The ‘Wall Test’ Will Tell You How You View the World—Here’s How To Do It in 2 Minutes

Judging by our collective fascination with Myers-Briggs, enneagrams, attachment styles, and love languages, it’s safe to say we are keen to learn more about ourselves, and personality tests are a fun and easy way to do that. The trending “wall test” on TikTok is another one worth trying, which can provide insight into how you overcome barriers, deal with difficult challenges that come up in life, and how you view the world overall.

Intrigued? Read on for the instructions on how to do the wall test. (It takes like a minute or two, tops.) Then keep scrolling to learn what your answer says about you. 

How to do the wall test to learn how you view the world

Start by imagining you’ve been walking through the desert for a few days, says psychotherapist Elizabeth Fedrick, PhD, LPC. You’re likely exhausted, hungry, and thirsty by this point. Now picture yourself coming across a wall. (Note: This wall test purposely doesn’t specify a visual of the wall—that’s up to your imagination to decide.) 

“When you put your ear up to this wall, you hear an oasis on the other side,” Dr. Fedrick says. The goal is to figure out how you will overcome this barrier (aka wall) and get to the oasis. “This is very symbolic of the reality that many of us face in life of wanting to achieve a goal or a certain outcome and being faced with real-life barriers and obstacles that must be overcome in order to achieve this goal.”

The four choices are: “go over the wall, under the wall, around the wall, or break through the wall,” Dr. Fedrick says. Take a moment to consider which of the four options you’d choose in this scenario. Then scroll down to learn what your answer says about your personality style. 

If you chose to jump over the wall…

“These individuals are said to be ambitious, driven, and even over-achievers,” Dr. Fedrick says. “They are very confident in themselves and their capabilities and believe they can achieve anything they set their mind to.” She adds that people who choose this option also don’t allow barriers and obstacles to hold them back, hence why they’re down to jump over the wall. 

If you chose to crawl under the wall…

People who choose to crawl under the wall are not afraid to do the dirty work, literally and figuratively. In fact, they welcome difficult tasks. “These individuals have overcome a lot throughout their life and are willing to do the hard work in order to achieve the outcomes they desire,” Dr. Fedrick says. 

If you chose to walk around the wall…

If you’re looking for the path of least resistance, this option is it, and that doesn’t mean you’re lazy, either. “It is sometimes suggested that these individuals are lazy or trying to find the ‘easiest’ solutions,” Dr. Fedrick says. “However, these individuals would assert that they prefer efficiency over all else and so will always be looking for ways to achieve their goals in the quickest, easiest, and most efficient ways possible.”

If you choose to break the wall…

Some people may consider these folks pessimistic or cynical, but they likely consider themselves realists. “These individuals might suggest that there is no hope for humanity and base these feelings off the many hard times and difficulties that they have already endured and overcome,” Dr. Fedrick says. “Because of these hard times, these individuals have become ‘strong’ and believe that their willpower or personal force can simply break through barriers standing in their way.”

The takeaway

While the wall test is definitely an entertaining (and usually pretty accurate) way to explore how people face and address adversity, it is important to remember it is a pseudo-psychology personality assessment, “meaning it doesn’t necessarily have research to support the validity or reliability of the assessment,” Dr. Fedrick says. In other words, the wall test is just for funsies. So to take your findings with a grain of salt.