ISEE test results: what the score report shows

What do ISEE test scores mean?

• Scaled score: worked out from the raw score, the number of right answers, and adjusted for small differences between test forms, so it means the same on every form.
• Percentile rank: from 1 to 99, the share of students in the comparison group who scored the same or lower. It isn’t the percentage of questions answered correctly.
• Stanine: the percentiles split into nine groups, 1 lowest and 9 highest. Stanines 4 to 6 cover the middle 54 percentile points, and 1 to 3 and 7 to 9 the bottom and top 23.
• Stanine Analysis: a shaded band one stanine either side of your child’s score, because a score can move a little on a retake.

The comparison group, called the norm group, is students applying to the same grade who took the ISEE over the past three years. Only right answers count; a wrong answer and a blank score the same. Lower, Middle and Upper Level reports show four sections, and Primary reports two.

Who sees your ISEE test results?

• Pick score recipients when you register or after you see the scores. Adding schools later costs nothing.
• You can remove a school until the test starts, but not after.
• A school gets the whole report. You can’t send part of one, or mix sections from two tests.
• Schools on your list also get your child’s unscored essay. Families don’t get a copy.
• Schools don’t see who else is on your recipient list.
• Reports don’t show how many times a student has tested in a 12-month admission cycle.