Discovering your strengths boosts your performance, increases engagement, and empowers you to live a more fulfilling life. And strength tests are valuable tools in identifying your unique superpowers.
The High 5 Test is such a tool.
But how good is the High 5 test in identifying your strengths?
And how does it compare to alternatives?
In today’s review, I’ll provide my opinion about the results, what I liked, and what I didn’t like about the strengths test.
So let’s dive in!
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What is the High 5 Test?
The HIGH5 company aims to change the world by helping people understand themselves and others.
That’s why they created the HIGH5 test.
The idea is simple: answer 120 intuitive questions about yourself, and the test measures how you perform in 20 strength topics in 4 categories.
The results reveal the unique order of those 20 topics from strength to weakness. And the top 5 are your focus strengths or superpowers.
What makes the HIGH5 test unique?
Positive psychology is a relatively new field that shifted the focus from mental issues and weaknesses to positive traits and strengths.
And that resulted in many new personality and strength tests.
Including the HIGH5 test.
However, there are two approaches to positive psychology:
- Theoretical: focus on scientific knowledge and general human behavior theories that result in universally applicable findings.
- Applied: focus on specific real-life problems that result in more specific but practical findings.
What sets HIGH5 apart is that they combine the benefits of both approaches, whereas most other tests only focus on one.
Unsurprisingly, over 3 million people have taken the HIGH5 test.
So how does the test work?
The HIGH5 test is the most straightforward and intuitive test I’ve taken. While I struggled to provide some answers in other tests, I easily cruised through this one.
And here’s why:
- The questions are clear and easy to understand;
- You use an intuitive slider to provide the answer.
The idea is to slide until you feel good about your answer.
And it works like magic.
Although there are 120 questions to answer, the slider approach makes you go through them in about 15 minutes.
Okay, so the test is simple and intuitive.
But what about what really matters: the results?
HIGH5 test categories and strengths list
Curious about what gets measured?
Let’s take a quick peek at the 4 strength families and 20 individual topics:
The free test results
The free test results reveal your top 5 strengths.
You also get a brief and full description of your top 5 strengths and what makes them important to you.
For example, my first strength is “Believer”.
The full description then provides more context on the above.
My strength descriptions were accurate.
And one of the insights I got from this example is to know my values. So after doing the HIGH5 test, I immediately jumped into some exercises to clarify my values.
Pretty cool insights for a free report.
But the full report reveals the real juicy stuff.
Full report insights
Besides your top 5 focus strengths, this report provides insights into the strengths you can leverage (6-10), weaknesses to navigate (11-15) and the ones you should delegate (16-20).
But it gets better.
The main reasons for getting this report are the additional insights and actionable next steps for each focus strength.
Here’s what’s included:
- How to develop it further: This section provides actionable steps to live your strengths. My first strengths provide the following insights: write down my values, reflect on how they affect others, and play a role in something greater, like a purpose-driven company.
- Watch outs: Every strength comes with its pitfalls which you learn about in this section. For example, one of mine is that I can feel stubborn toward others. And that I can focus on being against something as opposed to being for something. Both are accurate.
- Strength dynamics: This section explains how your focus strengths work together. For example, it describes how my Believer and Focus Expert strengths work together and what it means.
- Best partners: Learn the best partners for each of your focus strengths. And how you can benefit from each other. For example, I would benefit from a partner whose focus strength is Chameleon, which often appeared in my top 5.
- Career applications: The final section provides practical ideas on how to apply your strengths in a professional setting. For example, one of my tips is to find places to do focused work. At my previous job, the office was an open space, and when we started working from home, I noticed I was more focused.
Some of these ideas are not rocket science.
Yet, it revealed many essential points that I neglected. And gaining clarity in my strengths allowed me to realign myself with them. Doing so improved my energy and empowered me to move forward.
And that’s why I enjoy the HIGH5 test.
How does the test compare to StrengthsFinder?
Another popular strengths test I’ve taken is StrengthFinders (formerly known as Clifton Strengths). And I’ll admit: I like both.
Each provides great insights – but from slightly different angles.
So, if you want to maximize your insights, I recommend doing both tests and comparing your results (including other personality tests).
Only want to pick one?
If you’ve never done a strengths test before or are looking for actionable insights at a good price, then I recommend the HIGH5 test.
StrengthsFinder is very similar but costs twice as much, and the test takes twice as long. While you get measured in 4 categories and 34 topics, the most significant difference lies in how they structure the insights.
It’s not better, but different.
That’s why those tests complement each other well.
However, since the HIGH5 test is so intuitive and fast to take and also more affordable, I recommend starting there.
The verdict
While there are many positive things I’ve to say about the HIGH5 test, there are a few things I hope they will improve (which they might have done by the time you take the test because you can suggest features).
Here’s what I liked:
- The test itself is intuitive, simple and quick.
- The free report gave a good idea of my strengths.
- The full report provides actionable insights that you can apply immediately. I enjoyed the ideas of this section the most.
- The career application ideas were relatable and on-point. And you’ll love this section if you feel unhappy or unfulfilled at work.
- The full report is also very affordable.
The features I suggested:
- A few actionable tips for my secondary strengths (6-10).
- Insights to navigate and delegate my weaknesses would be a plus too. However, I suppose it’s by design since other tests don’t seem to cover this.
- PDF download option for the report.
The last bullet point can be an opportunity if you want an offline report.
Here’s why:
It forces you to write down the main points in a word document or slide presentation (unless you take screenshots). And while this takes some time, it internalizes your insights at a deeper level.
I just inspired myself to create a brief slide presentation while writing this section.
Either way…
There are no downsides to taking the HIGH5 test.
And if this is your first time doing a strengths test, then take the test now and, at the very least, see if you can relate to your top 5 strengths.
