How to Use Ovulation Tests to Predict Your Fertile Window

Using ovulation tests could be confusing for many newbies trying to get pregnant. There are five important questions you may want answers for before using ovulation tests. 

When Should You Start Ovulation Testing?  

If you are new, we would recommend to start tracking after the last day of your period to make sure you won’t miss your LH surge. 

However, The timing really depends on what ovulation tests you are using and your cycle tracking histories.

What is the Best Time of Day for Testing?

Test any time in the afternoon from 10:00AM - 8:00PM, as this is when LH levels tend to be highest, and you won’t miss the peak.

How Often Should I Run the Test per Day?

How DO YOU KNOW FOR SURE that the Test WORKED Correctly?

The two most important factors are urine reaction and results interpretation.

Different brands may have different instructions for urine handling. However, no matter what the brand, this test will run the best if you follow this tip:

Dip the white absorbent tip of the test into the urine up to the black “MAX” line and keep the tip in urine until the dye rises into the results window. (Est. time for Easy@Home brand: 5-10 seconds)

How do you interpret the results?

Normally if a test line is as dark or darker than the control line, it is a positive result. (For Premom quantitative tests 25 miu/mL is a positive result.)

Actually -- and fortunately -- ovulation tests can tell you far more than a positive result. And a positive result doesn’t always mean you are going to ovulate in 24-48 hours, as many resources have incorrectly stated.

What can you interpret from an Easy@Home ovulation test?  

You can see your LH progression throughout the ovulation cycle. You not only know when LH reaches peak, you also know how it gets there.

An LH surge is easily detected if your LH surge reaches the standard cutoff of 25-45 miu/ml (a T/C ratio of 1.0 or above).  However, when the LH surge doesn't reach the standard average cutoff level, the test line isn’t always as dark or darker than the control line. Viewing the progression can still help you to pinpoint the peak by starting from your baseline.

A lot of women under this situation will think they are not ovulating or not fertile, but that’s not necessarily true.  See the example below. On Cycle Day 12 and Cycle Day 16 it is positive, but the test line is still lighter than the control line.

If you have this situation, you can do more consecutive testing and find the darkest line from all the test lines. That’s your actual peak time.

You can also find our more about your patterns and your LH surge from easy@home ovulation tests and the Premom ovulation tracker.  

LH surges can be long, short, or medium.

But regardless of its complications, just keep this in mind: the darkest line from consecutive testing in one cycle is the peak time.