US3 min(s) read
Published 09:07 02 May 2026 GMT
Donald Trump has once again treated the public to a detailed breakdown of the cognitive test he says he keeps acing.
Once again, some of the questions he described don't sound quite as 'complex' as he made them out to be.
The 79-year-old president was speaking at The Villages, a famously Republican retirement community in Central Florida, on Friday (May 1).
He was technically there to talk about last year's One Big Beautiful Bill, particularly the bit that exempts most Social Security benefits from federal income taxes.
But anyone who's watched a Trump speech in the last few years will know he rarely sticks to the script for long.
Sure enough, the president drifted off topic and landed on one of his favourite subjects: the cognitive tests he says he's taken (and aced) multiple times.
"I don't think Obama could pass it," Trump told the crowd.
"Biden? Give me a break."
He then walked everyone through what he says was the very first question on the test.
"You know, the first question's very easy. It's a lion, a giraffe, a bear, and a shark. They say, 'Which one is the bear?' And everybody says ohhh."
Yes, really.
The president then assured the audience that the test got significantly harder from there, before launching into what he described as one of its 'tough' questions.
"They say, 'Take a number, any number.' Ok, I'll take 99," he said.
"'Multiply times nine.' Ok. 'Divide it by three.' Good. 'Add 4,293.' That's good. 'Divide by two. Subtract 93. Divide by 9. What is your answer?'"
For anyone curious, the answer is 244.67. And no, that isn't actually the kind of question that appears on the test.
Trump then admitted the version he gave was a sort of paraphrase.
"Now, they go a little slower than that, but not much. I don't want to waste a lot of time," he said.
"But there weren't a lot of people that get it right. I got it right, you know?
"It was actually longer and more complex than that."
He finished with: "But no, it's a tough test, so I took it. And then everyone said, 'All right, good. He's smart.'"
The test Trump is referring to is the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA. It was developed by Canadian neurologist Dr Ziad Nasreddine in 1996.
Crucially, it isn't an IQ or aptitude test. It's a 10-minute, 30-point screening tool used to detect early signs of cognitive impairment, such as dementia or Alzheimer's.
Real questions include drawing a clock, identifying pictures of animals (yes, like the bear), repeating a short list of words, and doing some very basic mental arithmetic.
Trump has previously claimed perfect 30/30 scores under both his former White House physician Dr Ronny Jackson and his current physician, Dr Sean Barbabella.
The president has been talking up his performance on the test for years, often using it as a way to bat away questions about his fitness for office or to take a shot at political rivals.
Whether the public found his latest description reassuring is another question entirely.
