What is a Schulte table? How it works and how to do your first one

September 26, 2026 · 7 min read · Tyamka team

A Schulte table is a square grid of shuffled numbers that you find in order, as fast as you can. Where it comes from, how to do one and how to practise.

A Schulte table is a square grid filled with shuffled numbers. Your job is to find them in order, 1, then 2, then 3 and so on up to the last one, as fast as you can. The classic version is 5 by 5 with the numbers 1 to 25. That is the whole rule. You can try one in the browser right now in our Schulte table online game, which times you and counts mistakes on its own.

What a Schulte table looks like

Here is a 5×5 table. Find 1, then 2, then 3, and keep going to 25. If you want to time yourself, start a stopwatch before you look.

The first few numbers usually go quickly. Somewhere around the middle you catch yourself scanning the same row twice, because the number you want is hiding in a corner you already looked at. That is a normal part of the search. There is nothing to memorise and nothing to solve. The task is only search, again and again, with a new target each time.

Where the table comes from

The tables are named after Walter Schulte, a German psychiatrist and psychotherapist. They were first used as a diagnostic tool, a simple way to look at how a person holds attention on a task over a short stretch of time. The sources we checked do not say which of Schulte's publications first described them, so we will not guess at a year.

Later the tables spread well beyond diagnostics. They turn up in speed-reading courses, in psychology workbooks and on websites devoted to Schulte tables. A well-known variant is the red-black table of the Soviet psychologist Fyodor Gorbov (1916–1977), who worked in aviation and space psychology. In his version you alternate between black numbers going up and red numbers going down. We cover it in a separate article on the Schulte–Gorbov table and other variants.

How to do your first table

1. Pick a 5×5 table. It is the classic size, and most sources that give times use it.
2. Sit so the whole table is in front of you and you can see every cell without turning your head.
3. Start the timer and look at the centre of the grid.
4. Find 1. Point at it, tap it, or say it quietly, whatever makes it clear to you that you found it.
5. Find 2, then 3, and so on. Do not skip ahead, even if you notice 17 on the way to 6.
6. Stop the timer on 25 and write the time down.

On paper you need someone else or a stopwatch app to keep time, and nothing stops you from "finding" a number you have not really found. An online table checks each tap and counts the time for you. Paper has its own advantages, which we cover in the article on a printable Schulte table.

Where to look while you search

The classic instruction is to keep your eyes near the centre of the table and let the numbers come to you, instead of reading the grid row by row like a page of text. On a 5×5 table printed at a normal size, or on a phone screen, the whole grid is small enough that you can see all of it without moving your eyes far. The idea is to take the grid in as one picture and pick the next number out of it.

In practice you may start by scanning line by line, because that is how we read. It is worth trying both ways and comparing your times on the same grid size. Keeping your eyes still is the traditional advice. We do not have a study that shows it works for everyone, so treat it as something to test on yourself rather than a rule.

A few things that usually help on the first tries:

• Say the target, not the path. Keep only "14" in your head, not "14 is somewhere near the bottom". The layout changes from table to table, so there is nothing to remember about where things were.
• Do not chase the number you just found. After 8 your eyes tend to stay near 8. The 9 can be anywhere.
• Slow down after a miss. A wrong tap often comes from rushing, and in our game it costs one of three lives.
• Keep the same distance and light. On paper, a table held closer or further away changes how much of it you see at once.

How to practise without fooling yourself

Times on a Schulte table can move around a lot from one round to the next. The layout changes every time, you may need a round to settle in, and after many rounds tiredness or boredom can creep in. So a single good round says little.

Some simple habits make your numbers easier to read:

• Compare like with like. A 5×5 time and a 7×7 time are different things. Counting down, and a grid that reshuffles after every correct tap, are different tasks again.
• Look at a few rounds, not one. Write down three times in a row and look at the middle one.
• Stop when it stops being fun. People usually get faster at the table itself with practice, the same way you get faster at any task you repeat. That is what the times will show.
• Do not chase numbers from the internet. Sites print "norms" for adults that disagree with each other several times over. We collected what the open sources actually say in the article about the Schulte table average time.

What the table asks of you, and what your time does and does not tell you, is covered in the article on Schulte table benefits. The short version is that your time shows how you did on this table today. We make no promise that the game improves attention outside it.

Schulte tables in Tyamka

Our game has 15 levels. The grid grows from 3×3 to 7×7, and some levels change the rules.

When the grid reshuffles after every correct tap, you cannot rely on having seen the next number already. Every search starts from zero. Counting down feels strange for the first few rounds, because we are used to reading numbers in the other direction.

You have three lives on each level, and a wrong tap costs one. Every correct tap earns 10 points plus a speed bonus of up to 10 more, and the bonus is higher the faster you find the next number. At the end the game shows your points, the speed bonus, the time, the number of mistakes and your previous best score on that level. Your best is kept in points, per level, so a 7×7 round never competes with a 4×4 one.

A few common questions

Is a Schulte table a test?

It started as one. Psychologists used it to look at attention under controlled conditions. A round in a browser game has none of those conditions, so your time is a game result, not a test result.

Does it have to be numbers?

No. Some versions use letters in alphabetical order, and the red-black Gorbov table mixes two colours that run in opposite directions. The article on Schulte table variants goes through them.

Which grid size should I use?

5×5 is the classic size and the one most sources talk about. On a phone a 3×3 or 4×4 grid is a gentle first try. The largest grid in our game is 7×7, because bigger grids make each cell too small to tap comfortably on a narrow phone.

How many rounds should I play?

There is no set number. A few rounds are enough to see your usual time, and there is little point in carrying on once you are tired or bored.

Paper or screen

Both work. Paper is quieter and needs nothing but a printer, but you have to time yourself and be honest about misses. On a screen the timer starts and stops by itself, a wrong tap is counted, and you get a fresh grid every round without printing anything. If you are just curious what a Schulte table is, start with the online version, since it takes a minute and does the counting for you.

More games for focus and memory are on the all games page.