Chimp Test Average Score: What's Good on Human Benchmark?
There's no official published chimp test average score, but as a rough rule of thumb, most first-time players on Human Benchmark finish somewhere in the high single digits, with low double digits being a solid result and the high teens and beyond reserved for people who practise with a strategy. Your exact score depends heavily on how many tries you've had and whether you use chunking.
If you keep crashing out at the same level and want to know whether memory, focus or pattern spotting is the real limit, IQ Tester checks each one and gives you a short daily drill: Find my weak spots.
Heads up: the tiers in this post are our ballpark guide, not official data. Human Benchmark shows a live score distribution under each test, and that chart is the best place to see where you land right now.
Chimp test average score
First, how the chimp test works on Human Benchmark:
- Numbered squares appear in random spots on a grid.
- You click them in order: 1, then 2, then 3.
- The moment you click 1, the rest of the numbers turn into blank squares. Now you're clicking from memory.
- Get it right and the next round adds one more number.
- You get a few strikes. Run out and your score is the highest number of squares you cleared.
It starts easy with just a handful of numbers, which is why nearly everyone clears the first few rounds. The chimp test average for humans sits where things start to wobble: the point where there are more squares than your brain can comfortably hold at once.
Why "average" is slippery here
- Practice changes everything. Scores often jump across your first few attempts as you learn the layout.
- Self-selection. People who post their chimp test score online are usually proud of it.
- Device. Mouse vs touchscreen changes how fast and accurately you click.
So treat any "average chimp test score" you see on Reddit or TikTok as a vibe check, not a stat.
What's a good chimp test score?
Here's our rough, unofficial guide:
| Score (numbers cleared) | What it roughly means |
|---|---|
| Under 8 | Just starting out; totally normal on first tries |
| 8 to 10 | Typical territory for casual players |
| 11 to 14 | Good; you're probably chunking without trying |
| 15 to 20 | Very good; you've got a deliberate strategy |
| 20+ | Elite; dedicated practice territory |
Chimp test record and world record
Human Benchmark doesn't publish an official world record list the way a sport would, and the test caps out at the size of the grid. You'll see screenshots of maxed-out runs online, but treat them as unverified. The only record that really matters is your own personal best.
Where the chimp test comes from (Ayumu)
The chimp test is based on a real experiment. At Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute, researchers Sana Inoue and Tetsuro Matsuzawa trained young chimpanzees on a touchscreen number task, published in 2007 in Current Biology.
The star was a young chimp named Ayumu. In the task:
- Numbers 1 to 9 flashed on screen for a fraction of a second.
- They were then replaced by white squares.
- Ayumu had to touch the squares in the right order.
When the numbers were shown for very short times, Ayumu beat the university students who tried the same task. That's why it's called the chimp test, and why it went viral.
How much does a chimp get on the chimp test?
People ask this a lot. The honest answer: chimps never played the Human Benchmark version, so there's no chimp test chimp score to compare. What we know is that in the original research, Ayumu handled up to nine numbers under extremely short display times, which is why he looked so impressive. For more on ape intelligence, see our post on the IQ of a chimpanzee.
Can humans beat chimps?
Yes, in many ways, and it depends on the conditions.
- The online version gives you as long as you want to look before clicking 1. That's a huge advantage chimps didn't get in the fastest trials.
- Later research found that humans who practised the task could get much closer to chimp-level performance.
- Chimps seem to be especially strong at grabbing a quick visual snapshot. Humans tend to win on strategy, language and reasoning.
So "are you smarter than a chimp?" is the wrong question. On one narrow snapshot-memory task, a trained chimp is a beast. On basically everything else, you're fine.
Strategies to raise your score
This is how to get better at the chimp test without just grinding it 200 times.
1. Chunk the numbers
Don't memorise 12 separate squares. Group them: "1-2-3 are the top-left triangle, 4-5 are the pair at the bottom, 6-7-8 go in a line." Four or five chunks are way easier than twelve dots.
2. Encode it spatially
Trace the path of the numbers with your eyes like a route on a map. Your brain is great at remembering routes and shapes.
3. Take your time before clicking 1
The clock doesn't start until you click. Study the grid for a few seconds. Most people rush and throw away free memorisation time.
4. Name the shapes
"Zigzag," "L-shape," "the lonely one on the right." Giving a chunk a name makes it stick.
5. Stop when you're tired
Scores dip when you're fried. Three focused attempts beat twenty tilted ones.
The frustrating bit is you can't tell from a chimp test score alone whether your limit is memory, focus or how fast you spot patterns. IQ Tester figures that out for you across memory, speed, patterns, mental maths, verbal, logic and focus, then gives you a short daily drill for the weakest one. Find my weak spots
What the chimp test says about working memory
The chimp test mainly taps visuospatial working memory: how much "where things are" info you can hold and use for a few seconds.
- It's related to the kind of memory used in maths, following directions and games.
- It's not an IQ test. A high score doesn't mean you're a genius, and a low one doesn't mean you're not.
- Scores improve a lot with practice and strategy, which tells you they measure a skill, not a fixed trait.
If memory tests are your thing, compare your results on the other Human Benchmark tests too: visual memory and sequence memory test similar skills in different ways. For the bigger picture, see why is my working memory so bad.
Beat the chimp test average score by knowing your weak spot
A chimp test score shows one narrow skill. IQ Tester looks wider: 20 untimed questions across number series, verbal analogy, logic and pattern, with your score band and three of your four category strengths shown on the free result. Its guides then give you a short daily drill for memory, focus or whatever's holding you back.
FAQ
What is a good chimp test score?
As a rough, unofficial guide, 11 to 14 is good and 15 or more is very good. The live distribution chart on Human Benchmark shows where current players land.
What is the average human score on the chimp test?
There's no official published average. As a rough, unofficial guide, casual players often finish somewhere in the high single digits to about 10, and scores tend to rise once people learn to chunk.
Is the chimp test an IQ test?
No. It measures a slice of visuospatial working memory, not overall intelligence. It's fun and useful for training memory, but it isn't an IQ score.
How do I get better at the chimp test?
Group the numbers into chunks, trace their path like a route, and take your time before clicking the first square. Practise in short, focused sessions rather than long tilted ones.
Who was Ayumu the chimp?
Ayumu is a chimpanzee from Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute who outperformed university students on a briefly flashed number-memory task in a 2007 study. The online chimp test is inspired by that experiment.