How soon can you test for pregnancy after ovulation

If you think you might be pregnant, you know the anxiousness of waiting until you know for sure. It’s particularly difficult when a possible pregnancy is unplanned. You question every symptom, wondering if it’s due to pregnancy or premenstrual hormones. And you wonder how soon you can take a pregnancy test so you don’t have to wait any longer for the answer.

At Avail NYC, we can help you sort through your next steps of a possible unexpected pregnancy in a caring environment to help ease this stressful time.

Home Pregnancy Tests

After a fertilized egg implants into the uterine wall, a woman’s body starts producing a pregnancy hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). A home pregnancy test detects the hCG hormone in a woman’s urine.

Sometimes, you can take a home pregnancy test, and the results are confusing. Your mind feels like it’s playing tricks on you. Is that a faint line? Or are you imagining a faint line? You might question the reliability of the test.

There are claims that home pregnancy tests are 99% accurate, but it’s important to know the percentage of accuracy is not that high when the test is taken right at the time of a missed period. 

Now you might be wondering how soon you can take a home pregnancy test and stillget an accurate result. 

How Many Days After Conception Can I Take a Pregnancy Test?

Conception occurs the moment an egg is fertilized. It takes about four to five days for the fertilized egg to travel through the fallopian tube to the uterus. So, implantation into the uterine lining occurs about four to five days after conception or about seven to ten days after ovulation.

As soon as the fertilized egg implants into the uterine wall, the hCG pregnancy hormone is produced. This means a high-quality pregnancy test could detect a pregnancy in as little as five days after conception.

However, according to the Mayo Clinic, it is advisable to take a pregnancy test after the first day of your missed period to reduce the chances of getting a false negative result.

False Pregnancy Test Results

False-negative results are much more common thanfalse-positive results. A false negative result usually occurs because the pregnancy test was taken too early to detect the pregnancy. If you get a negative result, but you still think you could be pregnant, take another test in a few days.

False-negative results can also occur for other reasons such as using urine that is too diluted and failing to follow the directions precisely. A false-negative result can also come about from anectopic pregnancy, a serious condition that requires immediate medical treatment.

Unexpected Pregnancy Testing FAQ

Same Day Pregnancy Tests Available in Midtown Manhattan & East Harlem

Appointments are available at Avail NYC for a no-cost, confidential, self-administered pregnancy test. You can click the button below to make an appointment at either our Midtown Manhattan or East Harlem location.

Our compassionate advocates will answer your questions with unbiased and accurate information. We empower you and walk with you each step of the way, so you can examine your options and make an informed decision about your unexpected pregnancy.

Schedule a Free Pregnancy Test

Avail NYC exists to be a safe haven for women and men facing an unexpected pregnancy or seeking support after an abortion. We are not a medical provider.

For many people trying to conceive, taking multiple early pregnancy tests becomes a habit. However, taking them before your period is expected is not recommended because even if you are pregnant the test may not produce an accurate result. Instead, it's best to wait until at least 14 days past ovulation (DPO) before doing a pregnancy test. This is typically when enough hCG hormone would be circulating in your body for a positive reading, Holding off to 15 DPO is even better.

Whether you are hoping for a positive result or are not trying to conceive and anxious to know ASAP if you're pregnant, there are many good reasons not to take tests early (“early" meaning before your period is actually due, although technically, a pregnancy test taken on the day your period is due is also considered early). The good news is that once you wait until 14 or 15 DPO, test accuracy is extremely high. So, before you take that next test early, consider these drawbacks.

Disappointment

If you're hoping to conceive and your early test is negative, you’re likely to be disappointed. The odds of getting a positive result at 10 DPO are extremely small, even if you did actually conceive. Every day earlier than that, those odds are even lower.

What about early pregnancy tests—the ones where the box says you can take the test before your missed period? If taken correctly, these may deliver a positive result a day or two before your period is expected (say, at 12 DPO, not 10). But an early negative may be false. That means waiting another few days and re-testing. Consider whether that is worth your money and your emotional well-being.

Unclear Results

An early test doesn’t really answer any questions. It just confirms you don’t have any detectable pregnancy hormone in your urine yet. The process of fertilization and implantation takes several days, and a test taken before this process is complete won't be positive even if you're pregnant.

Chemical Pregnancy

If you do get an early positive pregnancy test result, it's not time to relax and celebrate (if you want to be pregnant) or panic (if you don't want to be pregnant). Unfortunately, one of the biggest drawbacks of early testing is that these early tests can detect a pregnancy that isn’t going to last, known as a chemical pregnancy.

According to at least one study, very early miscarriages may occur up to 30% of the time. Some are so early that most people don’t realize they are having one. If you don't test, you will get your period without knowing that you had conceived a nonviable pregnancy. While it may be disappointing to get your period, this may be less painful than thinking you were pregnant and then experiencing a loss.

You should not consider a positive to be a true positive until it happens at 15 or 16 DPO (in other words, after your period is late). Of course, there is still a risk of miscarriage at this point but it's lower than at 10 DPO.

Anxiety

The two-week wait can be a stressful, anxious time, born out of the uncertainty between ovulation and your expected period. You may think that taking tests makes it less intense, but it really doesn’t. You just won’t know if you're pregnant until your period is late and then you take a test.

Taken too early, a test—whether it's negative or positive—will not give you a clear answer. And that uncertainty is likely to do nothing to ease your anxiety during this time.

Effect of Fertility Treatments

If you’re going through fertility treatments, an early pregnancy test may pick up on the hormones used in these treatments. Specifically, if you have a trigger shot—or an injection of hCG, sold under the brand names Ovidrel, Novarel, Pregnyl, and Profasi—you’re injecting pregnancy hormone into your system.

This means that if you took a pregnancy test the day after the injection, you would get a positive result. But that doesn’t mean you’re pregnant. Wait at least 10 days after the injection to test (12 days is even better).

Cost

Even the ultra-cheap pregnancy test strips that you buy in bulk can add up if you take multiple tests per month (which you'll need to do if you test too early). If you're trying to conceive for several months or more, you'll use a lot of tests. Since you can't get a definitive answer on a too-early test, save them for when they're more likely to be accurate.

A Word From Verywell

Taking an early pregnancy test is certainly tempting if you are trying to conceive. Tests promising an early result are readily available, as are very inexpensive options that might allow you to take multiple tests with every cycle. But the uncertainty of early testing may produce more stress than waiting, even when waiting feels like an eternity. If that's the case for you, hold off until you miss your period.

Verywell Family uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

1. Gnoth C, Johnson S. Strips of hope: Accuracy of home pregnancy tests and new developments. Geburtshilfe Frauenheilkd. 2014;74(7):661-669. doi.org:10.1055/s-0034-1368589

2. Cleveland Clinic. Your guide to pregnancy tests.

3. Han S. The chemical pregnancy: Technology, mothering, and the making of a reproductive experience. J Motherhood Initiative. 2014;5(2):42-53.

4. Larsen EC, Christiansen OB, Kolte AM, Macklon N. New insights into mechanisms behind miscarriage. BMC Med. 2013;11(1):154. doi:10.1186/1741-7015-11-154

5. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Pregnancy.

6. Annan JJ, Gudi A, Bhide P, Shah A, Homburg R. Biochemical pregnancy during assisted conception: A little bit pregnant. J Clin Med Res. 2013;5(4):269-274. doi:10.4021/jocmr1008w

By Rachel Gurevich, RN
Rachel Gurevich is a fertility advocate, author, and recipient of The Hope Award for Achievement, from Resolve: The National Infertility Association. She is a professional member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and has been writing about women’s health since 2001. Rachel uses her own experiences with infertility to write compassionate, practical, and supportive articles.

Thanks for your feedback!