When you are trying to get pregnant without much luck, each month the same question arises: When can you take a pregnancy test? The honest answer is that you can take a pregnancy test whenever you want! However, if you are looking for the most accurate answers, you may want to wait until after your first missed period to take a pregnancy test.

There are two types of pregnancy tests: those that test your urine and are usually taken at home, and those that test your blood and are usually administered in a doctor’s office. Although they are administered in different ways, they both work in the same manner. Both are designed to detect the presence of hCG, human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone that is only present when a fertilized egg has reached a woman’s uterus and implanted successfully.

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However, if you have been closely monitoring your cycle as part of your efforts to conceive, you may have a more accurate idea of when you are ovulating. Once you have ovulated, there is a window of approximately 24 hours when the egg can be fertilized. The timeframe for the fertilized egg’s trip to the uterus is less certain, and the egg can float for several days before implanting. Even then, some fetuses produce hCG faster than others, so there is a large gray area when you may be pregnant but taking a pregnancy test will result in a false negative.

What is a false negative?

You may have a fertilized egg that has not implanted but will in the next day or two, or a fetus that is producing hCG more slowly than the average fetus. In either of these cases, taking a pregnancy test will produce a negative result, but you are actually pregnant. This is referred to as a false negative. Although some women have reported false positive results, these are far more rare than false negatives. 

In any case, it is a good idea to wait a little before taking a pregnancy test, even though it can be tempting to take one as soon as you think you might be pregnant. The longer you wait, the more accurate your results will be, so try to be patient!