DEVELOPED BY A CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY & NIMH-FUNDED PERSONALITY RESEARCHER

Personality Compass Assessment

A free, 10-minute test that's actually backed by science — not another quiz that gives you a different answer every time. Get a personalized report on your traits and where to grow from here.

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The Big Five

These are the five traits your assessment measures — and the five levers you can intentionally shift. Want to learn more about the five traits that shape human nature? Check out my complete guide to the Big Five.

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Openness

Curiosity for new ideas.

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Conscientiousness

Discipline and organized structure.

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Extraversion

Social energy and excitement.

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Agreeableness

Compassion and group harmony.

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Neuroticism

Sensitivity to emotions

What Most Personality Tests Get Wrong

Most commercially available personality tests, even ones used by Fortune 500 companies to sort employees into "ideal" roles, have no real scientific support. Take them twice and you'll often get two different results. They're about as predictive of your success as your zodiac sign.

Personality Compass is different. It's built on the Big Five, the most scientifically supported model of personality, and designed to show you where you stand today, without boxing you into a fixed "type."

Taking this assessment will help you:

  • See the strengths and drawbacks of your current traits, honestly

  • Chart a path forward from your personalized starting point

  • Let go of the myth that personality is fixed. Yours isn't.

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Hello!

Developer, Personality Compass Assessment

I'm a clinical psychologist, researcher, author, and speaker. For the past 15 years, I've studied how and why personality traits change, with research funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). I specialize in helping people make intentional shifts in their traits to improve their careers, relationships, and mental health.

My research confirms what I saw in my own life and in my patients: people can intentionally shape the traits they need to build the lives they want. I watched my own personality shift over time, from messy and undisciplined to highly conscientious, and that change is what led me to study the science of trait change in the first place.

I developed the Personality Compass Assessment so people could find their own starting point, using a test grounded in real, well-established personality science, not guesswork.

Meet Shannon Sauer-Zavala, PhD

What People Are Saying

"The insights from Dr. Shannon's personality test were so useful, I immediately invited her to be one of the experts in my group coaching program."

I recently had the pleasure of taking Dr. Shannon's personality assessment, and I was thoroughly impressed by the depth of insights it provided. The strategies Shannon suggested were simple to understand and implement.

Izabela Kvesic, Award-Winning Business Coach at We Are Blue Water

I liked that it included both strengths and weaknesses with certain traits. So many personality assessments come from a weakness perspective versus a strengths one.

Kimmie G - Personality Research at the University of Michigan

I study the validity of personality tests in my research. I like that this test capitalized on the scientific support of the Big Five, while providing a score report that spoke to me like a friend.

Alex Hines, PhD - University of Kentucky

Take Personality Compass Quiz

Break free from your "Personality Type" and intentionally develop the traits that will move you toward the life you want.

PERSONALITY COMPASS

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The Personality Compass Assessment is a Big Five personality test that helps you understand how your traits shape your relationships, work, emotions, and goals, and identifies practical ways to intentionally change the traits that aren't serving you.

  • Yes. It's built on the Big Five, the most well-researched model of personality, with decades of supporting studies behind it. It was developed by a clinical psychologist and personality researcher, drawing on published research rather than pop psychology.

  • The Big Five are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism, the five core dimensions that most reliably capture personality differences between people. Each trait exists on a spectrum, not as a fixed type.

  • Yes. Research over the past two decades has shown that personality traits can change intentionally, through repeated thoughts, behaviors, and experiences, not just with age or by chance.

  • MBTI sorts you into one of 16 fixed types, despite limited scientific support and poor consistency (many people get a different type each time they retake it). The Personality Compass Assessment measures you on five continuous traits with decades of predictive research behind them, so it reflects where you actually are, not a box you're placed in.

  • The Enneagram assigns you to one of nine personality types based on theory, not empirical research. The Personality Compass Assessment is grounded in the Big Five, the model with the strongest scientific support for predicting real-world outcomes like relationships, career success, and mental health.

  • No. "The Personality Compass" is an older team-building exercise that sorts people into four directions (North, South, East, West) based on communication style. It has no scientific basis. The Personality Compass Assessment is an unrelated tool built on the Big Five, the empirically supported model of personality research has relied on for decades.

  • Yes, and that's what sets it apart. Most personality tests stop at describing you. Personality Compass goes further, identifying your strengths, blind spots, and specific, evidence-based strategies for shifting the traits you want to change.

  • It is 60 questions. It takes about 10 minutes, give or take. We find that’s the right amount of data to provide you with depth, without being too burdensome to take.

  • Yes, the Personality Compass Assessment is completely free.

    We will not offer you a more expensive “upgrade” at the end!

  • Anyone interested in personal growth, stronger relationships, career development, emotional resilience, or leadership. It's designed for people who want to understand their starting point and take intentional steps forward, not just get a label.

  • Yes. Therapists and clinicians can use the Personality Compass Assessment to help clients identify trait-based patterns and set concrete, personalized treatment or coaching goals.

Shannon Sauer-Zavala

Design by Maite Dalila