Guide
ADHD assessment prep worksheet
The best preparation for an adult ADHD assessment is a set of real, specific examples of how your difficulties show up across different settings: work, home, relationships and education, plus the long pattern reaching back to childhood and an honest health background. This free printable worksheet collects exactly that, and lists what assessors commonly ask. It exists to help you give an accurate picture, not to steer the outcome: only a qualified clinician can diagnose ADHD. Information only, not medical advice.
Information only, not medical advice and not a diagnosis. Preparing helps the assessment be thorough; it does not and should not steer the result. Fill this in honestly, including the things that do not fit the ADHD picture.
This is the printable companion to how to prepare for an ADHD assessment, which explains the whole process. Fill the worksheet in over a week or so; examples arrive when you stop hunting for them. Everything in the download is reproduced below.
1. Your difficulties, setting by setting
For each setting, note 2 or 3 concrete examples of how attention, organisation, restlessness or impulsivity affect you, and what each costs you (time, money, stress, missed things).
At work (or previous jobs)
Think: missed deadlines, jobs lost, hours lost to restarting tasks, performance conversations
- Example 1: ................................
- Example 2: ................................
- Example 3: ................................
At home
Think: bills, cleaning, cooking, appointments, post left unopened
- Example 1: ................................
- Example 2: ................................
- Example 3: ................................
Relationships
Think: partner, family, friendships: forgotten plans, interrupting, conflict over admin
- Example 1: ................................
- Example 2: ................................
- Example 3: ................................
Education (then and now)
Think: school, college, university, training: report comments, late coursework, "could do better"
- Example 1: ................................
- Example 2: ................................
- Example 3: ................................
2. The long pattern
Assessments look for a pattern that started early and has persisted. Note:
- What you remember from childhood and school: report comments, nicknames, detentions, "could do better", daydreaming, fidgeting.
- Whether you have school reports, or a parent or older relative who can describe what you were like. Bring reports if you have them.
- When the difficulties caused the most trouble in your adult life.
3. Health background
- Other diagnoses or conditions, physical and mental health.
- Current medications and doses.
- Mental health history: low mood, anxiety, sleep.
- Family history of ADHD or similar traits.
- Alcohol, caffeine and other substances. Be honest: it affects safe prescribing decisions later.
4. What assessors commonly ask
You do not need scripted answers; just know your examples. Expect questions like:
- When did these difficulties start, and what were you like as a child?
- How do they show up now, in more than one part of life?
- What have they cost you: jobs, study, money, relationships, driving?
- How is your mood, anxiety and sleep? Screening for other explanations is a normal part of a good assessment.
- What do you hope will change with a diagnosis or treatment?
Many providers also send questionnaires in advance and may ask someone who knows you well to contribute. Confirm what your provider specifically wants.
5. Your questions for them
- What does the assessment involve and how long does it take?
- What are the clinician's qualifications for assessing adult ADHD?
- What happens afterwards for medication, follow-up and shared care with my GP, and what would each cost?
Not booked yet? Vet providers with the provider checklist, check the free route with the Right to Choose eligibility checker, and if you are still at the GP stage, take the GP appointment script with you.
Frequently asked questions
What do ADHD assessors actually ask?
Expect a detailed conversation about when your difficulties started and what you were like as a child, how they show up now across more than one part of life, what they have cost you, and your wider health: mood, anxiety, sleep, other conditions, medications and family history. Screening for other explanations is a normal part of a good assessment, not a brush-off. Many providers also send questionnaires beforehand and may ask someone who knows you well to contribute.
Can preparing well guarantee a diagnosis?
No, and preparing should never try to. The worksheet exists so an accurate picture of your life reaches the clinician despite a nervous memory on the day, not to steer the outcome. Only a qualified clinician can diagnose ADHD, based on an honest account.
Why examples from different settings?
Because assessments look for difficulties that show up across more than one area of life and have done so long-term, which is part of recognised diagnostic practice. One setting can have another explanation; a pattern across work, home, relationships and education is the picture the clinician needs to weigh.
Should I bring school reports?
If you can find them, yes. Assessments look for a long pattern reaching back to childhood, and contemporaneous evidence like report comments is useful. If you have no records, an older relative who remembers what you were like can sometimes contribute, and simply writing down what you remember helps too. Ask your provider what they want.
This page is information only, not medical advice and not a diagnosis. ADHD can only be diagnosed by a registered clinician, based on an honest account of your experiences.
Editor, ADHD Helper
Adam leads ADHD Helper's editorial coverage of adult ADHD, and he writes it from lived experience: Adam has ADHD himself, diagnosed as an adult, and has been through the assessment routes and the daily workarounds this site covers. He is the founder and managing director of Muswell Rose and researches the plain-English explainers on getting an ADHD assessment through NHS Right to Choose or privately, and on the products and tools people use to manage ADHD, drawing on guidance from the NHS, NICE and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is clear that the site is information, not medical advice, and that diagnosis is for a registered clinician.
Last reviewed: 30 July 2026