FAST, the face, arms, speech test is basically just that: Face - is there a weakness? If they smile is the smile equal on both sides? Often if you get them to put their teeth together and smile even the smallest droop becomes obvious. Arms - Ask them to put their ams straight out in front of them and close their eyesand count to ten. If an arm drops there is a weakness in that side. Speech - is the patient dysphasic or dysarthic? Is the speech slurred or are they unable to speak? All of these only measure new deficit. I have found in my own practice that these are not infalliable, and good indicator is also grip strength, lean to one side etc. Obviously we tend to record and do FAST because it has its own section on the patient record form. Hope this is of some help!