Experimental procedure for precisely characterizing the performance of perovskite solar cells such as the current-voltage (I-V) curves and the maximum output power P-max is investigated, based on results of the samples with different structures. Special care is taken for the hysteresis effects. Confirming the hysteresis of the I-V curves in a wide range including the timescale of minutes is preferred for precise measurements, since the hysteresis remains for more than 10 min in some samples. When the hysteresis is persistent even for a long sweep time, the stable P-max can be determined by examining the temporal trend of the output current by fixing the bias voltage at near V-pm after forward and reverse bias histories. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.