Do the online AQ tests ever lie?

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To keep things short, I've suspected that I've had some kind of ASD for the past few years. After seeing a whole slew of professionals, I've been pegged with ADHD and nothing more interesting, although I really don't think the latest doctor I saw was even skilled in the autism / asperger's sydrome field. Even one of my previous therapists had suspicions of something like ASD, but wasn't qualified enough to make a formal diagnosis.

Here's where it gets weirder: I took all of the well-known ASD online tests this evening and my scores were through the roof. I got a 45/50 on one, a 10/10 on another, and a 200 vs. an average aspie score of 130 on the last one. I'm literally surpassing the typical scores of people who were diagnosed, that it's both unbelievable and undeniable.

TL;DR: This raises some questions:

1) In your opinion, are the AQ tests pretty close? Has anyone here took a test prior to being diagnosed by a professional?

2) Is there some secret formula for finding people who work with / diagnose ASD or Asperger's syndrome? It's like a foreign language to me, and having an answer would probably change my life / make some sense out of my life.

Thanks so much, I really appreciate it.

They are somewhat accurate if the person taking the test is answering truthfully. But they aren't to be used as a diagnostic tool. They only ask questions about specific symptoms, which are self-assessed.

The best way that I can think of to find a clinician that specializes in ASD is to contact local autism societies and ask for a list of providers.

My AQ test indicated that I most likely had Asperger's, and then I was diagnosed with ASD level 1, which basically corresponds to Asperger's syndrome. AS is no longer diagnosed here since the DSM-V came out.

I have seen a few test results in signatures that were greater than mine and I am a well established level 2, formerly level 3. So it makes me wonder some about the validity of the test and or the test taker.

The AQ test results can only be as relible as the person taking the test is honest and truthful. If someone carefully considers their answers and are as objective as they can be when answering the questions then it could be a useful test in most cases.
On it's own, it doesn't mean much, it is at best, a single piece of evidence and not enough to warrant any further investigation. So in addition to this, you would also need to look at thing such as the diagnostic criteria to see if, what you experience in your life matches up and in what way and to what extent. If the AQ test score is high and your experience matches with the diagnostic criteria, then the next step would be to speak with your doctor who will be able to discus it with you and decide whether or not to refer you for a formal ASD assessment.

One thing to consider about the AQ/EQ scores is that they score frequency - you could have someone who has a trait that occurs almost constantly, but it doesn't cause them much problem at all. A similar person may have the same trait
infrequently but it causes a greater problem.

Using the same reasoning, someone with many ASD traits is not necessarily more severe than someone with few.

Another element is that people's reporting of frequency may depend on their own experiences - having had very severe anxiety/depression, I have answered anxiety/depression questions with more 'mild' answers because I'm thinking of how severe I once was. If I wasn't comparing my experiences to that, I might view my current difficulties as more severe.

The test doesn't "lie" but it's only as accurate as the person who reports.

ConceptuallyCurious has the right idea.

Most of these tests will suggest I don't have an ASD, or just barely do. The mental health professionals I've worked with over the past 25 years disagree. So take the results with a grain of salt.

Part of the problem is the nature of the questions. Even if I answer them as honestly as I can, they're phrased in such a way that I could honestly give multiple answers to several of them. Like it asks how I feel about social situations. I love meeting new people and doing new things with them, but it's difficult and exhausting. There's a lot of questions where the answer would be "agree, but..." or "disagree, but...", and it does not give that option.

Thanks to everyone for the insight. I'm feeling pretty confident about pursuing a diagnosis, with all of this in mind.

Tests are a tool. A positive result on a quality test does not automatically mean you are autistic, it does provide an indication that you should explore the possibility you are autistic further.

I used online tests , before I decided to have an evaluation.
They can only take your "temperature" on that particular day. Used systematically they might point in a specific direction, but are by no means diagnostic tools.

If you want to see, where they point to - take three of the best: the AQ, Aspie test and RAADS.
Do them regularly, say every three weeks for two-three months. Be as truthful as you can every time
At last - calculate the average for each.
It might give you a possible hint.

By the way: A desire to know if you´re an aspie usually doesn´t emerge out of nothing.

Among other limitations, those tests often identify traits but not impairments. I don't know much about RAADS, but this is definitely true of the Autism Quotient questionnaire. I think aspiequiz does touch on impairments a little, but it's mainly trying to identify neurodiversity in general rather than act as a diagnostic screening test.

Disorders are when the traits are horrible life-ruining problems. Okay, okay, that's an exaggeration. They don't have to completely ruin your life, just make it a heck of a lot harder than it should be.

These types of tests are limited for diagnosis, but you most likely have plenty of autistic traits if you score high on several of them. However, it is possible to skew a score very high with only mild autistic traits. Someone who is very focused on their traits and thinking they have autism is probably going to score higher than someone with similar traits but doesn't care about autism.

The person who diagnosed me was only interested in seeing the AQ test score that I brought, and specifically said it was only good for measuring some symptoms.

I had to do all sorts of other tests, plus interviews, and my parents had to fill out forms.

So on its own, the AQ is really only going to give a really general idea of symptoms. There are probably other things that could cause elevated test scores.

For a few years, I had noticed that I had many things in common with those with Asperger's. The tests were really just a way for me to measure whether or not it should even be something to seriously investigate. The research, and comparison of my symptoms to others', and my life experiences to others' is what really convinced me to seek an evaluation.

Turns out, I totally have it. Looks like I'll be sticking around on here

Thanks for the information and support, to everyone who posted and shared some insight. The scores were just too high to ignore