Likert scale scoring calculator
Paste your items, mark which ones are reverse-scored, enter the answers and get sum, mean and per-subscale scores. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded or saved.
- —
I feel confident tackling new problems
Confidence
- —
I often doubt my own judgement
Confidence
- —
I keep going when a task gets difficult
Persistence
- —
I give up sooner than most people
Persistence
How Likert scoring works
A Likert item gives a number — usually 1 to 5 or 1 to 7 — for how strongly someone agrees. Scoring a scale means three steps.
1. Reverse the negatively worded items
If a high answer means a low amount of the thing you are measuring, flip it with
new = (max + min) − raw. On a 1–5 scale a raw 2 becomes 4. Skipping this step is the single most common scoring mistake.2. Aggregate by subscale, not just overall
Sum or average the items belonging to each subscale. Means are easier to compare when subscales have different numbers of items; sums are conventional when you are reproducing a published scoring key.
3. Map the score to a band
A raw number means nothing on its own. Define ranges — low, average, high — and write the wording for each one in advance, so every respondent gets the same interpretation for the same score.
Sum or mean — which should I use?
Use a sum when you are following an existing scoring key or published cut-offs. Use a mean when subscales have unequal item counts, when some answers may be missing, or when you want scores that stay on the original 1–5 language. This calculator shows both.
This calculator does arithmetic on numbers you type in. It is not a diagnostic tool and does not interpret results for any individual.