IPIP-NEO-120 - Deep Personality Inventory
120-item comprehensive personality assessment - 5 domains, 30 facets, public domain, free to use
120 items, 30 personality facets, 5 core domains. The deepest free Big Five test you will find -- built from the public-domain IPIP pool, correlates well with the commercial NEO-PI-R. About 20 minutes.
Big Five, Thirty Ways
You have probably taken a Big Five test before. Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism -- five scores, a simple outline. But personality is more granular than that. Are you conscientious because you are organized, or because you hate letting people down? Are you extraverted because you love company, or because you enjoy being the center of attention? The IPIP-NEO-120 splits each domain into 6 specific facets, giving you 30 scores instead of 5. Think of it as zooming in from a blurry outline to a sharp map.
Johnson (2014) built it from the public-domain IPIP item pool as a free substitute for the NEO-PI-R -- the 240-item commercial inventory that costs money and takes twice as long. The results correlate tightly with the NEO-PI-R (r ~ .85-.95), and the whole thing is free to use, modify, and share. 120 items, 5-point scale, about 20 minutes.
Five Domains, Thirty Facets
- Neuroticism (N): Anxiety, Anger, Depression, Self-Consciousness, Immoderation, Vulnerability
- Extraversion (E): Friendliness, Gregariousness, Assertiveness, Activity Level, Excitement-Seeking, Cheerfulness
- Openness (O): Imagination, Artistic Interests, Emotionality, Adventurousness, Intellect, Liberalism
- Agreeableness (A): Trust, Morality, Altruism, Cooperation, Modesty, Sympathy
- Conscientiousness (C): Self-Efficacy, Orderliness, Dutifulness, Achievement-Striving, Self-Discipline, Cautiousness
Each facet has 4 items (2 positively keyed, 2 reversed), each domain has 24. You get back 5 domain scores plus 30 facet scores -- the full picture.
How Is This Different From Other Big Five Tests Here?
The site currently has three Big Five options: big-five (50 items, domain-level only), BFI-44 (44 items, the classic), and BFI-2 (60 items, 15 facets). The IPIP-NEO-120 is the deepest -- 30 facets, essentially the research-grade standard. If you took BFI-2 and wanted more granularity, this is your next step.
Fair warning: 120 items takes some time. You might want to split it into two sessions or set aside a quiet 20 minutes. Results are for self-reflection, not diagnosis.
References
Johnson, J. A. (2014). Measuring thirty facets of the Five Factor Model with a 120-item public domain inventory. Journal of Research in Personality, 51, 78-89.
Goldberg, L. R., et al. (2006). The International Personality Item Pool and the future of public-domain personality measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 40(1), 84-96.
Result Interpretation
After completing the 120 questions, you'll receive an immediate, detailed report with:
- Your score — calculated automatically based on your responses
- Score interpretation — what your score means in practical terms
- Dimension breakdown — separate scores for each sub-scale
- Context — how your results compare to general population norms where available
All results are displayed on screen. No account or login needed.