work.

That context matters, because the NFL has never published results and no club has published its scoring bands. Almost every individual score, positional average and cut-off quoted online traces back to leaks and second-hand reporting rather than released data, and different sources give different numbers for the same player. Treat all of them as unverified, and be most sceptical of the ones attached to famous names, which have been repeated often enough to read as fact.

What can be said is that the test was never designed to predict football performance. It was designed to compare general problem-solving speed across ordinary jobs, and it was borrowed into a setting it was not built for.

Why the NFL dropped it

Three criticisms built up over the years.

  • Weak link to performance. No convincing relationship was ever demonstrated between Wonderlic scores and how players actually performed, which is difficult to defend for a measure given that much airtime.
  • Leaks. Scores were supposed to be confidential and routinely were not. Individual results appeared in the media each spring and were used to mock prospects publicly, which serves neither the league nor the player.
  • What it really measures. A timed test built largely from reading and arithmetic rewards education and reading speed as much as raw reasoning, and it does not resemble the thinking football actually demands.

Reports in January 2022 confirmed the league would stop administering it at the Combine, and it has not returned.

What the NFL uses instead

The league runs its own cognitive assessment, developed with input from teams and refined since it was introduced, and built to look more like football decision-making than a general workplace test from the 1930s.

Separately, a number of clubs use commercial cognitive assessments that measure reaction-based skills rather than pen-and-paper arithmetic: how fast someone takes in a visual scene, how well they track several moving objects at once, how quickly they can predict where something is heading, and how well they hold back an impulse when a play breaks down. Beyond the formal tests, most of the real cognitive evaluation happens in interviews, film sessions and whiteboard work, where a coach can watch a player reason through the actual game.

Preparing for a timed cognitive test

Most people reading about the Wonderlic are not headed for the Combine, they are facing a timed cognitive or aptitude test for a job. The format is close enough that the preparation is the same, and it is one of the few assessments where practice reliably helps, because so much of the score comes down to familiarity and pace.

  • Practise with the clock from the first question. Untimed practice builds accuracy you cannot use. Sit full timed sets of cognitive ability tests so the pace stops being a shock.
  • Get used to switching. These tests jump between word problems, arithmetic and logic with no warning, so mixed sets prepare you better than blocks of one type.
  • Read precisely. Most lost marks are misreadings rather than reasoning failures. Verbal reasoning tests train you to hold exactly what a sentence says.
  • Rebuild mental arithmetic. Percentages, ratios and unit rates without a calculator: basic numeracy tests cover the ground.
  • Drill rule spotting. Sequence and pattern items reward a method rather than inspiration, which is what logical reasoning tests build.
  • Have an answer order. Take the questions you can settle quickly and leave the rest. One question you refuse to abandon can cost you several easy marks further down the paper.

If you have never sat anything like this, start with our free aptitude tests to see the formats without pressure.

Frequently asked questions

Does the NFL still use the Wonderlic test?

Not at the Scouting Combine. The league stopped administering it there ahead of the 2022 Combine and uses its own cognitive assessment instead.

What was a good Wonderlic score?

Scores ran from 0 to 50, one point per correct answer. Beyond that, treat published thresholds and positional averages with caution: the NFL never released results, so the figures in circulation come from leaks and vary between sources.

Was the Wonderlic an IQ test?

No. It was a short measure of general problem-solving speed built for employers. It has been informally compared with IQ scales, but it was not designed or validated as one.

Can you prepare for a test like this?

Yes, and the effect is larger than people expect. Knowing the format, having a pacing plan and being fluent in mental arithmetic all raise a score that is constrained mainly by time.