About Schulte Grid
A Schulte grid is a table of shuffled numbers, named after the German psychologist who devised it as a test of attention. It has since been adopted by speed readers, pilots in training and anyone who wants a quick measure of how well they are concentrating today.
How it works
Tap the numbers in ascending order. Each one you find is shaded so that you can see your progress. When you tap 25, the clock stops and the game reports your time and the number of slips.
The numbers are shuffled afresh for every round, so there is nothing to memorise from one attempt to the next.
What is a good time?
For a five by five grid, most adults take somewhere between thirty and fifty seconds on their first attempts. Under thirty is quick. Under twenty takes practice. Your own times will vary with tiredness and distraction more than you might expect, which is what makes it a useful check.
Getting faster
The classic advice is to fix your eyes on the centre square and try to find each number without looking directly at it. Use the edges of your vision. It feels unnatural at first and slower, but it trains you to take in the whole grid at once.
Look for the next two numbers, not one. While your finger is travelling to 7, your eyes should already be hunting for 8.
Do not speak the numbers in your head. Saying "eleven, twelve" silently sets a speed limit. Try to recognise the shapes and move.
Keep your hand near the middle of the grid between taps so the longest reach is short.
Three rounds a day is plenty. It is the quickest of our HTML5 games, and the one where improvement is easiest to see.