Free educational self-assessment
Free CAT-Q Test: Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire
Take the free 25-item CAT-Q about social masking and camouflaging. Learn how reverse scoring works and why the total cannot diagnose autism.
Start the free questionnaireFree on-screen results · No email gate · Not a diagnosis
What does the CAT-Q measure?
The 25-item Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire concerns strategies used to navigate social situations. Its source model describes compensation, masking, and assimilation. Camouflaging is not exclusive to autistic people, so a score is not an autism diagnosis.
How to answer and how CAT-Q scoring works
Choose from seven agreement levels, from Strongly disagree to Strongly agree, using your own social experiences. All 25 items are required. Five items—3, 12, 19, 22 and 24—are reverse-scored. The total ranges from 25 to 175. This concise online result displays the total and a short explanation, not a printable or subscale report.
What are the CAT-Q's limitations?
Higher scores describe more reported camouflaging on this questionnaire. There is no validated universal diagnostic cutoff, and a result cannot confirm or exclude autism. The published study supports the original instrument, not independent validation of this site's automated interpretation.
Sources and useful next steps
Published by Sachs Center. Meet our clinicians and see their qualifications. Screening does not replace a professional evaluation.