Drinking problem quiz: the 3-question AUDIT-C screening
Three questions about the past year, scored out of 12. It is a screen, not a diagnosis, and it runs in your browser without saving anything.
Take the 3-question check
Answer about the last 12 months. Choose the answer that is closest, even if it is not exact. Your score appears when you finish.
Runs in your browser; nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere. This is a screening tool, not a diagnosis or medical advice.
The AUDIT-C is a three-question alcohol screen scored from 0 to 12. A score of 3 or more for women, or 4 or more for men, is treated as a positive screen [1]. A positive screen does not mean you have a disorder. It means your drinking is worth talking about with a doctor or another health professional. The quiz below uses the US Veterans Affairs wording, and nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.
Track it in Sober Girl
What the AUDIT-C is
The AUDIT-C is a short screening questionnaire for unhealthy alcohol use, used in primary care and other clinics. It asks how often you drink, how much you usually have, and how often you have six or more drinks on one occasion. The version above is the wording used in US Veterans Affairs outpatient care [1].
| Question | Answers and points |
|---|---|
| How often you drank | Never 0, monthly or less 1, 2 to 4 times a month 2, 2 to 3 times a week 3, 4 or more times a week 4 |
| Drinks on a typical day | 1 or 2: 0, 3 or 4: 1, 5 or 6: 2, 7 to 9: 3, 10 or more: 4 |
| Six or more drinks on one occasion | Never 0, less than monthly 1, monthly 2, weekly 3, daily or almost daily 4 |
A “drink” here is a standard drink. In the US that is 14 grams of pure alcohol, such as a 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine or a 1.5-ounce shot of spirits [2]. If your glasses are large, count them as more than one.
What your score means
- 3 or more for a woman, or 4 or more for a man is a positive screen [1]. It means the pattern you described is worth a conversation with a doctor or another health professional.
- Below the line means your answers do not reach the screening threshold. It does not prove everything is fine, because the quiz is short and covers one year.
- A first answer of “never” scores 0, and the other two questions are skipped.
The line is lower for women because the same amount of alcohol tends to have a stronger effect on a woman’s body. NIAAA’s own definitions follow the same pattern: it counts 4 or more drinks in about two hours as binge drinking for a woman, and 5 or more for a man [3].
What a screening quiz cannot tell you
No three-question quiz can diagnose anything. Research on the AUDIT-C looks at how often the total score and the actual answers disagree, for instance a negative screen in someone who reports risky drinking on a single question [1]. Validation work in primary care treats it as a screen that can miss some people and flag others who are fine [4]. It also relies on you reporting honestly and remembering the past year accurately.
It does not ask about the effects of drinking on your life, such as missing work, relationships, or whether you have tried to stop. If those are on your mind, treat them as a reason to talk to someone regardless of your score.
What to do with the result
- Write the score and the date down. A number you can compare in a month is more useful than a feeling.
- If it is a positive screen, book a conversation. A doctor can ask follow-up questions and talk about options. NIAAA’s Alcohol Treatment Navigator can help you find care [5]. The SAMHSA National Helpline is free, confidential and open 24/7 at 1-800-662-4357 [6].
- If you are under the line but unsure, count for 30 days. Tick each alcohol-free day. Our guide to alcohol-free days shows how, and a 30-day no alcohol challenge gives you a structure.
- Do not stop suddenly if you drink heavily or daily. Talk to a doctor first.
If you are not sure whether your drinking is a problem, our guide to gray area drinking covers the space in between. To check your weekly numbers against official limits, see how much alcohol is too much for a woman. If you decide to quit, how to quit drinking on your own covers the safe steps.
A note on safety
Is Sober Girl right for you?
- use an iPhone or an Android phone
- want a private tracker, with your journal kept on your device
- want a day counter, money saved and a daily check-in in one calm place
- want a Craving SOS with a breathing exercise and a 10-minute timer
- want to start free and add Plus only if you need the journal, insights or milestone cards
- want a community feed, live coaching or an AI chat
- want a structured multi-week education program
- need medical help for heavy drinking or withdrawal. An app is not treatment, so see the safety notes above
Frequently asked questions
Can a quiz tell me if I am an alcoholic?
No. The AUDIT-C is a screening tool, not a diagnosis. A positive screen means your drinking is worth discussing with a doctor or another health professional, who can ask follow-up questions.
What score on the AUDIT-C is a problem?
A score of 3 or more for women, or 4 or more for men, out of 12, is treated as a positive screen. It signals a conversation is worthwhile, not that you have a disorder.
Is my quiz result saved?
No. The quiz runs in your browser, and nothing you enter or your score is stored or sent anywhere. If you reload the page, it starts again.
Why is the cut-off lower for women?
Because the same amount of alcohol tends to have a stronger effect on a woman’s body. NIAAA’s binge-drinking definitions follow the same pattern, 4 drinks for a woman and 5 for a man.
What is the difference between this quiz and gray area drinking?
The quiz gives you a score on a standard screen. Gray area drinking describes the space between light drinking and a serious problem, and our guide to it covers what that means and what to do.
Sources
- Inconsistencies between alcohol screening results based on AUDIT-C scores and reported drinking on the AUDIT-C questions: prevalence in two US national samples. Delaney KE, Lee AK, Lapham GT, Rubinsky AD, Chavez LJ, Bradley KA. Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 2014; 9(1):2. Reproduces the three AUDIT-C questions as used in US Veterans Affairs outpatient care, and gives the positive-screen thresholds of 4 or more points for men and 3 or more for women. A screening tool, not a diagnosis.
- What Is A Standard Drink?. NIAAA.
- Understanding Alcohol Drinking Patterns. NIAAA.
- AUDIT-C as a brief screen for alcohol misuse in primary care. Bradley KA et al. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2007 (PubMed 17451397). A primary-care validation study of the AUDIT-C. We cite it only for the fact that it is a screen that can miss some people and flag others. The PubMed page would not load for us, so we have not quoted its figures.
- NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator. NIAAA.
- National Helpline. SAMHSA. Free, confidential, 24/7 treatment referral line: 1-800-662-4357.
- Alcohol withdrawal. MedlinePlus (US National Library of Medicine), reviewed 1 January 2025 by Frank D. Brodkey, MD.
How we write these. Every figure above links to the source it came from, and we label self-reported and observational results as such. Where we could not find a source we trust, the page says so instead of filling the gap. Sober Girl is made by ShipAI Lab and this is not medical advice. Sources were checked on 6 October 2026. If you spot an error, email us at [email protected].
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