As an Enneagram professional who’s worked in this community for the last nearly 10 years, I get this question all the time. There seems to be an unending number of tests out there telling you they’ll help you understand your Enneagram type. Some are free, some cost money, some are short, while others feel extensive to the point of exhausting. So which one is the best? Which one should you take? Are we getting what we pay for or do free ones work? Are the longer tests more accurate or is less more?
Here is the definitive answer to the question, “What Enneagram test should I take?”:
None of them.
Hang with me here. Yes, I apologize for the clickbait title, but I feel very strongly about helping people understand themselves and transform their lives with the Enneagram and tests are not the ideal place to start that journey. I have three main reasons for adamantly arguing against the use of Enneagram tests, so let’s dive in:
1. Tests Are Not Accurate
I once heard an Enneagram professional say that tests are likely only right about a third of the time, and from my experience I would say it might even be less than that. Now, this isn’t because the tests are made by idiots, but because we don’t have any way to test for motivation. Yes, we can ask people all about the way they behave in the world, and even some about how they feel, or the things they think, but the foundational principle of the Enneagram is not behavior, it’s motivation.
Two people can show up in similar situations and behave in very similar ways, but have entirely different motivations for doing so. For instance, both someone who leads with Type 7 and someone who leads with Type 2 might find themselves cheering people up after the group’s favorite football team lost, but their motivations would be wildly different. The 7 would be focusing on lifting people’s spirits because they can’t tolerate “bad vibes” at a party, but a 2 would be bringing cheer because they want to be seen as helpful and indispensable. (This is obviously a gross overgeneralization, but you get the point.)
The complicated natures of deciphering someone’s motivation is too nuanced and complex for a multiple choice question. All a test can show you, at best, is how you act in certain situations and then make an assumption of type based off of what is usually very stereotypical descriptions of the types. Sure some people will take a test and it will be accurate, but as they say, even a broken clock is right twice a day.
On top of this obvious shortcoming in the tests currently available, there’s the added difficulty of the fact that a test can’t measure what you aren’t aware of. For most of us, before diving deeply into the Enneagram, we had no idea what was really driving our behavior, and even if we had an inkling, we would have assumed everyone else had the same experience.
The Enneagram is powerful because it helps us understand the unconscious parts of ourselves that have been driving our bus for most of our lives. This is the thing that most impactfully sets it apart from things like MBTI, DISC, Clifton Strengths, and many of the other tools that are only telling you things you already know. The Enneagram highlights the things you can’t see, and thus invites you into the expansiveness you have yet to experience.
If you don’t know what’s driving your behavior, there’s no way you’ll be able to fill the right bubble on a standardized test.
2. We Take Tests to Get The Right Answer—Not The True Answer.
I admit this may be different outside the US, but at least in this country, when we take a test we want to get the right answer. Now, of course this wouldn’t seem like much of a problem until we realize sometimes the “right” answer isn’t the “true” answer.
Any standardized test or even buzzfeed style quiz immediately elicits some level of performance from the person taking it. We want to ace the test! It’s a totally natural impulse. But what this impulse does, more often than not, is push us to answer as the person we would like to be, or the person we think we should be, more than the person we are.
Believe it or not, being truthful about who we are can take a fair amount of time and effort. And if we’re not careful, the way we have been enculturated to relate to “tests” will drastically sway how we answer each question.
This is especially true for Type 3’s, literally called “The Performers.” Threes are almost never identified correctly using tests because the type structure is so adept at playing the part they think must be played. I’ve seen Type 3’s mistype as literally every other type around the Enneagram. No joke. Even if we could create the world’s most accurate test by all the qualifications I mentioned above, how could it possibly discern whether what someone answered was real for them in the deepest way instead of just a persona they put on?
3. Tests Start You Off On The Wrong Foot.
I saved this point for last because even if we created a test that was precise and able to discern motivation and could detect Type 3’s and everyone in the world suddenly was able to take the test from an honest and self-aware place I still wouldn’t recommend them.
The way we receive information has an incredible impact on how we can use and relate to that information. If the Enneagram were like all the corporate darling personality assessments, designed to simply show your strengths and where you can best leverage your energy, then a test wouldn’t be a problem. If all we’re trying to do is gain clarity and create some sort of office or family shorthand to talk about how we each show up in situations—fine, a test would be perfect.
But the Enneagram offers us so much more than that.
The Enneagram can certainly act as a shorthand and can bring immense clarity to situations, but more than just showing us what we do in situations, it’s showing us why and inviting us into a journey of self-discovery with the ultimate goals of self-mastery and true self-remembering. If we’re just handed a number at the end of some quiz, then we’re likely to assume that’s the end of it. That’s who we are. Tests come with some strange sense of authority and finality that is antithetical to what the Enneagram is really about.
We’re all sensitive to being treated like just a number, and tests do just that. They reduce the process of understanding your type to a mere exchange of information. Put data into the computer and with the magic of some algorithm, different data comes out, tattoo the barcode on your arm, that’s it. Test create the illusion of convenience by removing a key element: relationship.
A test removes a trusted guide from the situation, promising to give you the wisdom of the sages if you just answer these questions and drop in your quarter. It devalues the generations of people who have passed this down in order to support people on their journeys. And maybe worst of all, it damages our relationship to ourselves. By buying in to the assumption that the whole of our personality could be understood in just a few multiple choice questions, we flatten ourselves to something that fits that description.
The Enneagram is dynamic, expansive, and truly alive, and it invites us into a dynamic, expansive, and alive understanding of ourselves and those around us. To start such a journey by giving up our authority to a small, static, technology would be a blasphemy.
So, what should we do instead?
We’ve established that tests are ineffective at best, and harmful at worst. So, how the hell are we supposed to figure this out?
This may be one of the most radical and truly transformative things about the Enneagram: no one can tell you your Enneagram type, not even a test. So, it’s up to you to discover through personal study and self-observation which type most resonates with you. Honestly, this is one of the things I love most about the Enneagram. It requires you to step up to the plate in a real and authentic way before you can even start the journey.
Most people discover their number by reading the simple descriptions available in most books or on the ones on my website. As you read through the different types, start by crossing out the ones you know you’re not, then usually you’ll find two or three that really resonate. Once you’ve narrowed it down, I suggest looking at the more negative aspects of each type. It can feel easy to identify with the positive aspects of all of the types, but there’s usually only one type who’s negative side we can’t deny.
If you’ve spent time reflecting on basic descriptions and still feel unsure, I direct clients to listen to panels to get a clearer understanding of their types. Panels are made up of 3 or more folks of the same type sharing about what it’s like to be them. Hearing about the type from the source allows you to see and hear the type more clearly. Panels allow you to see the expansiveness of each type and the diversity of experience each can hold, while maintaining the thread that makes the type what it is. Most people listen to or watch panels and then can hear the type that “speaks their language.”
And, if all else fails, some schools of Enneagram teaching like The Narrative Enneagram have developed an interviewing system that provides a space for participants to learn more about themselves and discover their number by having themselves reflected back by a trained professional. I’ve done hundreds of typing interviews in my career and they are always such a wonderful experience. And this isn’t just me telling folks what I think they are, it’s truly a collaborative process of self-discovery and Enneagram education.
If you’re struggling to find your type, check out the descriptions on my website here: www.consciousenneagram.com/enneagram Or reach out here to book your typing interview!
Observation is the foundation of all knowledge, in my opinion. That's where truth springs from, as well as from critical thinking and analysis.
I agree 100%! I was mistyped for years because I over-relied on tests. They only helped when I did the Progressive Enneagram years ago, a fb group where you'd answer one question from the RHETI each day over 4 months. The idea was to get a more accurate picture over time—and it did help push me in the right direction. But in general, learning and digging is the way to go!