President Trump announced on Friday his intention to complete a “semi-annual” physical exam at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, roughly six months after his last annual check-up.
During a conversation about his doctor’s appointment in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump shared with reporters that he had achieved a “perfect score” on his most recent cognitive assessment.
“I also took a cognitive function test, which can be risky because if I don’t do well, the criticism will be swift. But I got a perfect score,” he noted. “One of the doctors mentioned he had seldom seen such a score. It made me feel better,” Trump added.
It’s not clear whether he plans to take another cognitive function test during this visit, though he did express his belief that the president should undergo such assessments.
“The first few questions are pretty simple,” he mentioned. “Once you get into the middle, it does get a bit trickier. I doubt many in this room could answer all the questions correctly, I guarantee it.”
Trump didn’t go into detail regarding previous assessments but mentioned in the past that the more challenging section dealt with memory.
“The initial question is a breeze, but the last one is significantly harder. It’s a memory question,” he explained to Fox News back in 2020. “The exam goes something like, ‘People, women, men, cameras, television.’ They say, ‘Can you repeat that?’ And I respond with: people, woman, man, camera, TV set.”
“It actually can be tricky. But it was easy for me,” he continued.
In a different interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace in 2020, Trump defended the test’s difficulty after Wallace suggested that it was straightforward.
“So, how was it?” Trump asked, to which Wallace replied, “Well, it’s not the hardest test. One of the images shows a question: ‘What is it?’ and it’s an elephant.”
Trump responded, “No, no, it’s a misunderstanding. The first few questions are easy, but the last five will stump you… The last five are tough.”
The test Wallace referenced was the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Trump’s former physician, Dr. Ronnie Jackson, and his current physician, Dr. Sean Barbavera, confirmed administering this test to Trump, both in 2018 and again in 2025, with results indicating a score of “30 out of 30” for each evaluation.
What does the Montreal Cognitive Assessment include?
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), created by Canadian neurologist Dr. Ziad Nasreddine, serves as a screening tool to identify cognitive impairment. Its questions assess various cognitive functions, including language, memory, visuospatial abilities, and orientation.
The standard MoCA takes about 10 minutes to finish. Only trained professionals can conduct the test, but sample versions show tasks like pattern recognition, drawing replication, phrase repetition, and word recall.
A score of 26 or higher is considered normal, while a score of 22 may suggest mild cognitive impairment. Lower scores could indicate more serious cognitive issues.
However, the test is not designed to measure intelligence, as Nasreddine highlighted. “There are no studies linking this test to IQ tests,” he stated. “Its purpose isn’t to classify someone’s IQ.”
In addition to cognitive assessment, Trump’s last medical exam in April 2025 revealed “mild sun damage” and marks on his ear resembling those from a gunshot wound. Subsequent tests indicated he had chronic venous insufficiency, which affects blood flow from the legs to the heart, leading to swelling and pain.
There have also been sightings of bruises on his hands; however, Dr. Sean Barbavera attributed this to “mild soft tissue inflammation from frequent handshakes and aspirin use, part of standard cardiovascular prevention.”
“President Trump is in good health,” Barbavera wrote in a memo from July.
