Chemistry.com is owned by Match.com so I always wondered what the difference is between the sites.  I recently signed up to find out.  It turns out that Chemistry.com takes the eHarmony approach with questions heavily geared towards personality… but weirder.  Have you ever had to take a sensory perception test to join a dating site?  (Let alone, ever?)

There are a total 113 questions to answer when joining Chemistry.com (84 analytical questions, 29 profile and criteria questions).  There were standard questions like ethnicity, body type, headline, essay (mostly in the basic profile/criteria sections), and there were some oddball questions, but during the sign up process there are a number of oddball questions which I see as being either irrelevant or only important if you think dating is about finding your long lost twin.

Here are the strangest questions, starting with the first one which just may be the weirdest:

Question 1 asks you about the size of your index finger.  (There’s probably some pseudo-psychological reason behind this test and I’m sure it’s as accurate as palm reading.)

Question 2 asks you if you’re the oldest, youngest, middle, or only child in your family.  (Relevant?)

Question 3 asks for the type of relationship you’re looking for, and it awkwardly includes options for single income and double income marriages.  (Relevant?  Appropriate?)

Question 5 asks you to categorize your friends as “Social crowd”, “Intellectuals”, “Adventurers”, “Activists”.  I found that very limiting.  (Could that be on purpose?)

Question 7 is a sensory perception test!  (WTF?)

Question 33 asks you to decide between 4 photos which people have a phony smile.  (Do you get this one?)

Question 48 asks you to describe how you doodle.

Question 52 asks you to pick a title for the cover of a ficticious book that they display.

Question 83 is another sensory perception test!

Question 84 asks a “Visual Interpretation” question…?  I can’t explain it so here’s the graphic.

Question 24 asks you to move dual sliders to indicate your level of fitness and the level you desire in your partner.  I know, that makes no sense, so check out the graphic.

Question 25 asks for your ethnicity but “East Indian” is noticeably missing.

I think this is a poorly thought out approach to online dating.  I’d rate it as probably the dumbest, and worst, site I’ve tried out.  Was it successful for me?  No, my top matches were not all that interesting or even seemed to truly match the type that I have in mind.  Have you used Chemistry.com?  What is your impression?