Accuracy of Cheap Pregnancy Tests to Detect Early Pregnancy

When you are trying to get pregnant, it is an exciting time. Waiting every month to be able to take an early pregnancy test can seem like an eternity. Every month when I would take one of those cheap pregnancy tests, I would worry about the accuracy of the test.

The last thing I want to do is to get a false negative but even worse would be getting a false positive pregnancy test result. So just how accurate are the cheap pregnancy tests?

I found out through my own research about pregnancy test accuracy that there is a difference from one manufacturer to the next. However, it isn't so much about the accuracy of the pregnancy test as it is how early the test will detect a pregnancy.

If you are like me, you wanted to take an early pregnancy test as soon as possible so you will know if your efforts to conceive a baby this month were successful. Some pregnancy tests on the market reveal that they can be used as much as five days before the day of your expected period.

That is really early, especially in you ovulate late in your cycle. You can see on the box that detecting pregnancy five days early does not work for everyone. I would go a step further and say it generally only works for those who either ovulate early in their cycle or have high levels of hcg in their system due to multiples.

Whether you buy a cheap pregnancy test or an expensive pregnancy such as the brand name tests (clear blue easy pregnancy test or ept pregnancy tests), they all work the same. The tests are calibrated to detect the amount of hcg or pregnancy hormone that is in your system.

To take a pregnancy test, you should follow the directions on the box. Most pregnancy tests will require you to urinate on the pregnancy test or to collect the urine in a clean cup and dip the pregnancy test into the cup.

After a specified wait time (generally ranging from three minutes to ten minutes), the test will show the result of the pregnancy test. Remember, the early pregnancy test result may not be accurate. You may be pregnant even if it shows a negative result. Pay attention to early pregnancy signs too.

Every test measures a different level of hcg in the body. The lower the level that is measured, the earlier you can test for pregnancy and expect an accurate result. Some of the cheap pregnancy tests (including the generic ones) have the same low level as the brand name pregnancy tests meaning you don't have to spend a fortune on your early pregnancy tests to get an accurate result.