Alcohol use screener
The AUDIT, free and scored instantly
10 questions, about 3 minutes. Your answers stay in your browser. We only see them if you ask us to.
Take the AUDIT
The full ten-question AUDIT, developed by the World Health Organization; the three-question AUDIT-C on this site is its short form. It asks how much and how often you drink, and whether drinking has caused problems over the past year. Honest answers are the only useful ones, and nobody sees them unless you send them. Our note on the questions: in the United States a standard drink is about 14 grams of alcohol (NIAAA), which is a 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, or a 1.5-ounce shot of spirits.
Because alcohol use can affect your health and can interfere with certain medications and treatments, it is important that we ask some questions about your use of alcohol. Your answers will remain confidential so please be honest.
If you are thinking about harming yourself
You answered that you have had thoughts of being better off dead, or of hurting yourself. Please talk to someone now. It is free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911. This website is not monitored for emergencies.
Your result
0 / 40
This is a screening tool, not a diagnosis. It cannot tell you what you have. Only a conversation with a clinician can do that, and a low score does not mean your experience is not real or not worth help.
Would you like us to look at this with you?
We can send your answers to our clinical team and call you back, usually within one business day. Entirely optional; your result is yours either way.
Or go straight to the practical part:
Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Babor, Higgins-Biddle, Saunders & Monteiro (2001). AUDIT: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, Guidelines for Use in Primary Care, second edition, World Health Organization (WHO/MSD/MSB/01.6a), self-report version. Copyright World Health Organization 2001. WHO permits the document to be reproduced in part or in whole, but not for sale or in conjunction with commercial purposes; this screener is free, and WHO does not endorse this practice.
If you need help right now, you do not have to finish this first. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential and open 24 hours. Call or text988. In immediate danger, call 911.
What the AUDIT measures
The full ten-question AUDIT, developed by the World Health Organization; the three-question AUDIT-C on this site is its short form. It asks how much and how often you drink, and whether drinking has caused problems over the past year. Honest answers are the only useful ones, and nobody sees them unless you send them. Our note on the questions: in the United States a standard drink is about 14 grams of alcohol (NIAAA), which is a 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, or a 1.5-ounce shot of spirits.
It is scored out of 40 by adding the 10 answers, and the World Health Organization groups totals into four zones, with 8 as the usual cut-off; WHO also suggests setting it one point lower, at 7, for women and for people over 65. WHO asks a clinician to look at the answers to questions 4 to 6, 9 and 10 on their own as well, whatever the total, which a page cannot do for you and a conversation can. The zones are a guide, not a grade.
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–7 | Zone I | Your answers fall below the usual cut-off of 8. WHO treats this range as lower risk, where general information about alcohol is the recommended response. |
| 8–15 | Zone II | Your answers are at or above the cut-off of 8, the range WHO describes as hazardous or harmful drinking, where a brief conversation with a clinician is the recommended response. |
| 16–19 | Zone III | Your answers are in the range where WHO recommends brief counseling and continued follow-up with a clinician. It is a prompt for that conversation, not a diagnosis. |
| 20–40 | Zone IV | Your answers are in the range where WHO recommends a full assessment by a specialist. Please speak to a clinician before making big changes on your own: stopping suddenly after heavy drinking can need medical support, and help is available. |
What it cannot do
A screener cannot diagnose you. It asks a fixed set of questions and scores the answers by a fixed rule; it knows nothing about your history, your circumstances, or anything you were not asked. Two people with the same score can need very different things, and someone with a low score can still be struggling in a way that deserves help. If your result worries you, or if it does not match how you actually feel, that mismatch is worth a conversation on its own.
Where this instrument comes from
Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Babor, Higgins-Biddle, Saunders & Monteiro (2001). AUDIT: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, Guidelines for Use in Primary Care, second edition, World Health Organization (WHO/MSD/MSB/01.6a), self-report version.
We publish it here under its authors' own terms. Copyright World Health Organization 2001. WHO permits the document to be reproduced in part or in whole, but not for sale or in conjunction with commercial purposes; this screener is free, and WHO does not endorse this practice. We have not reworded any item. A screener is validated as a specific set of words with a specific response scale, and changing them would make the scores above meaningless.
Wondering what your result actually means?
A clinician can tell you in one conversation what a score never will. Request an appointment online at any time, or call during office hours.
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