Impulsivity test template

Key takeaways

An impulsivity test is a validated self-report questionnaire measuring impulse control, planning, and decision-making patterns.

The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) is the most widely used impulsivity measure in psychiatry and psychology research.

Stanford et al. (2009) place a BIS-11 total of 72 or above in the high impulsivity range, and 52 to 71 within normal limits.

This download prints items 1 to 29 of the 30-item BIS-11, so its achievable total runs from 29 to 116.

Practice management software like Pabau stores completed forms, scores, and follow-up tasks in one patient record.

Impulsivity screening turns a clinical impression into a number you can repeat at the next visit. Psychiatrists, psychologists, and ADHD clinicians use validated scales to record impulse control at baseline and track it through treatment. Most store those scores in a mental health practice management system alongside the rest of the assessment.

This guide covers what the free template contains, how to administer and score it, and how to read the result against published BIS-11 norms. It also flags one defect in the form itself, so you know what to correct before you hand it to a patient.

What is an impulsivity test?

An impulsivity test is a validated self-report questionnaire measuring how strongly a person tends to act without forethought. Validated instruments differ from online quizzes because they carry published psychometric properties, tested for reliability and validity across populations.

These tools break impulsivity into separate dimensions, such as poor planning, low perseverance, sensation seeking, and urgency. That structure gives you a quantifiable picture of behavioral control rather than a single global impression. Scores then support diagnosis, treatment planning, and research.

Why clinicians use impulsivity assessments

Impulsivity screening supports diagnostic clarification, treatment planning, and risk assessment. Elevated impulsivity appears across ADHD, impulse control disorders, bipolar disorder, substance use disorders, and personality disorders. Quantifying it helps you separate those presentations and document your reasoning in the patient record.

• Diagnostic clarity: distinguishes impulsivity-driven presentations from anxiety or depression
• Treatment monitoring: tracks impulse control through psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy
• Risk assessment: identifies patients at elevated risk of harmful impulsive acts
• Research participation: supplies a standardized outcome measure for trials and observational studies
• Documentation: creates an objective baseline for clinical notes and continuity of care

What is inside this template

The download is a three-page BIS-11 form and nothing else. Every field listed below is printed on the form, so you can see exactly what you are handing out.

What this template does not cover

Five things are missing or need a workaround, and one of them affects the score. Check each before you put the form into a clinical record.

• The 30th BIS-11 item. The form prints items 1 to 29, yet its reverse-score list still names an item 30. One reverse-scored planning item was dropped, so the achievable total is 29 to 116 rather than 30 to 120.
• The SUPPS-P. The Short UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale is not in this file. It is covered further down as a separate option you would source and license yourself.
• Consent, contraindication screening, and a signature block. The page three identification fields record the reviewing clinician, not patient consent. Attach your own counseling consent form if your policy requires a signature.
• Population norms and a cutoff table. The interpretive note on page three is descriptive only. Use the published cutoffs in the next section to classify a total score.
• US date formatting. The date of review field is laid out as dd/mm/yyyy. Write the month out in full so nobody misreads the date in a US record.

The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11): overview and scoring

The BIS-11 is the most widely used measure of impulsivity in psychiatric and psychological research. The full instrument runs to 30 self-report items, published by Patton, Stanford, and Barratt in 1995. Each item is rated on a 4-point frequency scale, and the items load onto three subscales.

The version in this download prints 29 of those 30 items. It also groups them under six facet headings rather than in the original item order, which makes hand scoring quicker but changes the item numbers.

BIS-11 subscales

• Attentional impulsivity (8 items, 8 to 32). Difficulty holding focus and staying cognitively stable.
• Motor impulsivity (11 items, 11 to 44). Acting on the spur of the moment without pausing to think.
• Non-planning impulsivity (11 items, 11 to 44). Little future orientation and low tolerance for complex problems.

Those ranges describe the complete 30-item instrument. On this download the non-planning group carries 10 items instead of 11, so it runs 10 to 40 and the total tops out at 116.

BIS-11 score interpretation guide

Stanford and colleagues published the standard BIS-11 cutoffs in 2009, after five decades of data on the scale. A total of 72 or above indicates high impulsivity. A total below 52 suggests over-control or an invalid response set rather than a genuinely low result.

These bands were derived on the full 30-item scale. A 29-item total from this form runs one to four points low, so treat any score within four points of a cutoff as borderline.

How to administer the impulsivity test in your practice

Structured administration is what makes the total comparable between visits. These steps fit the form into a normal appointment using digital intake forms and your clinical record.

1. Prepare the patient. Explain that the form measures decision-making and impulse control. Say there are no right or wrong answers and that responses stay in their record. Allow 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Administer in a quiet setting. Minimize interruptions. Patients can complete the form on paper or on a tablet. Store the result with the chart in your client record management software.
3. Keep the instructions standardized. Read them aloud or let the patient read them alone. Do not explain individual items, because your wording changes what the item measures.
4. Check for missing answers. Verify that all 29 items are rated before you score. A blank item makes the total incomparable to the published norms.
5. Score the rated items. Award 1 point for Never/Rarely, 2 for Sometimes, 3 for Often, and 4 for Very Often/Always.
6. Reverse the asterisked items. On this form those are items 2, 4, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, and 27. Ignore the trailing item 30 in the printed list, because the form has no item 30.
7. Total the facets. Sum each facet line, then add the six facets together for the total score.

Interpreting results and planning next steps

Report the number and its limits in the same breath. A high total does not diagnose a disorder. It earns its weight next to the history from your psychiatric interview, the patient’s daily function, and collateral information.

• Below 52. Ask whether the low score reflects genuine control or a guarded response style before you record it as a strength.
• 52 to 71. Normalize the finding, then explore any single domain where impulsivity still causes the patient problems.
• 72 or above. Match the intervention to the elevated facets, whether that is an impulse control worksheet, psychotherapy, or a medication review.

Chart the repeat totals over time so the patient can see impulse control changing rather than taking your word for it.

Impulsivity assessment in ADHD and related conditions

Impulsivity is a core feature of ADHD and appears across several other diagnoses. Subscale patterns are more useful than the total here. Adults with ADHD usually score highest on motor and non-planning impulsivity, while anxiety presentations tend to raise non-planning without the motor elevation.

Keep the BIS-11 result beside your attention and hyperactivity measures so the diagnostic picture stays in one place. ADHD practice management software holds those instruments on a single timeline. The Vanderbilt ADHD rating scale guide walks through the parallel calculation.

Other impulsivity measures worth knowing

The BIS-11 is not the only validated option. None of the measures below are part of this download, so source and license them separately if one fits your caseload better.

The SUPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale

The Short UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale (SUPPS-P) is a 20-item questionnaire covering five facets of impulsivity. It has been validated in community and clinical samples, and it gives a more fine-grained profile than the BIS-11.

• Negative urgency: rash action in response to negative emotions
• Positive urgency: rash action in response to positive excitement
• Lack of premeditation: failure to weigh consequences before acting
• Lack of perseverance: difficulty staying with a task or goal
• Sensation seeking: preference for excitement, novelty, and risk-taking

The SUPPS-P uses a 4-point rating scale and yields both facet scores and a total. Its value is in showing which facet dominates, which in turn points to a specific therapeutic target.

Choosing between the two

Pick the BIS-11 for broad screening with the deepest normative base. Pick the SUPPS-P when facet detail will change what you actually do next.

Data privacy and compliance

Impulsivity results are sensitive mental health information covered by HIPAA, state privacy rules, and GDPR if you treat patients in Europe. HIPAA compliance rests on secure storage, access controls, and audit trails. Keep completed forms in an encrypted system with role-based permissions so only treating clinicians can open them.

Take informed consent before you administer the test, and say how the result will be stored and used. The download carries no consent page, so use your own. Share results with another provider only on written patient authorization.

How Pabau supports impulsivity screening and follow-up

A paper BIS-11 usually ends up scanned into a chart, where the number cannot be charted or compared. Practice management software like Pabau keeps the questionnaire, the score, and the follow-up in the same patient record.

Send the form ahead of the appointment as a digital intake form, so the visit starts with the scoring rather than the paperwork. Record the facet and total scores in the treatment note, then let Pabau Scribe, our AI scribe, draft the note around them.

Automated follow-up workflows chase the next review, whether that is a therapy session, a medication check, or a repeat BIS-11 at three months. You end up with a documented trend line instead of a one-off number in a scanned file.

Make impulsivity screening part of the visit

Pabau sends the BIS-11 as a digital form, files the score in the patient record, and schedules the follow-up review. Your scores become a trend you can act on rather than loose paperwork.

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Conclusion

The download gives you a printable BIS-11 screening form with hand-scoring lines and a clinician review section. Add the missing 30th item from the published scale if you need a total that maps cleanly onto the Stanford cutoffs. Otherwise score the 29 printed items and read anything near a cutoff as borderline.

The score earns its place by being repeatable. One BIS-11 total tells you little on its own. The same measure repeated after twelve weeks of treatment tells you whether impulse control actually moved.

Book a demo to see how Pabau sends, scores, and tracks impulsivity assessments inside the patient record.

Continue your research

Assessing an adult for ADHD? ADHD psychological assessment for adults covers the wider battery that an impulsivity score fits into.

Documenting the clinical interview? Mental status exam template gives you the observational record that sits next to a self-report score.

Working with high impulsivity and substance use? Substance abuse treatment plan turns an elevated score into measurable treatment goals.

Screening for camouflaged autistic traits? CAT-Q test gives you the masking questionnaire that often runs alongside an adult ADHD workup.

Billing the screening encounter? H0002 sets out the documentation a behavioral health screening claim expects.

Frequently asked questions