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Could you pass the cognitive test taken by Trump?

This is the cognitive skills test performed by US President Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump listens as Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, January 2018.
President Donald Trump listens as Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, January 2018. Source: AAP

2 min read

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By Riley Morgan


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US President Donald Trump reportedly asked physician Ronny Jackson to take a cognitive assessment during the doctors visit to the White House.

Dr Jackson told White House reporters the US president was given the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, also known as MOCA, and aced it.

The MOCA is designed to identify "mild cognitive dysfunction" or show signs of Alzheimer's disease.

The roughly 10-minute test asks the reader to perform a series of basic memory and mental tasks.

Questions include drawing a line between a number and a letter in ascending order. Drawing a clock with the correct time and naming three animals identified on the assessment.

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In general, patients with good or average memory forget one of the five words and can still be within the normal range, said Dr James Mastrianni, an expert in memory disorders and other neurodegenerative conditions at the University of Chicago Medicine.

"It's a screening assessment that we use routinely in the clinics to determine whether someone has some degree of cognitive impairment or not," he said.

"If they score poorly on that assessment, then usually there is more detailed evaluation that follows. But if they score well that usually indicates there is pretty good cognitive function. They are essentially intact," Mastrianni added.

Before Mr Trump's physical examination on Friday, Dr Jackson decided he wasn't going to perform a cognitive assessment.

However, Mr Trump requested the assessment.

"He actively asked me to include that in it so we did," Dr Jackson told reporters on Tuesday.

A score of 26 or more is considered normal. Mr Trump aced it and scored 30 out of 30.

- With AAP


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