Free Anxiety Test (GAD-7)

Take the check

The GAD-7 asks how often seven common anxiety symptoms have bothered you over the past fortnight. Answer honestly rather than carefully. Your first instinct is usually the accurate one, and there’s nobody here to impress.

What your score means

Seven items, each scored 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day), for 21 in total. The usual bands:

• 0–4 — minimal. Anxiety isn't currently a significant load. Worth re-checking if things change.
• 5–9 — mild. Noticeable but generally manageable. Often responds well to sleep, routine and having someone to talk to.
• 10–14 — moderate. Anxiety is likely costing you something — sleep, concentration, enjoyment. A good point to get support rather than push through.
• 15–21 — severe. A heavy load to be carrying alone. Professional support is genuinely worth arranging.

Why the two-week window matters

The GAD-7 asks about the last fortnight, not your life in general, and that’s on purpose. Anxiety moves. A score taken the week before boards, or the week after a breakup, is measuring that week. Which is the whole idea. It’s a snapshot of load, not a description of your personality, and it isn’t a label you’re now stuck with.

Which also means one high score isn’t a catastrophe, and one low score isn’t proof you’re fine. If you’re unsure, take it again in a fortnight and see whether the picture holds.

What actually helps with anxiety

None of this replaces support, but all of it is worth doing while you decide:

• Breathe out longer than you breathe in. A four-count in, six-count out, for two minutes. It's the fastest reliable way to bring a spiking body down, and it works because the long exhale is what your nervous system reads as safety.
• Protect sleep before anything else. Anxiety and sleep debt amplify each other viciously. Fixing sleep often lowers a GAD-7 score more than anything you consciously do about the worry itself.
• Put the catastrophe on paper. Write down what you're actually afraid will happen, in full. Worry loses a surprising amount of force once it has to hold still and be specific.
• Move daily, badly is fine. A walk counts. Consistency matters far more than intensity here.
• Say it out loud to one person. The single biggest predictor of anxiety getting worse is carrying it silently.

Our longer guide, how to deal with exam anxiety, goes into these properly.

When self-help isn't enough

Techniques work well while you can still get some distance from the anxiety. They work less well once worry has become the background hum of your day, once you’re avoiding things you used to handle, or once the physical side — the chest, the stomach, the sleep — has stopped responding to anything you try.

That’s the stage where talking to someone qualified stops being an overreaction and starts being the quicker route. Not because you’re broken. Because anxiety is very hard to see straight from the inside.

Talking to someone about it

A Lume Live session is a confidential 1:1 conversation with Sachin Bajaj, who holds an M.Sc in Clinical Psychology (Gurugram University) and a PGDGC from Jamia Millia Islamia. Sessions are ₹499 for 45 minutes, with your first at ₹249 using code FIRST50 — priced so that finding out whether it helps doesn't require asking anyone for money.

Nothing is shared with your parents, school, college or employer, and you can book using a first name only. For most people that matters more than the price.

Frequently asked questions