Interpreting Your ISEE Score Report
If you’ve just received your ISEE results, you may be wondering what all of the numbers and symbols on your score report mean. Here’s a guide to reading your ISEE score report.
At the very top, you’ll find personal information including your name, address, grade level, and test date. Below you will see your scores in the Test Profile section, followed by a more in-depth analysis of each subtopic in the Analysis section. We’ll break down these sections for you below.
Test Profile
The Test Profile has four different metrics to measure your performance on the ISEE–the scaled score, percentile rank, stanine rank, and stanine analysis.
Scaled Score
The scaled score ranges from 760-940 and is based on the number of questions you answered correctly, while taking into account the variation in difficulty from test to test.
Percentile Rank
The percentile rank and the stanine rank are the measures that most admissions officials look at when evaluating applications.
The percentile rank assesses how well you performed relative to students applying to the same grade who took the test over the past three years. For example, a 78th percentile rank means you scored higher than 78% of students applying to the same grade. It does not mean that you answered 78% of the questions correctly.
It’s important to keep two things in mind when reviewing your percentile rank. First, the percentile rank only compares you to students applying to the same grade level. Therefore, a student who is currently in 8th grade and applying to 9th grade will only be measured against other students applying to 9th grade and not against students applying to 10th, 11th, or 12th grade.
Second, the students who take the ISEE tend to be an academically strong and motivated group, so it is possible that your percentile rank may be lower than you are used to seeing on other tests, such as statewide assessments.
Stanine Rank
The stanine, or “standard nine,” converts your percentile rank to a number from 1 to 9. Each number corresponds to a range of percentile scores, as you can see on the graph below.
Stanine Analysis
It’s not uncommon to see a certain amount of variation in your scores from one test to the next, even if your skill level remains the same. ERB illustrates this variability with the stanine analysis section. The shaded regions indicate the stanine range that a student with your skill level would most likely achieve. In the example below, you can see that the stanine range for Verbal Reasoning is 6-8.
Analysis
The analysis table below the test profile provides a detailed list of question types and your responses. A green plus sign indicates a correct answer, a red minus sign indicates an incorrect answer, a blue S indicates a skipped question, and a yellow N indicates that the question was not reached before time ran out. If you plan to take the test again, this information can help you identify what you need to work on.
The Essay
Remember that essay you wrote? Although it was not scored, and therefore, does not appear on your score report, your writing sample will be sent to schools along with your score report.
Retaking the ISEE
If you didn’t receive the scores you wanted, you may be able to take the test again. You can take the test up to three times per year, once per testing season. The testing seasons are Fall (August- November), Winter (December – March), and Spring/Summer (April-July).
Preparing for the ISEE
As the only ISEE practice officially endorsed by ERB, all of our materials are vetted by ERB to ensure students have an authentic practice experience. Start preparing for your next ISEE by taking a free sample test.
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Originally published on January 11, 2018. Updated on November 10, 2022.
