Fewer Than 1% of People Can Pass This Colour Test—Can You?

Naming the colours in the rainbow is easy, but can you differentiate between shades of the same colour?

Every single day, human eyes process thousands of colours. But the way you see the green of the leaves on trees might be slightly different than how someone else sees it. If you think your eyes are sharper than others and want to test your sight skills, challenge yourself to this very difficult colour test. (If you already know that you have 20/20 vision, see if you can pass our tricky medical trivia quiz.)

United Kingdom-based retailer Lenstore created an interactive colour test to see how well various people can perceive colour. It’s not as easy as you might think; fewer than one per cent of people scored perfect. They tested the eyes of 2,000 United Kingdom residents to see which demographics have the strongest colour perception. The 10-question quiz tests people’s ability to differentiate between multiple colour shades.

After the results came in, they found that the majority of people (24.1 per cent) scored six out of 10 on the colour test. Just 23.4 per cent got five right, 17.4 per cent got seven right, and only 0.2 per cent got all 10 questions correct. Here’s the full breakdown:

  • 0 right answers: 0.2% of respondents got this result
  • 1 right answer: 0.3%
  • 2 right answers: 2.2%
  • 3 right answers: 7.4%
  • 4 right answers: 13.7%
  • 5 right answers: 23.4%
  • 6 right answers: 24.1%
  • 7 right answers: 17.4%
  • 8 right answers: 9.1%
  • 9 right answers: 2.0%
  • 10 right answers: 0.2%

Here’s the colour test itself:

Colour is in the Eye of the Beholder by Lenstore UK

While analyzing the results, Lenstore also discovered that women are able to perceive and differentiate colours better than men. The average score on the test for females was 57.7 per cent and the average for males was 53.8 per cent.

How did you make out on the colour test? If you need another crack at it, test your eyesight with another brainteasing colour quiz.

Reader's Digest
Originally Published on Reader's Digest