GCS calculator using the Glasgow structured approach
For healthcare professionals and students. Check results against your local protocols and clinical judgement; this tool does not give medical advice.
This GCS calculator records the three components of the Glasgow Coma Scale — eye opening, verbal response and best motor response — using the criteria of the Glasgow Structured Approach published by the scale’s originators. Each option shows the observed behaviour as well as its name, so “normal flexion” and “abnormal flexion” are chosen by what you saw rather than from memory.
It also handles the cases that trip people up: an intubated patient whose verbal response is not testable (NT), the GCS-Pupils score (GCS-P) that adds pupil reactivity, and a paediatric scale for children under five. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is stored.
How to use the Glasgow Coma Scale Calculator
- Choose Adult · over 5 or Child · under 5; for the paediatric scale, pick the child’s age.
- Under Eye opening, Verbal response and Best motor response, select the highest response observed.
- If a component cannot be assessed — swollen eyes, intubation, paralysis — select Not testable.
- For GCS-P, choose how many pupils are unreactive to light.
- Read the notation, score and notes, and use Copy result to paste the components and their descriptions into your notes.
Glasgow Coma Scale Calculator features
Structured criteria
Every rating shows its defining behaviour from the Glasgow assessment aid, e.g. “brings hand above the clavicle to a stimulus on the head or neck” for localising.
Intubated patients
Not-testable components are written as NT (E3 VNT M5) and no total is reported, as the Glasgow FAQ advises.
GCS-P
GCS score minus the pupil reactivity score (0, 1 or 2), giving 1 to 15.
Paediatric scale
The Adelaide paediatric scale (maximum 14) with the normal total expected at each age.
Readable output
Notation, score, components in words and a copyable one-line summary.
The Glasgow Coma Scale and how it is scored
The scale was introduced by Teasdale G and Jennett B, “Assessment of coma and impaired consciousness: a practical scale”, Lancet 1974;2(7872):81–84. The numbered 3–15 score came later; the 40-year review by Teasdale et al., Lancet Neurol 2014;13(8):844–854 describes its development. The criteria below are those of the Glasgow Structured Approach (glasgowcomascale.org, checked 19 October 2026): check for interfering factors, observe, stimulate with sound and then pressure (fingertip, trapezius or supraorbital notch), and rate the best response.
| Component | Ratings (score) |
|---|---|
| Eye opening (E) | Spontaneous 4 · To sound 3 · To pressure 2 · None 1 · Not testable NT |
| Verbal response (V) | Orientated 5 · Confused 4 · Words 3 · Sounds 2 · None 1 · Not testable NT |
| Best motor response (M) | Obeys commands 6 · Localising 5 · Normal flexion 4 · Abnormal flexion 3 · Extension 2 · None 1 · Not testable NT |
Intubated patients, NT and the “T” suffix
The Glasgow FAQ is explicit: “Do not use number ‘1’ to record missing component; use ‘NT’ (Not testable). Do not report a total score when a component is Not Testable.” A sedated, intubated patient who localises and opens eyes to sound is therefore recorded as E3 VNT M5. Some charts write “VT” or a total such as “8T”; that convention is local, and the components carry the information either way.
GCS bands used for head injury — 13–15 mild, 9–12 moderate, 3–8 severe (best score in the first 24 hours) — come from the classification in the US Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense guideline on concussion and mild TBI (2009), reproduced by Arciniegas, Dialogues Clin Neurosci 2011. That guideline also uses loss of consciousness, amnesia and imaging. Two patients with a score of 8 — E2 V2 M4 and E1 V1 M6 — can be very different, which is why the Glasgow site says to use the scale, not just the score.
GCS-P: adding pupil reactivity
Brennan PM, Murray GD and Teasdale GM, J Neurosurg 2018;128(6):1612–1620, combined the GCS with the pupil reactivity score: GCS-P = GCS − PRS, where PRS is 2 if both pupils are unreactive to light, 1 if one is and 0 if neither. The study pooled 15,900 head-injured patients from the CRASH trial and the IMPACT database. Mortality was 51% at GCS 3 but 74% at GCS-P 1. The Glasgow site’s example: E1 V1 M4 = 6 with both pupils fixed gives GCS-P 4, and the site gives mortality likelihoods of 29% at GCS 6 and 39% at GCS-P 4.
Paediatric Glasgow Coma Scale
The Glasgow site states that the adult scale applies without change over 5 years. For younger children it gives the Adelaide paediatric scale (Simpson and Reilly, Lancet 1982; Reilly et al., Child’s Nerv Syst 1988), in which motor response has five levels and the expected normal total rises with age. Other paediatric versions with a maximum of 15 are used in some US emergency services; their scores are not interchangeable with this one.
| Age | Expected best verbal | Expected best motor | Normal total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birth | Cries | Flexion | 9 |
| 6 months | Vocal sounds | Flexion | 10 |
| 6–12 months | Vocal sounds | Localises | 11 |
| 1–2 years | Words | Localises | 12 |
| 2–5 years | Words | Obeys | 13 |
| Over 5 years | Orientated | Obeys | 14 |
Glasgow Coma Scale Calculator FAQ
How do you calculate a GCS score?
Add the best eye (1–4), verbal (1–5) and motor (1–6) ratings for a total of 3 to 15, and always write the components too, e.g. E3 V4 M6 = 13. The GCS calculator above applies the structured-approach criteria.
How do you score GCS in an intubated patient?
Record the verbal component as NT (not testable) and report the eye and motor components, e.g. E3 VNT M5. The Glasgow guidance says not to give 1 for verbal and not to report a total.
What is the GCS-P?
The GCS score minus the number of pupils that do not react to light (0–2). It ranges from 1 to 15 and was described in 2018 to combine the scale with pupil reactivity.
Is there a paediatric GCS calculator?
Yes — choose Child · under 5. It uses the Adelaide scale from the Glasgow site, with a maximum of 14 and an expected normal total for each age.
What GCS is severe head injury?
By the usual head-injury convention, 8 or less is severe, 9–12 moderate and 13–15 mild. The bands describe groups of patients; the components matter more for an individual.
Does a patient with a GCS of 15 have a normal brain?
Not necessarily. The scale measures responsiveness only; focal deficits, pupil changes and imaging findings are assessed separately. A MAP calculator helps with the blood pressure side of the assessment.