History Main / SecretTest

* ''WssternAnimation/LegendOfTheThreeCaballeros'': In the second episode of the series, Xandra, the Goddess of Adventure leads the titular trio to Crete. She promises them treasures when they are brave enough to fight the Minotaur who lives there. At the end it turns out there is no treasure - the Minotaur is revealed to be a PunchClockVillain who was hired by Xandra to test the trio to be worthy successors of their ancestors, the original Three Caballeros.

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': When Hank Hill is forced to take an anger management class, the actual final test is that everyone is given a diploma with a typo for their name. Hank points out that his diploma reading "Hink Hall" would make it difficult to prove that he passed, but because he did not get enraged, he passes. Chuck Mangione on the other hand responds to his reading "Chick Mangione" with "I'm not a chick, I'm a dude!" and hitting his instructor in the head with his trumpet.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', the episode in which the cast found a note worth a large amount of money on the ground (for a child, that is; remember ever finding a $20, $50, or even a $100 bill as a kid?). Rather than keep it like they all initially wanted to, they decided to try to find the real owner of the bill. They do, and T.J returns it, only to be apparently told to leave. Assuming they made the wrong decision by giving it back to someone who didn't seem that appreciative of it, he comes back and tells them, only for the person to come out on a jet-pack and explain he did it ''all the time''. And of course, the gang was the only one to actually return it to him.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E84TheHunt The Hunt]]", a man and his dog both drown. They then find themselves walking down a path. At one point, they meet a man who says that they've reached Heaven, but dogs aren't allowed. The dog's owner says any Heaven that doesn't allow his dog can count him out. Further down the road, he found it was a test, as an actual angel tells him the previous man was Satan and the place he wanted the dog's owner to enter was Hell. The angel warmly invites the man and his dog into the real Heaven.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E105ValleyOfTheShadow Valley of the Shadow]]", a [[IntrepidReporter newspaper reporter]] named Philip Redfield learns too much and is taken prisoner by the inhabitants of Peaceful Valley, UsefulNotes/NewMexico. An attractive woman named Ellen Marshall sets him free and he takes advantage of this to steal their secrets, killing several of them in the process. After Philip escapes with Ellen, she turns on him, revealing that the whole set-up was a test of his worthiness to know the information. He failed.

!!Examples

When the hero initially knew (s)he was being tested, but is falsely told the test has ended, it's a TrainingAccident (military) or TheGameNeverStopped (civilian). Either way, the hero ends up thinking (s)he's facing a real situation, with no idea it's still just a test.

** In ''Literature/SpaceCadet'', the aspiring Space Patrol candidate is given a test where he must drop beans into a small bottle at his feet -- with his eyes closed. He's disappointed that he only managed to get one bean, where others had many more. Afterwards, the examiner heavily implies that what they're actually testing is trustworthiness; only the cadets that kept their eyes closed pass. The hero's roommate thinks it's actually a [[HiddenPurposeTest secret test of]] ''[[HiddenPurposeTest intelligence]]'', to weed out the cadets who don't figure out that getting a good score would be proof that you cheated; he trusts that there'll be other tests to weed out the dull-but-honest candidates. Possibly both interpretations are correct -- cheating in such an obvious manner doesn't say much for one's ethics ''or'' intelligence.

* The origin story for Dr. Droom in ''Amazing Adventures'' #1 (1961). Doctor Anthony Droom is summoned to the Himalayas (probably Tibet) to treat an ill lama. He is told he won't be paid for his work and is required to walk over hot coals and face a gorlion (half gorilla, half lion). He faces these challenges bravely and finally meets the lama. The lama tells him that he isn't really ill: he put Dr. Droom through all that to find out if he was worthy to take the lama's place in fighting sinister occult forces. Droom decides to accept the lama's offer to replace him. Eventually the character Doctor Droom becomes [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Druid Doctor Druid]].
* Creator/CarlBarks' [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Scrooge McDuck]] stories:
** In "Some Heir Over the Rainbow", Scrooge [=McDuck=] wanted to test his potential heirs (WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck, Gladstone Gander and Huey, Dewey and Louie) without them knowing they were being tested. He picked up three pots, placed one thousand dollars within each of them and placed them at strategic places where his relatives would find it. Scrooge planned to choose his heir based on how they'd use the money. [[spoiler:He chose Huey, Dewey and Louie]].
** At an earlier story, Scrooge gave Donald and Gladstone one business venture each while planning to see which one was best suited to take over Scrooge's business empire. [[spoiler:As a stroke of luck helped Gladstone and ruined Donald, Scrooge couldn't make an evaluation]].

* Creator/HansChristianAndersen's ''Literature/ThePrincessAndThePea''. A prince wants to marry a princess but can't know whether a woman who claims to be a real princess actually is. When one woman claims to be a princess, his mother decides to test her by putting a pea beneath her mattress, which has 20 more mattresses and feather beds between it and the pea. The woman says she spent a sleepless night because of something hard in her bed. The prince realizes that she must be a princess because of her highly sensitive nature, and they get married.
* ''The Traveller''. While looking for a job, a man arrives at an apparently deserted castle. Its dining hall is full of sumptuous food and its luxurious rooms have everything ready for hosting guests. Since he believed that he had not yet performed any job worthy of those luxuries, he is content with eating a simple piece of bread, drinking a glass of water, and sleeping in the cellar. That night, he dreams of a white swan who speaks to him, telling him to put the castle's crown on. The next morning, he does so, and the swan appears and transforms into a beautiful princess. She tells him that, because of his temperance and humility, he has broken the castle's curse and hers; and that, if he wishes, he can become the lord of the castle with her as his wife.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' FanFic ''FanFic/{{Eternal}}'', Twilight treats the wedding preparations for two of her friends as one, hoping to prove to Princess Celestia that she's ''perfect''. Celestia is ''horrified'' when she realizes that's how her Faithful Student's treating it... [[spoiler:but doesn't have the heart to correct her, instead offering the praise she hoped for]].

* Exactly the same thing happens to the hero of John Scalzi's ''Literature/OldMansWar'' as he "waits" for his military enlistment psych exam. There the purpose is actually to gather his emotional state in preparation for the body-swap process. (The test administrator is trained in unarmed combat in case of emergency.)

* Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety recruits children using a pencil-and-paper test combined with a series of {{Secret Test}}s. For example, the test requires everyone to bring exactly one pencil. On the way to the test, each child meets a girl who has dropped her pencil down a grating. The main characters each try to help her in different ways: Kate manages to {{MacGyver|ing}} a way to retrieve the pencil, while Reynie simply breaks his own pencil in half and sharpens the broken end. This is combined with a SecretTestOfCharacter when the girl (who's actually a plant working for Mr. Benedict) offers each of them a cheat sheet.
* ''Literature/TheStarsMyDestination'' by Creator/AlfredBester has one of these. Potential telepaths are told to wait in a room for an interview. The minder at the front is a telepath broadcasting the thought "If you can hear this, go through the door on your left..." (or right, or whatever it was).
* In ''[[Literature/{{Conqueror}} Lords of the Bow]]'', Chen Yi once paid a boatman to offer Quishan safe passage away from Baotou, shortly after Quishan became a slave to Chen Yi to [[WorkOffTheDebt pay off a debt]]. Quishan refused out of honour -- good thing too, as he would have had his throat slit if he said yes.
* In the ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'' duology, Talon Karrde has a green new crewmember stationed on deck when he comes out of hyperspace next to his ally [[Literature/XWingSeries Booster Terrick's]] ship, ''Errant Venture''. The ''Errant Venture'' is a captured Star Destroyer revamped into, basically, a luxury liner, but there's no way to tell just by looking at it that it's not part of a trap. After she realizes that no one's preparing for combat and that this really isn't a trap, she gets angry at her boss, telling him that she does not like to be made into a human joke. Karrde indirectly tells her that this is a way of testing how she reacts to sudden shocks, and she passed - she froze for a moment, her fur puffed out, but she recovered quickly. Karrde's new bodyguard observes after she's gone that he probably does this a lot, and this crewmember left something that the others probably didn't - claw marks.

* In ''Literature/TheConfidenceMan'', every conversation the eponymous character has with another passenger on the steamboat is this. He challenges their morals and confidence while conning each one of them out of money... and he's either God or Satan testing them.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "{{Literature/Profession}}": The story begins with George living in "A House for the Feeble-minded" despite [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture a future]] where everyone is [[IneptAptitudeTest assigned a job]] and Educated (that is, [[NeuralImplanting their minds are filled with information from a computer]]) except for the [[InternalizedCategorism "feeble-minded"]]. It was really a test -- if he protested being labelled feeble-minded and continued to learn and create on his own, it proved he was gifted with the ability of original thought and therefore a cornerstone of human society.
* In the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' story "Literature/TheAbbeyGrange", Holmes learns that the murderer was acting in self defence, and to protect the victim's wife. He offers to give the man time to escape before telling the police, to which he angrily refuses, because that would leave the woman in the lurch. Holmes then says "I was only testing you, and you ring true every time," and doesn't tell the police at all.
* On the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series' official iOS app, it mentions that when Squirrelflight and Leafpool were kits, Squirrelkit put fire ants in her sister's bedding. Their mother, Sandstorm, knew she'd done that, and that night she announced that the two would be switching nests. She really meant for Squirrelkit to say she didn't want to switch nests, to confess to what she'd done, but Squirrelkit didn't say a word, choosing instead to spend the night being bitten by ants. Sandstorm, while disappointed that Squirrelkit didn't confess and apologize, admired her daughter's stubbornness and determination.
* An issue of MAD Magazine once posted a parody ad: "Psychic Wanted: If you are for real then you already know who I am, what I want, and what number to call me at."
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. In order to demonstrate the difference between looking and seeing, Syrio Forel tells Arya Stark how he was chosen as the First Sword of Braavos. The ruler of Braavos (a trading kingdom) invited all the candidates to admire the latest beast brought back by his merchant ships -- a large cat-like creature with no ears. Syrio was the only one to correctly identify it as an ordinary male (despite being told "Isn't ''she'' magnificent?") cat which had lost its ears in a fight and been fed too much as a pet.

* Aviendha's final test before she could become a Wise One in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': [[spoiler: The Wise Ones supervising her kept giving her humiliating punishments without telling her what she'd done wrong. Finally, she decided she was sick of it and declared that she'd done nothing wrong, she was as good as any of them, and ''they'' ought to be the ones who were ashamed of themselves. The willingness to declare herself a Wise One and stand up for herself even in the face of hostility from the others was what her teachers were looking for.]]
* [[SinkOrSwimMentor Anatov]] is very fond of doing this in ''Literature/AkataWitch''. He sends his students to meet sorcerers hoping to get them apprenticed, though he sends them into these situations blind.
* In ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', TheReveal at the end is that the tour of Wonka's Factory is actually this. Willy Wonka wanted to find "a good sensible loving child" to become his heir, and that turns out to be Charlie, the only kid who doesn't meet a bad end due to misbehavior during the tour. Several adaptations put twists on this which allow [[PinballProtagonist Charlie]] to have more of a hand in his triumph:
** [[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory In the 1971 movie]] ''all'' of the children misbehave at some point. Charlie drank Fizzy Lifting Drinks after being told not to -- though, unlike the others, he and Grandpa figured out how to escape the dangerous side effects. ''But'' it's not over yet -- [[spoiler: the purported competitor offering even greater riches to the kids for one of Wonka's Everlasting Gobstoppers is a secret test to find a person who won't succumb to such a temptation. Charlie ''is'' strong enough to resist, partially out of regret for his misbehavior, and this proves to Mr. Wonka that he's a worthy heir]]. Incidentally, [[spoiler: it's possible that the fake offers to buy the Everlasting Gobstoppers has its practical side -- if a child decided to sell the candy, it would go back to Mr. Wonka! Unless, of course, the child or their parents got the idea of auctioning it off to the highest bidder instead...]]
** The 2005 stage musical ''Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka'' uses the songs from the '71 film and rethinks this subplot. The lifetime supply of chocolate turns out to be a booby prize, and Charlie's test is a situation in which he gives in to temptation and never gets caught or called on it. It's when he confesses to drinking the Fizzy Lifting Drink ''of his own accord'' that he is rewarded for his honesty with the factory.
** [[Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory The 2013 West End musical]] puts a whole new twist on things. It comes to its climax when Charlie [[spoiler: is instructed not to touch Willy Wonka's precious idea notebook while the remaining adults are in another room. But Charlie can't help taking a look at it and even ''adding to it''. '''This''' is what wins him the factory, for while his good behavior during the tour proves him to be a virtuous kid, this proves to Mr. Wonka that he is also a kindred spirit -- someone whose imagination and creative drive are so strong that he's willing to break rules to use them]].
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Team Four is told that their first mission is to determine what snacks their respective captains like in time for their Captain's Meeting. This involves going to each lounge and meeting every person in each Squad. Nolien works out that this is not a mission at all, but more of an orientation; the true purpose was to familiarize themselves with the guild and the people that compose it. It's implied that this is why Nolien becomes the team's corporal.
* Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/UnchartedStars''. Murdoc Jern infiltrates the criminal hideout Waystar by pretending to be his father Hywel Jern, a trusted Thieves Guild appraiser and expert on [[{{Precursors}} Forerunner]] artifacts. A Waystar Veep (leader) decides to test him.

** The Veep asks him to evaluate several items to determine which is the most valuable. He recognizes one of the items as a [[{{Precursors}} Forerunner]] star map, which would be priceless. He tells the Veep that another item is worth the most, but realizes too late that he's been set up - they knew that the star map was the most valuable item and were just testing him to determine if he would tell them the truth. As a result he has to fight his way out of Waystar.
* The premise behind Ernest Cline's ''Literature/{{Armada}}'' is that certain popular video games turn out to be training simulations for an alien invasion, identifying elite pilots for recruitment and teaching the populace at large soon to be needed skills. [[spoiler:A few "game" missions even turn out to be actual combat operations against the aliens.]]
* In ''[[Literature/LordDarcy Too Many Magicians]]'', a children's puzzle-toy on display at a sorcery convention has the secondary function of testing kids for magical Talent. The spell that keeps the toy operational is designed to wear off within a year: by that time, a non-Talented child will have outgrown their interest in it anyway, but a Talented one will unconsciously substitute their own ability for the expired spell. If the toy still works a year later, the parents will know to enroll their kid in sorcery school.
* In ''Literature/TheKingsAvatar'', Ye Xiu does this to the Tyrannical Ambition guild players while he was infiltrating the guild. The guild was fully aware Ye Xiu was up to something but could not figure out what. It turns that Ye Xiu [[spoiler: was trying to scout and recruit a Cleric for Team Happy.]]
* In ''Literature/RaisingSteam'', when Dick Simnel takes his plans for the railway to Harry King, he says that whatever Harry thinks they're worth will be fine with him. Harry explodes, insisting that Dick gets a lawyer to fight his side of the deal. Dick then explains that his mother told him to act a bit simple and see how people treat him, and Harry passed.
* The [[GodEmperor Sovereign]] of the south in ''Literature/WaxAndWayne'' was apparently fond of these, to the point where nobody is sure if ''Literature/TheBandsOfMourning'' are meant to be a test, or what it's supposed to mean. His priests said he hid them in a faraway temple for safekeeping until he returned for them, but the Hunters at least think it's a test of temptation that they must overcome by destroying them, and Allik's crew think it's a straightforward test of worthiness.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'':
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E84TheHunt The Hunt]]", a man and his dog both drown. They then find themselves walking down a path. At one point, they meet a man who says that they've reached Heaven, but dogs aren't allowed. The dog's owner says any Heaven that doesn't allow his dog can count him out. Further down the road, he found it was a test, as an actual angel tells him the previous man was Satan and the place he wanted the dog's owner to enter was Hell. The angel warmly invites the man and his dog into the real Heaven.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E105ValleyOfTheShadow Valley of the Shadow]]", a [[IntrepidReporter newspaper reporter]] named Philip Redfield learns too much and is taken prisoner by the inhabitants of Peaceful Valley, UsefulNotes/NewMexico. An attractive woman named Ellen Marshall sets him free and he takes advantage of this to steal their secrets, killing several of them in the process. After Philip escapes with Ellen, she turns on him, revealing that the whole set-up was a test of his worthiness to know the information. He failed.
* The ''Series/{{Lost}}'' episode "Hearts and Minds" features Locke knocking Boone out and then feeding him some self-made drugs in order for him to have a spiritual journey. Boone isn't exactly pleased with it at first, but eventually comes to understand the purpose.

*** "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E12TheEmpath The Empath]]". The Vians can save only one planet when the sun goes supernova and wanted to see if Gem's people were worth saving, all based on her decision to save another's life.
*** "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E6SpectreOfTheGun Spectre of the Gun]]". Revealed to be the Melkotians' real purpose in setting up the landing party to fight the Earps. Kirk and company pass the test by trying to avoid violence and, when that proves to be impossible, limiting themselves to non-lethal self-defense. As a result, the Melkotians greet them in friendship.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E2TheEndOfTheWorld The End of the World]]", Cassandra makes a hilariously hasty attempt to invoke this trope after her villainous plan is exposed to the people who were supposed to have been killed by it. "So! Well done, you've passed my little test, bravo. This makes you eligible to join the, the, uh, uh, the Human Club."
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang The Big Bang]]", the Doctor [[spoiler:refuses to take the time to save Amy because, he says, she "isn't more important than the whole universe." The plastic Rory punches him and insists that she IS more important, whereupon the Doctor welcomes him back and helps revive Amy. Apparently, his callous refusal to rescue his companion is a test to ensure that Rory is completely on his side]].
* In the ''Series/{{Caprica}}'' episode "Blowback", Lucy Rand and a bunch of STO recruits are sent off to a training camp when the shuttle is attacked and hi-jacked by anti-STO zealots. They threaten to kill everybody who doesn't renounce the "one true God." But, lo and behold, it was actually a SecretTest, and those who hold onto their monotheistic beliefs in the face of death pass (the ones who don't are later executed). Lucy [[TakeAThirdOption takes the third option]] and fights off her captors. This impresses her {{Mentor}}.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': Early in the series, after [[HairTriggerTemper the Janitor]] removes a penny from an elevator door that prevented it from closing, he accuses J.D. of dropping the penny. In the SeriesFauxnale, the Janitor claims that when he first met J.D. he knew he accidentally dropped the penny. The Janitor was testing him to see if he'd admit it, and he has been tormenting J.D. for eight years, not because he was mad about the actual penny but because it was a test of character that J.D. failed, thus causing him to lose the Janitor's respect. Of course, this is the Janitor, so he's probably just lying out his ass again.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': At the end of the episode "[[Recap/FireflyE09Ariel Ariel]]", Jayne tries to [[spoiler:sell Simon and River out to the Feds]], which Mal figures out. He knocks Jayne unconscious and threatens to [[ThrownOutTheAirlock throw him out the airlock]], but relents at the last second, because Jayne, accepting his fate, asks him just not to tell the crew why he's dead. Mal hadn't intended a Secret Test, but it turns out that caring what the crew thinks of him changes how Mal sees him enough to save his life. This is helpfully explained by Book at the beginning of the next episode, when quoting the words of the WarriorPoet Xiang Yu.
-->'''Book:''' Live with a man for forty years. Share his meals, and speak with him on every subject. Then, tie him up, and drag him to the rim of the volcano. And on that day, you will finally meet the man.

%%* Parodied to hell and back by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP0sqRMzkwo this]] Creator/MontyPython sketch called Silly Job Interview.
* In ''Series/EmergencyCouple'', a woman named Ji-hye shows up in the ER demanding Demerol (an opiate) for pain relief, and insisting she is allergic to any other pain reliever. Dr. Chang-min is reluctant, but he finally caves and agrees to prescribe her some Demerol—and thus fails the test, as she is really a doctor, testing the ER doctors and how they react to patients seeking drugs.
* An unusual example in ''Series/SavingHope''. Maggie leaves her surgical boards early to help [[spoiler: Alex]] who is well into her labor even though it's already been established that there is no way to reschedule them (other than taking them again the following year.) Maggie delivers the baby in the ambulance on the way to the hospital despite complications. When they arrive at Hope Zion, Dr. Katz asks Maggie to explain what happened with the birth and how she solved the problem. Dr. Katz then reveals that she had the surgical board folks on the phone and they agreed to use Maggie's impressive baby-delivering experience as her final board question (and she passed!)
* Played with in a flashback scene in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD''. Peggy Carter leaves Werner Reinhardt in an interrogation chamber and intentionally leaves a pen on the table. He comments that she obviously wanted to see what he would do with it, since a pen can have so many uses, "Escape, confession, homicide... suicide." She agrees:
-->'''Agent Carter''': It's true. I wanted to find out what kind of man you were. You didn't use the pen, so now I know.
* ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'':
** In "Carrier", Maia becomes concerned that her aunt April only likes her because she tells her things that are going to happen, allowing April to place several successful bets on sporting events. April assures Maia that winning doesn't matter and she loves her for who she is. In order to test her aunt's love for her, Maia tells her to bet on UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} even though she knows that UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity is going to win. The sport is not specified. April bets her mother's engagement ring on the Chicago team and is very upset when they lose. As such, she fails Maia's test.
** In "Terrible Swift Sword", Jordan Collier tells Shawn that he intends to launch an attack on the US Army base containing the promicin procured from Isabelle's system. Shawn thinks that going to war with the US government is insane and suicidal and warns NTAC about what Jordan is planning. When Tom and Diana confront Jordan in Shawn's presence, Jordan reveals that he had never intended to attack the base. It had merely been a test for Shawn. He wanted to see whether Shawn would betray him at the first sign of trouble. Suffice it to say, Shawn failed. It turns out that Jordan wasn't entirely honest with them. While he was never going to attack the base outright, he planned to infiltrate it by taking advantage of Boyd Gelder's ability to LieToTheBeholder.
* In ''Series/BlackLightning2018'', when Police Chief Henderson wants to recruit IntrepidReporter Jamillah Olsen as the VoiceOfTheResistance, he first threatens to arrest her. Once she's told him that she will keep telling the truth even if she's put in jail for it, he knows he's made the right choice.
* In ''Series/{{Taxi}}'', at Latka and Simka's wedding, as part of the custom for their country, they had to undergo a series of questions first, and if they answered a question wrong they could not be married. The last question was there was "There's a bull charging at your wife and child, and you only have enough time to save one. Who do you save?" Latka got the answer wrong, but Simka demanded they go on with the ceremony. Turns out it was a trick question. Both answers were wrong, and someone had to demand they still get married anyway in order for the wedding to continue.
* In the second episode of ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'', a couple at the hotel bar asks Professor Legasov if they should worry about the accident at the nuclear plant. After a moment of consideration, he lies and says there isn't. Later on, he learns that they're actually the KGB agents assigned to keep tabs on him--and had he done the right thing and told them to go, he probably wouldn't still be part of the containment effort, illustrating that the state's obsession with saving face is almost as toxic as the reactor pumping out lethal radiation.

* The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' TabletopGame. According to the ''Starfleet Academy'' supplement, applicants to and cadets at the Academy are regularly given {{Secret Test}}s to determine if they belong in Starfleet, including being lied to by Academy personnel. In RealLife, even reasonable people in that situation would either (a) start worrying that ''everything'' that happened was such a test (b) stop trusting anything they were told by Academy personnel unless they could verify it (c) get so annoyed at being regularly lied to by people they're supposed to trust that they quit, or (d) decide that a life-threatening situation was "just another test" and not take it seriously, causing people to get killed.

*** "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E6SpectreOfTheGun Spectre of the Gun]]". Revealed to be the Melkotians' real purpose in setting up the landing party to fight the Earps. Kirk and company pass the test by trying to avoid violence and, when that proves to be impossible, limiting themselves to non-lethal self-defense. As a result, the Melkotians greet them in freindship.

*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E21PatternsOfForce Patterns of Force]]", The Ekosian Resistance sets up a fake Nazi attack to make sure that the ''Enterprise'' crew members aren't Nazis.

* In ''LightNovel/GoodLuckNinomiyaKun'', Ryoko does this to her brother Shungo, Mayu, and Reika. While the three are relaxing at a beach, some heavily armed soldiers show up and tie them up. Shungo manages to escape with the two girls and later has Mayu take Reika away somewhere to hide while he tries to slow down the soldiers. In the end, he ends up fighting a masked fighter, and manages to break the mask, [[spoiler:which turns out to be his sister, who tells him the whole thing was a test and also for Candid Camera]].

[[folder:Films - Live-Action]]

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episode "Nightmare". A group of soldiers invading the planet Ebon are captured and tortured for information by the Ebonites. They eventually learn that the situation is a set-up by their own superiors to test their ability to resist interrogation, with the cooperation of the Ebonites (who eventually protest the unethical nature of the test). This is a fictional depiction of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SERE SERE]] (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) training U.S. troops go through, but in RealLife the troops know it's simulated.

** In "Abduction", five Eden Park High School students, Cody Phillips, Jason, Ray, Brianna and Danielle, are abducted by aliens and find themselves in an exact replica of their school. An alien soon appears and tells them that in five hours' time, [[SadisticChoice they will be forced to decide which of their fellow students will die]]. If they refuse to vote, all of them will be put to death. When the time comes, Brianna, [[GenreSavvy who is convinced that it is some kind of test]], refuses to vote and, with some reluctance, Jason, Ray and Danielle follow suit. However, Cody doesn't want to die and votes for Brianna. The alien fires an energy bolt from his staff and Brianna is killed. When a furious Ray attacks Cody, a gun falls from his belt. Ray then has Jason go through Cody's backpack and he finds that Cody has torn pages out of the yearbook and circled the faces of the other four students. Cody admits that he resents all of them for different reasons but denies that he was planning to shoot any of them. Jason, Ray and Danielle soon disappear. Now left all alone, Cody cradles Brianna's body and apologizes for voting for her, saying that he did not realize what he was doing and wishes that he could take it back. The alien reappears and tells Cody that it was a test for his benefit. Their observations indicated that the day would soon come when Cody would act on his desires and they wanted to see whether he could take a different course. Cody is returned to school and finds all of the other students, including Brianna, alive and well. He then goes to the principal's office and places the gun on his desk, meaning that he will get the help that he needs.

** Episode "The Hunt". A man and his dog both drown. They then find themselves walking down a path. At one point, they meet a man who says that they've reached Heaven, but dogs aren't allowed. The dog's owner says any Heaven that doesn't allow his dog can count him out. Further down the road, he found it was a test, as an actual angel tells him the previous man was Satan and the place he wanted the dog's owner to enter was Hell. The angel warmly invites the man and his dog into the real Heaven.

*** "The Corbomite Maneuver". Balok allows the Enterprise to break free of his control and sends out a fake distress signal to determine their real intentions, as the information in the Enterprise's memory banks could have been faked.
*** "Patterns of Force". The Ekosian Resistance sets up a fake Nazi attack to make sure the Enterprise crew members aren't Nazis.
*** "Catspaw". Korob tells Kirk, Spock and [=McCoy=] that they have passed his tests of loyalty, bravery and immunity to bribery.

*** There's a minor example in the pilot "Encounter at Farpoint". Picard questions Riker in an unfriendly fashion about an instance where he refused to let his previous captain beam down into a dangerous situation. Evidently he just wanted to know if Riker would continue to stand his ground; a later episode establishes that he picked Riker as his first officer ''because'' of his willingness to stand up to his captain in that incident.
*** He did it again in "[[LowerDeckEpisode Lower Decks]]", to minor character Ensign Sito Jaxa. During her time at Starfleet Academy, Sito was involved in a piloting stunt that resulted in the death of one of her classmates. When Picard meets with her he gives her a strict dressing down, telling her she should have been kicked out of Starfleet and doesn't deserve to serve aboard the ''Enterprise''. When she tries to say she's paid for her mistake and deserves a second chance, he merely responds that her actions showed a lack of character. Initially she is too afraid to stand up to him, but after a talk with Worf she realizes Picard's judgment was unfair and calls him out on it. Afterwards, Picard revealed that he was actually considering her for a dangerous mission and wanted to test her resolve. He also tells her he specifically requested she be assigned to the ''Enterprise'' after she graduated to ensure she would get a second chance.
*** In "Sins of the Father", a Klingon officer named Kurn becomes first officer of the Enterprise as part of an exchange program. He treats all of his subordinates harshly except for Worf, which (under Klingon custom) is an insult to Worf. When Worf confronts him over this, Kurn reveals that he is Worf's brother and was testing him to determine if he is a true Klingon.
*** "Coming of Age". When Wesley is taking the Starfleet entrance exam his final test is "facing his biggest fear." While he's waiting for the test to start, a fire breaks out in a nearby lab and he can only save one of the techs working there. It turns out that that was the test, his fear was having to make a decision like that, since his own father died in a similar situation when Picard chose the other guy.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Let He Who Is Without Sin": A group of terrorists burst into a room on the planet Risa and threaten the occupants. Shortly thereafter it's revealed that the whole attack was a hoax carried out by members of the New Essentialists Movement, who are trying to test the Risians' reaction to violence and prove the Federation's lack of preparedness.

** In the episode "The Big Bang", the Doctor [[spoiler: refuses to take the time to save Amy because, he says, she "isn't more important than the whole universe." The plastic Rory punches him and insists that she IS more important, whereupon the Doctor welcomes him back and helps revive Amy. Apparently his callous refusal to rescue his companion is a test to ensure that Rory is completely on his side.]]
** In "The End of the World," Cassandra makes a hilariously hasty attempt to invoke this trope after her villainous plan is exposed to the people who were supposed to have been killed by it. "So! Well done, you've passed my little test, bravo. This makes you eligible to join the, the, uh, uh, the Human Club."
* In the ''Series/{{Caprica}}'' episode "Blowback," Lucy Rand and a bunch of STO recruits are sent off to a training camp when the shuttle is attacked and hi-jacked by anti-STO zealots. They threaten to kill everybody who doesn't renounce the "one true God." But, lo and behold, it was actually a SecretTest, and those who hold onto their monotheistic beliefs in the face of death pass (the ones who don't are later executed). Lucy [[TakeAThirdOption takes the third option]] and fights off her captors. This impresses her {{Mentor}}.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''. Early in the series, after [[HairTriggerTemper the Janitor]] removes a penny from an elevator door that prevented it from closing, he accuses J.D. of dropping the penny. In the SeriesFauxnale, the Janitor claims that when he first met J.D. he knew he accidentally dropped the penny. The Janitor was testing him to see if he'd admit it, and he has been tormenting J.D. for eight years, not because he was mad about the actual penny but because it was a test of character that J.D. failed, thus causing him to lose the Janitor's respect. Of course, this is the Janitor, so he's probably just lying out his ass again.
* In ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', at the end of the episode "Ariel." Jayne tried to [[spoiler: sell Simon and River out to the Feds,]] which Mal figures out. He knocks Jayne unconscious and threatens to [[ThrownOutTheAirlock throw him out the airlock]], but relents at the last second, because Jayne, accepting his fate, asks him just not to tell the crew why he's dead. Mal hadn't intended a SecretTest, but it turns out that caring what the crew thinks of him changes how Mal sees him enough to save his life. This is helpfully explained by Book at the beginning of the next episode, when quoting the words of the WarriorPoet Xiang Yu.
-->'''Book''': Live with a man for forty years. Share his meals, and speak with him on every subject. Then, tie him up, and drag him to the rim of the volcano. And on that day, you will finally meet the man.

* In ''Series/BlackLightning'' when Police Chief Henderson wants to recruit IntrepidReporter Jamillah Olsen as the VoiceOfTheResistance, he first threatens to arrest her. Once she's told him that she will keep telling the truth even if she's put in jail for it, he knows he's made the right choice.

* ''Film/WarGames''. At the beginning of the film, a U.S. ICBM base receives orders to launch its missiles. One of the officers refuses to participate in the launch, preventing it from occurring. It's later revealed that the situation was a nationwide test of the officers' willingness to launch on command. 22% of the bases failed to launch their missiles, causing serious dismay in the political and military leadership.

** The Colonel throws a grenade into the middle of the group of soldiers. The group scattered, except for Steve Rogers, who threw himself on the grenade to protect everyone else. It turns out to have been a dummy grenade, causing the Colonel to grudgingly admit that he was the right choice to receive the Super Soldier Serum. This was actually a ''[[SubvertedTrope subversion]]'' as the hard-bitten Col. Phillips was trying to prove to Erskine that what a soldier needs is "guts"; the test was supposed to be of the trainees' clear-headedness and reflexes. The point still stands, though.

* In ''LightNovel/GoodLuckNinomiyaKun'', Ryoko does this to her brother Shungo, Mayu, and Reika. While relaxing at a beach, some heavily armed military soldiers show up and tie them up. Shungo manages to escape with the two girls, and later has Mayu take Reika away somewhere to hide while he tries to slow down the soldiers. In the end, he ends up fighting a masked fighter, and manages to break the mask, [[spoiler:which turns out to be his sister, who tells him the whole thing was a test and also for Candid Camera]].

** Ichigo gets one when he [[spoiler:need his zanpakuto reforged. Being rejected by the sword smith and sent back to the world of the living. After he converses with his father, it's revealed to be a test, and he's taken back to regain his sword]].

* In order to become a member of the Website/SCPFoundation site, it's a requirement that you read all rules before submitting an application. Nestled deep within the various rules pages are passwords and instructions that you must insert those passwords in your application as well. All applications without passwords are denied.
** Similarly, when Blog/DasSporking first opened up for other members to become sporkers, the instructions for how to apply had hidden within them the requirement that your application must contain the phrase "Cram it with walnuts, ugly" somewhere in it.

* Honest Tea did an experiment in major U.S. cities where they would place cases of their products out with a sign saying $1 each (a great price for it too). They set cameras on it and left it out on the honor system. At the end of the day they counted the money against the amount of product taken. Boston (93.3%) and Washington DC (93%) were the "Most Honest" while Chicago (78%) and Los Angeles (75%) were the worst.

** 2nd Edition TabletopGame/DarkSun boxed set rule book. When elves encounter a stranger they will set up tests of the stranger's friendliness and trustworthyness. These tests range from leaving out a valuable object to see if the stranger steals it up to a life-threatening situation.

*** When a person first asks to join the Harpers, they are asked to stay at the Running Stag Inn overnight. While there, a number of retired Harpers (who don't identify themselves as Harpers) will try to draw the applicant into a discussion of adventuring and what it means to be a Harper. Hidden Harper spellcasters cast spells to read the applicant's mind and find out their CharacterAlignment and true intentions (such as whether they're spies for the Harpers' opponents).

[[folder:Film]]

** Similarly, when WebOriginal/DasSporking first opened up for other members to become sporkers, the instructions for how to apply had hidden within them the requirement that your application must contain the phrase "Cram it with walnuts, ugly" somewhere in it.

* ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'': In the [[MagicalSociety Order of Hermes]], the conflict-obsessed House Tytalus constantly challenges its members, with and without their knowledge -- sometimes, identifying the test is part of the test. It's actually possible for a non-Tytalus magus to pass an entrance test by accident, much to their confusion when Tytalus magi start speaking of them as one of their own.

One or more heroes are put through a FalseCrucible, without any warning they're being tested. This is particularly popular with {{trickster mentor}}s.

* ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD''. In the 1985 film version, Doris Lang confronts D as he travels. She challenges and attacks him to find out if he's a tough enough vampire hunter to take on the vampire noble Count Magnus Lee. After he proves himself: