Self-Efficacy Test: See Your Self-Efficacy Score, Adapted From the GSE
This self-assessment is informed by the General Self-Efficacy Scale (Schwarzer and Jerusalem, 1995), adapted into fresh wording for this page, then extended with an original breakdown across four everyday domains most self-efficacy tests skip. You get an instant score and a report you can bring to a coach or therapist.
Reviewed by Michael Callans, MSW 
Self-Efficacy Test (GSE-Informed) is a free, confidential 18-question self-assessment, informed by the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE), adapted wording. It takes about 5 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language score across 3 interpretation bands plus an optional in-depth report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
Your belief in your own ability to cope, measured two ways
Self-efficacy is not confidence in general. It is the specific belief that you can execute the actions needed to handle what life puts in front of you. This test scores a 10-item scale informed by the instrument researchers use, then shows you where that belief is strongest and weakest in your actual life.
General self-efficacy score
10 items informed by the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE), adapted into fresh, original wording for this page. The underlying scale has been translated into more than 30 languages, and a study of 19,120 participants found its one-factor structure held across 25 countries.
Domain breakdown
An original 8-item add-on across work, health, relationships, and learning, because a single global number hides where your belief in yourself is solid and where it is shaky.
What actually builds it
A plain-language walk through Bandura's four sources of self-efficacy, so a low score comes with a concrete next step instead of just a label.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| GSE-informed core questions | Sometimes | Yes, adapted wording |
| Domain breakdown (work, health, relationships, learning) | No | Yes (8 original items) |
| Explains self-efficacy vs self-esteem vs confidence | Rarely | Yes, in plain language |
| Bandura's four sources explained | No | Yes |
| Clinician-reviewed interpretation | Rarely | Yes, clinician reviewed |
| Optional in-depth personalized report | No | Yes, written to your exact scores |
| Answers stay on your device | Often tracked | Scored in your browser; we only receive anonymous completion counts unless you ask for a PDF or report |
How scoring works
Answers are scored 0–40 in total. Your result falls into one of 3 bands:
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–24 | Lower self-efficacy | Your score suggests you currently doubt your ability to handle difficult demands more often than not. That is workable, and very common. |
| 25–33 | Moderate self-efficacy | Your score sits close to the published international average, around 29. You generally trust yourself to cope, with room to grow. |
| 34–40 | High self-efficacy | Your score is well above the published international average. You generally trust your own ability to handle difficulty, which is a genuine asset. |
How This Test Is Scored
The 10 core items are scored from 1 (not at all true) to 4 (exactly true), the same response scale used in the published General Self-Efficacy Scale, for a total between 10 and 40. There is no reverse scoring; every item is worded in the direction of higher self-efficacy, so a higher total simply means you endorsed more of the statements more strongly. The 8 domain items use a separate 0 to 4 agreement scale and are reported on their own, split across work, health, relationships, and learning, so you can see the shape of your confidence rather than one flattened number.
We keep the two scores separate on purpose. The core total is informed by three decades of published GSE research using the same 1-to-4 numeric scale, though our item wording is adapted rather than the exact published GSE items, so treat any comparison to published averages as context, not an exact equivalence. The domain breakdown is our own addition, built to answer the question the GSE alone cannot: self-efficacy in which part of your life. Someone can score solidly on the core scale overall while carrying real doubt in one specific domain, and that distinction is only visible once you stop averaging it away.
Bandura's Four Sources of Self-Efficacy
Psychologist Albert Bandura, who coined the term, described four ways people build a belief in their own capability. Mastery experience is the strongest: actually succeeding at something, especially after working through a setback, teaches your brain more than any pep talk. Vicarious experience comes from watching someone similar to you succeed, which is part of why representation and mentorship matter so much. Verbal persuasion is other people telling you they believe you can do it, which helps most when it is specific and credible rather than generic cheerleading. Physiological and emotional states matter too: how you read a racing heart before a challenge, as excitement or as dread, shapes whether you expect to cope well.
None of these four sources requires becoming a different person. They are levers. If your domain breakdown shows a low score in one area, the fastest lift usually comes from engineering a small, winnable mastery experience in exactly that domain rather than trying to think your way into more confidence.
Self-Efficacy vs Self-Esteem vs Confidence
These three get used interchangeably and they are not the same thing. Self-esteem is a global judgment of your worth as a person: do I like who I am. Self-efficacy is narrower and more useful for action: do I believe I can execute this specific kind of task well enough to get through it. Confidence sits somewhere between the two in everyday speech, often meaning a general felt sense of capability that can rise and fall with mood. You can have healthy self-esteem while doubting your ability to handle public speaking, and you can have strong self-efficacy in your career while still struggling with self-worth. Our self-esteem test measures the first of these directly, and taking both gives a fuller picture than either alone.
The practical reason this distinction matters is that self-efficacy is the one most directly tied to behavior: it predicts whether people persist through difficulty, try again after failing, and set ambitious goals in the first place. That is also why it is the one most worth deliberately building, through the mastery experiences described above, rather than waiting for it to arrive on its own.
Methodology & sources
The 10 core items are informed by the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE), developed by Ralf Schwarzer and Matthias Jerusalem, one of the most widely used and cross-culturally studied self-efficacy measures in psychology, translated into more than 30 languages, with a study of 19,120 participants finding its one-factor structure held across 25 countries (Scholz et al., 2002). The scale's authors grant permission to use and reproduce the GSE "for your study," a research-use grant, and Psychology.com is a commercial site rather than a research study. Because that grant does not clearly cover our use, we did not reproduce the published items verbatim. Instead we wrote 10 original statements that track the same underlying construct item for item, on the same 1 (not at all true) to 4 (exactly true) response scale, which is why this test is labeled adapted rather than validated.
The 8-item domain breakdown across work, health, relationships, and learning is our own addition, not part of the validated instrument, and we label it that way throughout. It exists because a single global score, however well validated, cannot tell you where to focus, and the research on self-efficacy is explicit that the belief is domain-sensitive: high in one area of life does not guarantee high in another.
References
- Schwarzer R, Jerusalem M. Generalized Self-Efficacy scale. In: Weinman J, Wright S, Johnston M, eds. Measures in Health Psychology: A User's Portfolio. Windsor, UK: NFER-NELSON; 1995:35-37. userpage.fu-berlin.de/~health/engscal.htm
- Bandura A. Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review. 1977;84(2):191-215. doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191
- Bandura A. Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control. New York: W.H. Freeman; 1997.
- Scholz U, Dona BG, Sud S, Schwarzer R. Is general self-efficacy a universal construct? Psychometric findings from 25 countries. European Journal of Psychological Assessment. 2002;18(3):242-251. doi.org/10.1027//1015-5759.18.3.242
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, September 23). Self-Efficacy Test (GSE-Informed). Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tests/self-efficacy
Self-Efficacy Test (GSE-Informed) FAQ
What is the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE)?
The GSE is a 10-item questionnaire developed by Ralf Schwarzer and Matthias Jerusalem to measure a general belief in your own ability to cope with difficult demands. It has been translated into more than 30 languages, and a 2002 study of 19,120 participants found its one-factor structure held across 25 countries, making it one of the most widely used self-efficacy measures in psychology research. This test is informed by the GSE's constructs and structure, using our own original wording rather than the published items, since the authors' permission grant is scoped to research use and this is a commercial site.
What counts as a high or low self-efficacy score?
Scores run from 10 to 40. Published research across many countries puts the average around the high twenties, closer to 29. There is no official clinical cutoff, so we use that published mean as context for lower, moderate, and high ranges rather than as a diagnostic line.
Is self-efficacy the same as self-esteem?
No. Self-esteem is how you feel about your worth as a person. Self-efficacy is narrower: your belief that you can actually carry out the actions a specific challenge requires. You can be strong in one and shaky in the other. Our self-esteem test measures the first directly.
Can self-efficacy be improved?
Yes, and this is one of the better-supported findings in the research. Bandura identified four sources: mastery experience, watching someone similar succeed, encouragement from credible people, and how you interpret your own physical and emotional state under pressure. Small, real wins in a specific domain tend to move the needle fastest.
Is this test a diagnosis?
No. It is an educational screening for self-reflection, not a diagnosis of anything. Self-efficacy is a normal psychological trait everyone has some amount of, not a disorder. If low confidence is tied up with anxiety or low mood that concerns you, a licensed therapist can help you sort out what is driving it.
Is the test really confidential?
Yes. The test runs and is scored in your browser, and your individual answers are never sent to us. We count completions anonymously, and if you request the free PDF or a report we receive your summary scores with the email you give us, never your answers. No account is needed.
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