ISEE Score Report Explained: A Parent’s Guide
Written by Eric Kim, Founder of Matter
Last updated May 16, 2026
Introduction
When your child’s ISEE score report lands in your inbox, you see a row of numbers that behave unlike any other test score you’ve encountered. A “scaled score” of 870; a percentile of 84; a stanine of 7. Three numbers describing the same performance, each telling a different story about how your child did.
This guide walks through every number on the report, what each one means, and which one schools weigh most heavily. The short version: schools look hardest at the stanine, but understanding all three can tell you whether your child is on track. For the bigger picture of what the ISEE is and who takes it, start at our ISEE Resource Hub. For differences between the three test levels, see ISEE Lower vs Middle vs Upper Level: A Parent’s Guide.
Illustrative report
STUDENT
REPORT INCLUDES
Sample Student
4 scored sections + essay
Level:Middle | Test Date: October 15, 2025 | Format: Computer-Based
All sections completed under standard timing
TEST PROFILE
Each scored section is reported on three metrics. Higher is better on all three.
SECTION
SCALED SCORE
PERCENTILE
STANINE
Verbal Reasoning
851
78
7
Quantitative Reasoning
872
84
7
Reading Comprehension
845
71
6
Mathematics Achievement
863
81
7
Essay
Submitted - Not Scored
Illustrative example only. The actual ERB Individual Student Report displays this same information in sections labeled “Test Profile” and “Analysis.”
What you receive after the test
After your child sits for the ISEE, the Educational Records Bureau (ERB) posts the Individual Student Report (ISR) to your family’s online account and emails you when it’s ready. Hard copies are not mailed.Timing depends on the test format:Computer-based ISEE (Prometric centers, partner schools, or at-home via ERB’s ProProctor system): reports typically post within a few business days.Paper-based ISEE (independent schools, ERB testing offices, select Saturday sites): reports typically post within 7 to 10 business days. ERB scores paper tests on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at the ISEE Operations Office.The same report is delivered separately to every school your family designated during registration. Schools receive their copies on roughly the same timeline as parents. Families can leave this section blank when registering and add in school codes after receiving their score reports.One asymmetry families often miss: the essay is sent to schools, never to parents. ERB delivers a verbatim copy of your child’s handwritten or typed essay alongside the score report to every designated school. Parents see the score report; schools see the score report plus the essay.The report itself has two main sections. The Test Profile shows the four section scores side by side with scaled scores, percentile ranks, and stanines. The Analysis breaks down how many questions your child answered correctly in each subdomain of each section. The illustration above shows the Test Profile in Matter’s own layout. When you open the actual report, look for the section labeled “Test Profile” to find the same data.
The four scored sections at a glance
The Lower, Middle, and Upper Level ISEE all score the same four multiple-choice sections:Verbal Reasoning. Synonyms and sentence-completion questions measuring vocabulary and verbal logic.Quantitative Reasoning. Word problems (plus quantitative-comparison questions at Middle and Upper Level) measuring mathematical reasoning without heavy computation.Reading Comprehension. Passages followed by questions about main ideas, inferences, and details.Mathematics Achievement. Computational and procedural math questions covering grade-appropriate curriculum.A fifth section, the Essay, follows Mathematics Achievement. The essay is unscored by ERB but is delivered verbatim to every school designated on the score report.The report shows three numbers for each of the four scored sections: Scaled Score, Percentile Rank, and Stanine. The essay appears as completed and sent, with no numeric score attached. For a deeper look at what each section actually measures cognitively, see What Each ISEE Section Actually Measures.
Scaled scores, percentiles, and stanines
These three metrics describe the same performance in three different ways. Taken in order, they build on each other.Scaled score (760 to 940 per section)ERB converts your child’s raw number of correct answers into a scaled score between 760 and 940. The scale is identical across Lower, Middle, and Upper Level. That said, a Lower Level scaled score of 870 is not directly comparable to an Upper Level scaled score of 870 because each level carries its own difficulty calibration within the scale.Scaled scores are meant to smooth out edition-to-edition variation. If one test form happens to be slightly harder than another, the conversion compensates so the same underlying ability produces roughly the same scaled score across forms. The result is a number that’s stable across test dates but not directly meaningful on its own. 870 is just a point on a curve.Percentile rank (1 to 99 per section)The percentile rank compares your child’s scaled score in a section to the scaled scores of same-grade students who have taken the ISEE in the past three testing years. A percentile of 84 in Verbal Reasoning means your child scored higher than 84 percent of same-grade ISEE-takers from the past three years on that section.Three things parents often misread about percentiles:The reference group is small and self-selecting. Every student in the comparison pool already chose to apply to an independent school. ISEE percentiles are not measured against the general school-age population; they’re measured against other ISEE-takers, who are already an academically strong group on average.A percentile is a position, not a score. A move from the 84th to the 89th percentile can represent a much smaller gain in raw correct answers than a move from the 50th to the 55th, because the score distribution is denser in the middle and thinner at the top.Percentiles can shift slightly year over year as the three-year reference group rolls forward. Your child’s underlying performance may not have changed; the comparison group may have shifted instead.Stanine (1 to 9 per section)The stanine is a single-digit band derived from the percentile rank. ERB groups percentile ranks into nine bands. Stanines collapse percentile noise into a cleaner, more readable signal, and they are the number most schools quote and compare against.
Stanine
Percentile range
1
1–3
2
4–10
3
11–22
4
23–39
5
40–59
6
60–76
7
77–88
8
89–95
9
96–99
The percentile ranges are uneven on purpose. A stanine of 5 covers a 20-point percentile range (40th to 59th) while a stanine of 9 covers only 4 points (96th to 99th). At the top of the curve, small percentile changes represent meaningfully bigger gaps in actual performance, so each top stanine spans fewer percentile points.
So two students with different percentiles can share the same stanine. A child at the 78th percentile and a child at the 88th percentile both have a stanine of 7 and most schools will interpret them similarly.
What schools actually look at
ERB’s Guidelines for the Use of ISEE Scores in the Admission Process states that when it comes to admissions, scores are one factor among many, not a single threshold. ERB explicitly directs schools to consider scores alongside teacher recommendations, transcripts, interviews, and writing samples, and discourages rigid score cutoffs.
In our experience across 20 years of independent-school placements:
Stanines are the metric most often discussed in admissions conversations. They’re compact and comparable across levels and sections in a way scaled scores aren’t.
Top-tier independent schools typically look for stanines of 7 or higher across the four sections, though ERB does not publish school-specific cutoffs and individual schools vary in how they weigh ISEE scores against the rest of the file. This is a working heuristic from Matter’s placement experience, not an ERB-published standard. Specific school targets vary substantially.
A single low section stanine in an otherwise strong report is rarely disqualifying. ERB’s own guidelines push back against single-number gatekeeping.
The essay matters even though it’s unscored. Schools read it. A thoughtful, clearly written essay reinforces the rest of the file while a hasty one undercuts it.
For more on what schools care about (and don’t), see Seven ISEE Myths, Debunked.
What about questions that don’t count?
Every multiple-choice section of the ISEE contains some questions that don’t count toward your child’s score. These are experimental items that ERB is field-testing for future editions of the test.
Per ERB, directly quoted: “Each multiple-choice section of the ISEE contains several questions that will not be scored but may be used on future editions of the ISEE.”
Two things to know:
Experimental items are not identifiable. Your child cannot tell which questions count and which don’t, so they should treat every question as scored.
The essay is a separate category. The essay is entirely unscored, but not because it’s experimental. ERB simply delivers it to schools without scoring it.
Common questions about ISEE scores
How quickly do schools see the score report? Schools designated on your child’s registration receive their copies on roughly the same timeline as you do: within a few business days for computer-based, within 7 to 10 business days for paper-based. If you elect to add the school codes after reviewing your results, scores are generally sent to schools within a few days. Can I see the essay? No. Parents receive the score report; schools receive the score report plus a verbatim copy of the essay. ERB does not release the essay to families. Do schools see all of my child’s ISEE scores? Schools see the score reports for only the test administrations you designate. When you register, you can choose which schools receive which administration’s report. What’s a “good” ISEE score? That’s a school-by-school decision. As a working reference, top-tier independent schools typically look for stanines of 7 or higher across the four sections, though specific school targets vary and ERB itself does not publish cutoffs. Should my child guess on questions they don’t know? Yes, every blank question is treated like an incorrect answer. Your child should answer every question, even when guessing. Why is my child’s percentile lower than I expected? Almost always because the reference group is other ISEE-takers, who are already academically strong by virtue of applying to selective schools, not the general school-age population. A “middle” percentile on the ISEE represents a higher absolute performance than the same percentile on a broad national test. Can my child retake the test if the score is disappointing? Yes, once per season within the same admissions year. Whether one should retake or not depends on the gap between current scores and target school expectations, and on whether prep can plausibly close that gap before the next admissions deadline.
Sample text-only accordion item
The ISEE consists of three to five sections, depending on the level:
Primary 2 (grade 2)
Auditory Comprehension
Reading
Mathematics
Writing Sample (unscored but sent to schools)
Primary 3 & 4 (grades 3–4):
Reading
Mathematics
Writing Sample (unscored but sent to schools)
Lower (grades 5-6) / Middle (grades 7-8) / Upper (grades 9-12) Level
Verbal Reasoning
Quantitative Reasoning
Reading Comprehension
Mathematics Achievement
Essay (unscored but sent to schools)