FOCUS SPEC · Focus · about 1 minute

Brake Check Test

If your hand moves on red, that is it. Out of 30 signals, how many can you hold?

Brake Check

If your hand moves on red, that is it. Out of 30 signals, how many can you hold?

When the screen turns green, tap as fast as you can. You have the 1.2 seconds green is shown, and only your first tap counts. When it turns red, do nothing. Holding still is the right answer. Taps during the blue waiting screen are not recorded.

GREEN = TAP · RED = HOLD · WAITING = NOT RECORDED

How it works

When the screen turns green, tap as fast as you can. You have the 1.2 seconds green is shown, and only your first tap counts.
When it turns red, do nothing. Holding still is the right answer. Taps during the blue waiting screen are not recorded.
After 30 signals you are done. Your average tap time on green gets a penalty based on the share of reds you tapped and the share of greens you missed.

About this test

Brake Check is a go/no-go game about going when you should go and stopping when you should stop. Most signals are green, so your hand starts moving on its own. The question is whether you can hold it back for the occasional red. Psychologists call this a go/no-go task.

Your score is the average reaction time on green signals plus penalties. Penalties are rates, not counts: tapping every red adds 900 ms and missing every green adds 7,200 ms, so a run with more reds is no harder than one with fewer. The number of reds is drawn at random between 4 and 8 each run. Taps faster than 100 ms still count as hits, because anticipating the timing is part of the skill. You do have to tap within the 1.2 seconds green is shown, and taps during the blue waiting screen are not recorded.

This is a concentration game played for fun. Compare results with yourself on the same device and in the same conditions. It is not a diagnosis or an assessment of any kind.

Benchmarks

Result	Top %
250 ms	0.1%
290 ms	1%
320 ms	4%
350 ms	9%
380 ms	16%
410 ms	24%
450 ms	34%
500 ms	45%
560 ms	56%
640 ms	66%
740 ms	75%
880 ms	83%
1050 ms	89%
1300 ms	94%
1700 ms	97%
2300 ms	99%
3000 ms	99.9%

Baselines are initial values and will be updated as real data accumulates.

In everyday life

Phone: finishing what you were doing when a notification pops up.
Driving: pulling away on green and stopping for someone who steps out.
Shopping: not pressing "buy" on a "today only" deal.

FAQ

If I never tap red, is that the best score?

No. Holding back perfectly still costs you if your green taps are slow. A good score is fast on green and still on red.

Can I tap before the colour appears?

Any tap after green appears counts as a hit, however fast. But anticipating on a red costs you, so guessing lowers your expected score. The number of reds also varies from run to run, so counting them ahead does not help much.

Where do the baselines come from?

They are initial estimates derived from this game's own rules (30 signals, penalties). Academic tests use different counts and methods, so we did not import their numbers. The current baselines are provisional for the revised scoring rules and will be updated as records accumulate.

References

Guides

Other tests in this series

View the Focus Spec series

01Colour TrapThe word says BLUE but the letters are red. Will your brain fall for it?about 30 seconds 02Number HuntNumbers 1 to 25, scattered. How many seconds until your eyes catch them all?about 1 minute 03What Was It?Remember the letter from two steps back? We measure your brain's scratch memory.about 1 minute