ISEE Scores Explained — Stanines & Percentiles
What the numbers on an ISEE report actually mean, what schools look for, and how to score your own practice test so you can track real progress.
The four numbers on your report
Raw score. One point for every correct answer in a section. Nothing is subtracted for a wrong answer, so blank questions are pure loss.
Scaled score (760-940). Your raw score converted onto a fixed scale so results from different test forms can be compared.
Percentile (1-99). How you did against other applicants in your own grade who took the ISEE in the last three years. This is a small, strong comparison group — a percentile of 50 here is not the same as being average among all students.
Stanine (1-9). Your percentile compressed into nine bands. This is the number admissions offices read first.
Percentile to stanine chart
| Stanine | Percentile range | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | 96-99 | Well above average |
| 8 | 89-95 | Above average |
| 7 | 77-88 | Above average |
| 6 | 60-76 | Slightly above average |
| 5 | 40-59 | Average |
| 4 | 23-39 | Slightly below average |
| 3 | 11-22 | Below average |
| 2 | 4-10 | Below average |
| 1 | 1-3 | Well below average |
Stanine bands follow the standard nine-band distribution ERB uses. Percentiles are always relative to applicants in your own grade.
How to score your own practice test
- 1. Count correct answers per section — keep Verbal, Quantitative, Reading and Math separate. Never merge them into one total.
- 2. Turn each into a percentage — correct divided by total questions in that section.
- 3. Rank your sections — your lowest percentage is where practice pays off most.
- 4. Review every miss — read the explanation and write down why you missed it: content gap, careless error, or ran out of time. The reason decides the fix.
- 5. Retest in two weeks — compare the same sections. Practice tests cannot generate a real stanine, because that needs ERB's norm group, so track your own trend instead.
Benkyou Academy's practice tests do steps 1, 2 and 4 automatically: instant per-section scoring and a worked explanation for every question.
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