Mental status testing assesses the following by asking the patient to do certain tasks: Orientation (give their name, the date, and their location) Attention and concentration (eg, repeat a list of words, do simple calculations, spell "world" backwards) Short-term memory (eg, repeat a list of 3 or 4 items after 5, 10, and 30 minutes) Long-term memory (eg, answer questions about the distant past) Language (eg, name common objects) Praxis and executive function (eg, follow a multiple-stage command) Constructional praxis (eg, copy a design or draw a clock face) Various scales can be used to test these components.