The ISEE consists of four sections which are scored separately and included on a report that is sent to you and any schools that you choose. The fifth section of the test, the essay section, is not scored; an unscored copy of the essay is sent to each school that receives your student’s score report. Each section is given a scaled score, a stanine, and a percentile. Below is an explanation of each type of score.
Scaled Score
Scaled scores range from 760 to 940 for each section. Scaled scores are based on a student’s raw score (the number of questions the student answered correctly). The ERB administers multiple versions of each level of the ISEE each year, and scaled scores take into account the small differences between the different versions of the test. Regardless of which test version your student takes, the scaled score has the same meaning.
Percentile
Percentiles show how a student scored compared to other students in the norm group for the ISEE. The percentiles are based on scores from all students in a given grade who have taken the test over the past three years. A percentile rank of 75 on a given section indicates that the student scored as well as or better than 75% of all students in the norm group and less well than 24% of all students in the norm group. The highest percentile a student can score is a 99th percentile.
Stanine
Stanines simplify scores by breaking them into a range of 1 to 9, with 5 as a midpoint. Each stanine score represents a percentile range. The percentile range for each stanine is shown in the table below. It’s important to note that the percentiles are not evenly distributed across the stanines, and a majority of students receive a stanine in between 4 and 6.
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