Schulte table — attention and peripheral vision trainer

They are the three scores of the classic result processing. Work efficiency is the average time per grid across the series. Warm-up is the first grid divided by that average: below 1.0 means you get into the task immediately, with no run-up. Mental stability is the fourth grid divided by the average: below 1.0 means attention had not fallen apart by the end. That is exactly why there must be five grids — from a single one neither score exists.

For an adult on a 5×5 grid the usual figure quoted is 35–50 seconds per grid; for children aged 7–11, under 55 seconds is an excellent result and under 65 a good one. These are published reference values of the method, not a medical scale: the time depends heavily on sleep, fatigue, screen size and whether you use a mouse or a finger. Comparing yourself with yourself a week ago is far more useful than comparing with a table of norms.

A 7×7 form with 25 black and 24 red numbers and three tasks in a row: black ascending, then red descending, then alternating — black up, red down. The difference between the third series and the sum of the first two is the price of switching your attention: the smaller it is, the more easily you move from one row to the other. The size is deliberately fixed — the score is only comparable on the standard form.

The tool looks at the time between finds. If it grows with the distance to the previous cell, you are walking your gaze across the grid from number to number. If instead it depends on how far the cell sits from the centre, peripheral vision is doing the work, since its resolution falls off towards the edge. This is an observation about the search pattern, not eye measurement: no camera is involved.

A paper form has no marks, and that is precisely what loads attention: you have to remember what you have already found. Highlighting removes part of that load and makes results incomparable with paper. For children and first attempts you can switch it on in the settings — then compare only against other attempts made the same way.

The classic — and every published norm — is 5×5. For children aged 5–7 and for a warm-up take 3×3 or 4×4; to widen your field of view, 6×6 and 7×7. Large 9×9 and 10×10 grids train endurance more than anything: on a phone the cells become smaller than a fingertip and the time starts measuring aim rather than attention.

Schulte tables widen the angle from which you take in symbols without moving your eyes — and it is exactly the backward eye movements that eat up to a third of ordinary reading time. This is preparation, not reading itself: practise the grids for 5–10 minutes and work on speed with text in our speed reading trainer.

History lives in your browser and is kept separately for each size and mode — comparing 5×5 with 7×7 would be meaningless. On another device the count starts over, and clearing browser data resets both the history and the personal best.