Schulte Table: Test, Average Time and What Studies Show

Updated 2026-10-25

Written by the Optics Trainer team from published research, with every source linked below.

A Schulte table is a grid of numbers in random order. You find and point to them in sequence, usually 1 to 25, as fast as you can, and the time is your score. It shows up as a paper test, a brain exercise and a phone game. This guide covers where the Schulte table came from, how researchers use it, how it relates to the Trail Making Test and other visual scanning tasks, what studies report about results and average time, and what training studies have tested. It ends with Number Tap, the Optics Trainer game modeled on the task.

What is a Schulte table? Origin and how it works

Encyclopedia entries credit the German psychiatrist Walter Schulte (1910 to 1972) with the tables and describe them as a test for studying attention. We did not find a publication by Schulte himself that describes the task, so the exact origin and date are not confirmed here.

The common version is a 5 by 5 grid holding the numbers 1 to 25 in random order. A 2022 study of 27 schoolchildren by Lu and colleagues used that format. Other studies change the details. A 2021 study by Khramova and colleagues had people find the numbers in descending order, from 25 to 1, on a tablet. A 2025 trial in children used a 3 by 3 grid of the numbers 1 to 9. Some versions use letters, two colors of numbers, or red and black tables.

Khramova and colleagues described the Schulte table as a simplified version of an older German test, the Zahlen-Verbindungs-Test, in which people connect numbers in order. They wrote that finishing a table draws on visual search, working memory and mental arithmetic at the same time.

Schulte table test: what it measures and how researchers use it

In most studies the Schulte table is an outcome measure: researchers time it before and after something else happens. The score is usually the time to finish a table, sometimes with errors counted.

Examples from the research:

Attention research: Lu and colleagues recorded brain activity (ERP) in children aged 8 to 11 while they searched black or black-and-red grids. Finding 1, 2 and 3 in order took longer than finding a single number, and red numbers interfered with the single-number search only.
Sport: in 13 male university swimmers, Schulte grid, Trail Making and backward digit span scores dropped after a 1,500 m freestyle swim at maximal speed (Lai and colleagues, 2023). A 2022 data set from 31 elite shooting, archery and modern pentathlon athletes and 43 students used Schulte grid training as one of its interventions.
Military aviation: Biernacki and colleagues tested 20 pilot cadets aged 19 to 22 with Schulte tables before and after centrifuge G-force exposure. The G-load group's time fell from 268.09 to 228.09 seconds, while their recall of a complex figure got worse. The authors read the table result as better attention switching.
Test development: in a 2026 Russian study of 34 healthy volunteers and 35 people with schizophrenia, time on the Trail Making Test correlated with time on the Number Finding Test, a Schulte table version.

Related tasks: Trail Making Test Part A, number cancellation and visual scanning

The Trail Making Test is the clinical test closest to the Schulte table. In Part A, a person draws a line connecting numbered circles in order as fast as possible. Part B alternates numbers and letters. Ralph Reitan published on its validity in 1958, and a 2006 protocol by Bowie and Harvey describes it as a quick test, 5 to 10 minutes, that touches a wide range of cognitive skills.

The Trail Making Test has published norms; we did not find validated norms for the Schulte table. Tombaugh in 2004 gave norms for 911 adults aged 18 to 89, split by age and education. Performance fell with older age and fewer years of school. In a 2017 study of 1,923 adults aged 55 and older, Part A related most to visual scanning, the speed of drawing and visuomotor processing speed, and Part B to working memory and inhibition.

Number cancellation tests are another relative: you cross out every target digit on a page full of digits. A 2024 Italian study of 263 healthy adults and 76 people with acute stroke published norms for a digit cancellation screener and found its time score was associated with the Trail Making Test. Clinicians also time visual scanning in children with tests such as the DEM test, which uses columns and rows of numbers.

Schulte table results and average time

We did not find validated norms for the Schulte table, online or on paper, in the studies we checked. Times depend on the grid size, the order (up or down), whether you point, tap or click, the screen, and how many tables you have done before. Online timing also varies: a 2021 study found browser response times recorded about 80 milliseconds late on average, and phones and tablets were not tested.

Small studies do report the times of their own volunteers. These are sample results, not norms:

Schulte table times reported in selected studies (sample results, not norms)
Study	Who	Version	Time reported
Khramova 2021, Sensors	10 adults aged 18 to 20	5 x 5, 25 down to 1, tablet and stylus, 5 tables	Mean 37.7 seconds per table
Khramova 2021, Sensors	10 children aged 7 to 8	Same	Mean 72.3 seconds per table
Biernacki 2013, Aviat Space Environ Med	Pilot cadets aged 19 to 22 (G-load group)	Schulte tables, total time	268.09 seconds before, 228.09 after

Schulte table benefits: what studies have tested

Apps and websites often say Schulte tables train focus, peripheral vision or speed reading. Lu and colleagues wrote that the grid is widely used in attention training for adults and children, citing Chinese sources. We did not find a controlled trial that trained people on Schulte tables alone and then tested reading, peripheral vision or daily attention.

Where Schulte tables appear as training, they are one part of a package. In a 2016 to 2019 study of children with dyslexia in Moscow and Almaty schools, Nurseitova and Shayakhmetova listed Schulte tables and red-black tables among the visual attention exercises in a speech-therapy program; the tables were not tested separately. In a 2025 randomized trial of 145 children aged 9 to 10, groups doing physical activity, cognitive training or both for 12 weeks all improved on a 3 by 3 Schulte table and other measures compared with a no-intervention group.

A 2016 review led by Daniel Simons found that people get better at the tasks they practice, with less evidence for related tasks and little for daily life. Our guide to visual brain training covers that review, and our processing speed games guide covers speed training studies.

Number Tap: a Schulte table game modeled on the task

Number Tap is the Optics Trainer game modeled on the Schulte table and Trail Making Test Part A. A board of numbered tiles appears, and you tap them in order, starting at 1, as fast as you can during a 60-second round. Each correct tile flips face down. When you clear a board, a new shuffled board appears.

What it keeps is the core of the task: find the next number among many and respond as fast as you can.

What it changes:

Boards have 16, 20 or 24 tiles, and 30 or 36 in the daily workout on larger screens, rather than a fixed 5 by 5 grid.
Each new board in a round adds visual change: some numerals are turned sideways or upside down, some tiles change color, and from the third board one numeral turns every second.
It scores points, with a bonus for unbroken runs of correct taps, rather than a completion time. In the daily workout, the board grows by one size after a round with at least two full boards and at least 90% of taps correct.
It has an optional binocular mode. With red-blue glasses on a phone, tablet or computer, or built in on Meta Quest, each tile is drawn in a color only one eye sees, either all for one eye or split between the eyes.

Where Optics Trainer fits

Optics Trainer is a set of vision and brain training games for iPhone, iPad, Android, web browsers and Meta Quest. Number Tap is modeled on the Schulte table and Trail Making Test Part A described above and challenges you to scan for numbers in order. Fast Match and Flower Tap, covered in our processing speed games and go/no-go task guides, are other speed games. For eye movement practice, see our guide to eye tracking exercises.

Number Tap was not tested in any of the studies described here. It is not a test or measure, gives no completion time or norm, and is not a treatment or diagnosis. It is not FDA cleared. We make no claim that it changes attention, focus, reading, peripheral vision, IQ or school performance. For clinical measurement of eye movements and scanning, see Optics Tracker on our clinic site.

Optics Trainer is not a substitute for professional diagnosis or prescribed care. Consult your eye care professional for guidance about your specific condition. The phone and tablet apps start with a 7-day free trial, and a free web account includes 3 plays a day. After that, mobile and web access is $14.99 a month or $149.99 a year, and VR access is $19.99 a month or $199 a year after a 7-day free trial.

Download Optics Trainer

Get it on iOS Get it on Android Get it on Meta Quest Play in your browser

Frequently asked questions

What is a Schulte table?

It is a grid of numbers in random order, usually 1 to 25 in a 5 by 5 grid, that you find in sequence as fast as you can. Encyclopedia entries credit the German psychiatrist Walter Schulte, who lived from 1910 to 1972.

What is the average time for a Schulte table?

There are no validated norms that we could find. In one small 2021 study, 10 adults aged 18 to 20 averaged 37.7 seconds per 5 by 5 table, counting down from 25, and 10 children aged 7 to 8 averaged 72.3 seconds.

What does the Schulte table test measure?

Researchers use it as a timed measure of attention and visual search. One research team wrote that it also draws on working memory and mental arithmetic. It is usually an outcome measure in studies, not a clinical test with norms.

What are the benefits of Schulte tables?

People get faster at tasks they practice. We did not find a controlled trial that trained people on Schulte tables alone and tested reading, peripheral vision or daily attention; where the tables appear as training, they are part of a larger program.

Is the Schulte table the same as the Trail Making Test?

They are close relatives. In Trail Making Part A you draw a line connecting numbered circles in order; in a Schulte table you point to numbers in a grid. The Trail Making Test has published age and education norms.

Are online Schulte table tests accurate?

Online versions differ in grid size, order and device, and browser timing can run about 80 milliseconds late. Without norms, an online time cannot be compared with others or used to diagnose anything.

Is there a Schulte table game?

Yes. Many apps offer one. Optics Trainer's Number Tap is a game modeled on the task, with changing boards and an optional red-blue glasses mode. It was not tested in these studies and is not a test.

Sources

Related guides

Try Number Tap

Number Tap, Optics Trainer's Schulte-style game, asks you to tap numbered tiles in order as boards change, with an optional red-blue glasses mode. Play it on phone, tablet, web and Meta Quest. The phone and tablet apps start with a 7-day free trial.

Start free