Your ISEE score report packs four different scores per section, a stanine analysis bar, a question-by-question breakdown, and a writing sample that schools see but you don't - all in two pages of dense numbers. This guide walks through every part of the Individual Student Report (ISR) so you can read it the way an admissions officer does and turn it into a study plan instead of a stress trigger.
The ISEE score report - officially called the Individual Student Report or ISR - lands in your ERB parent account a few days after the test. The first page is a snapshot the family and schools both see; the second page is where the diagnostic gold sits. Before you start parsing numbers, it helps to know what the document is built to do: summarize how a student performed against other applicants and provide enough granularity to plan a retake.
Every ISR has the same backbone. The Test Profile is the dashboard at the top, listing scaled scores, percentile ranks, stanines, and a stanine band for each scored section. Below it, the Analysis section breaks down each scored section into question-type subsections (like Synonyms or Sentence Completion inside Verbal Reasoning) and shows which individual questions were correct, wrong, skipped, or not reached. The two parts answer different questions: the Test Profile answers "where do I stand?" and the Analysis answers "what do I fix?"
| Report Section | What It Shows | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Information | Name, address, grade applied to, test date | Verify accuracy before scores reach schools |
| Test Profile | Scaled score, percentile, stanine, stanine band per section | Quick admissions snapshot - the part schools focus on |
| Stanine Analysis Bar | Visual band showing the realistic score range | Captures measurement variability across retakes |
| Analysis Section | Question-by-question results within each section | Diagnostic data for planning study or a retake |
| Subsection Breakdowns | Performance grouped by question type | Pinpoints which question types cost the most points |
| Essay (forwarded only) | Writing sample sent to schools | Not on the report but reaches admissions |
Schools receive the same Individual Student Report you do, but only for the test dates you designate as recipients. They see the four scored sections and the unscored essay copy, but they cannot see retake history, the count of attempts, or which other schools received reports. Your designated recipient list is private. The essay never appears on the family's printed report at all - it's forwarded directly to admissions offices alongside the score data.
Every scored ISEE section produces four numbers, each describing a different angle of the same performance. The same student gets a single raw count of correct answers and three derived numbers built on top of it. Knowing what each one represents - and which one schools actually look at - is the most important step in reading the report.
The raw score is simply the number of questions answered correctly out of the total in that section. It does not penalize wrong answers - the ISEE has no guessing penalty - so blanks are no better or worse than incorrect answers in terms of the raw count. Most parents never look at raw scores because they aren't comparable across test forms, but the underlying count drives everything else.
ERB converts the raw count into a scaled score on a 760-940 range using a conversion specific to each test form. The conversion accounts for slight differences in question difficulty: a slightly harder form requires fewer correct answers to hit a given scaled score. Two students taking different forms but earning identical scaled scores are considered equivalently strong on that section. Note that 760-940 is a 180-point band per section - it is not the SAT's 200-800 range and not directly comparable to other tests.
The percentile rank places the scaled score against the past three years of same-grade ISEE applicants. A 65th percentile means the student performed as well as or better than 65% of the comparison group and below 34% of it. The comparison group only contains students who actually took the ISEE and were applying to the same grade level - not the general school-age population - which keeps grades aligned and makes the comparison fair.
The stanine collapses the 1-99 percentile range into nine bands. Each stanine corresponds to a specific percentile range, with stanine 5 sitting at the midpoint (40th-59th percentile). Admissions departments rely on stanines because the bands group students whose performances are statistically indistinguishable: a 40th percentile and a 58th percentile both land in stanine 5, and admissions officers treat those students as equivalently capable on that section.
| Stanine | Percentile Range | Performance Tier | How Schools View It |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 96-99 | Top tier | Top 3% on the section; competitive everywhere |
| 8 | 89-95 | Top tier | Strong applicant signal for selective schools |
| 7 | 77-88 | Above average | Common target for academically rigorous schools |
| 6 | 60-76 | Average | Solid result; works for many private schools |
| 5 | 40-59 | Average (midpoint) | True midpoint among ISEE-takers |
| 4 | 23-39 | Average | Below midpoint but inside the average band |
| 3 | 11-22 | Below average | Below most ISEE-takers; consider retake review |
| 2 | 4-10 | Below average | Well below midpoint; targeted prep needed |
| 1 | 1-3 | Below average | Bottom of the ISEE pool |
Pick the percentile rank from your ISEE report and see the matching stanine and how schools view it.
Worked Example: One Score, Four Numbers
Setup: A student answers 28 of 40 Verbal Reasoning questions correctly on the Middle Level ISEE. How does that single raw score turn into the four numbers on the report?
The Test Profile sits near the top of the report and is the part schools spend the most time reading. It is structured as one row per scored section - Verbal Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Quantitative Reasoning, and Mathematics Achievement - with the four score types laid out left to right. A small horizontal bar accompanies the stanine, showing the realistic range for that score.
Each row carries the same column structure: scaled score (760-940), percentile rank (1-99), stanine (1-9), and a graphical stanine band. The four rows together form a fast read on whether the student is strong in reasoning, achievement, both, or neither. Most admissions officers scan all four stanines first before examining anything else, then glance at the percentile if a stanine sits at a band edge.
Standardized tests have measurement variability built in. ERB places a shaded range around each stanine score on the report to show where a student would likely score if they took the same form again - the band typically spans a small range of stanines around the central value. The takeaway: a single stanine is the headline, but the band reminds you not to read a 6 and a 7 as fundamentally different. The exception is a perfect 9, whose band only stretches between 8 and 9 because there is nowhere higher to land.
ERB intentionally pairs sections that test related skills: Verbal Reasoning (V) sits next to Reading Comprehension (R), and Quantitative Reasoning (Q) sits next to Mathematics Achievement (M). The first item in each pair tests reasoning ability; the second tests grade-level achievement. Big gaps signal something specific to admissions: a strong V with a weak R suggests vocabulary outpaces sustained reading; a strong Q with a weak M suggests reasoning ability outpaces taught math content - or vice versa. Schools read these gaps as personality data, not just score data.
The Analysis section is where a generic-looking score report becomes a personalized study plan. Each scored section gets broken down further into question-type subsections, and within each subsection the report shows how the student handled every individual question. This is the page parents skip the most often and the page tutors love the most.
Each question's result appears as one of four symbols. A green plus sign means the question was answered correctly. A red minus sign means it was answered incorrectly. The letter S means the question was skipped (left blank intentionally). The letter N means the question was not reached before time expired. The four symbols carry very different diagnostic meanings, even though they all "lost" you a point compared to a plus.
| Symbol | Meaning | What to Do With It |
|---|---|---|
| + (green plus) | Question answered correctly | Confirms strength - move on |
| - (red minus) | Question answered incorrectly | Investigate the question type for patterns |
| S | Question skipped (left blank deliberately) | Look for confidence or content gaps |
| N | Question not reached before time expired | Pacing issue - work on timing for that section |
Inside each scored section, ERB groups questions by type. Verbal Reasoning splits into Synonyms and Sentence Completion; Reading Comprehension splits into question types like Main Idea, Inference, Vocabulary in Context, and Tone; Quantitative Reasoning and Mathematics Achievement split into content areas. The subsection counts ("answered 8 of 12 correctly") let you see exactly which question types cost the most points - which is the input you need to plan study time efficiently.
Within a difficult subsection, ISEE questions tend to be ordered roughly by difficulty, easier ones earlier. That ordering means a cluster of minus signs at the end of a subsection is normal even for strong students - it reflects the hardest items, not random missed easy questions. By contrast, minus signs scattered at the front of a subsection signal a foundational gap worth addressing.
Worked Example: Turning Symbols Into a Plan
Setup: Inside the Reading Comprehension Analysis box, a student sees seven minus signs clustered in the "Inference" subsection while "Main Idea" has only one minus and three pluses.
Plenty of families assume the score report stays a private dashboard, but the rules are different from most standardized tests. A few specific things automatically go to admissions offices, and a few specific things stay private. Knowing the difference shapes how you handle retakes and recipient designations.
The 30-minute essay produces no scaled score, no percentile, and no stanine. It does not appear anywhere on the family's printed report. But ERB sends a copy of the essay - handwritten or typed, depending on test format - to every school you designate as a score recipient. Admissions officers read the writing sample alongside the scored sections to evaluate writing skill and authentic voice, and many use it as a tiebreaker between similarly strong applicants.
Each school sees only the report you specifically send them. They cannot see the count of times the student tested, the dates of other test attempts, or the list of other schools that received reports. The score recipient list itself is private from each individual school. That privacy gives families flexibility: a student can take the ISEE up to three times per year (once per testing season) without revealing the retakes to schools.
You designate score recipients during ERB registration, and you can add schools to the list afterward at no additional fee. The one rule that surprises families: you can remove a school from the recipient list only up until the test date itself - once the test is over, schools you designated stay on the list and will receive the report when scores post. Plan recipient designations carefully before test day.
Score release timing depends on whether the student tested online or on paper, and most families overestimate how long the wait will be. Knowing the actual schedule helps you plan when to discuss results, decide on a retake, and confirm schools have received their copies.
| Test Format | Typical Score Availability | Where to View |
|---|---|---|
| Online ISEE | 3-5 days after test date | ERB parent account (email notification sent) |
| Paper ISEE | 5-10 days after answer sheets reach ISEE Operations | ERB parent account (scoring runs Mon/Wed/Fri) |
| School Recipients | Posted on the same schedule as the family copy | Each designated school's admissions portal |
Online ISEE administrations - whether at home or at a Prometric test center - return scored reports in roughly three to five days. ERB notifies the parent account holder by email when the report is available, and schools listed as recipients see their copies on the same timeline.
Paper administrations take longer because answer sheets and essays have to be physically transported to the ISEE Operations Office. Scoring runs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so your release date is anchored to whichever scoring day comes after the answer sheets arrive. Plan for roughly five to ten days from the test date.
The ISR is posted directly to the parent account on erblearn.org. Log in, navigate to the score reports area, and download the PDF. The same login also lets you add additional schools to the recipient list, view a history of past test dates within your account, and confirm that designated schools have received their copies.
Enter the percentile rank for each scored section to see your stanine across the report at a glance.
The score report is dense, and a few patterns of misreading show up over and over. Spotting them keeps families from making bad retake calls, panicking over normal results, or fixating on numbers schools don't actually use.
Stanine 5 sits exactly at the midpoint of ISEE-takers, which is its design. But the ISEE comparison group is itself selective: it consists almost entirely of students applying to academically competitive independent schools. Roughly 54% of all ISEE test-takers fall into the 4-6 stanine band, which means a stanine 5 is genuinely average among an already strong applicant pool - not a failing grade. Many private schools admit students with stanines of 4, 5, and 6 every year.
A 39 percentile and a 40 percentile sit in different stanine bands (4 vs. 5), but the actual difference might amount to one extra correct answer. Stanines exist precisely to round these tiny gaps into shared bands so admissions doesn't over-read them. Don't panic if a child landed at the bottom of a stanine 5 instead of the top of a 4 - schools treat both as average performance.
ISEE percentiles look lower than the percentiles students see on most state or school-administered tests. That's because the comparison group is different. Other tests compare your child to a population that includes the entire grade-level student body. The ISEE compares them only to other ISEE applicants - a much smaller, much higher-achieving slice. A 90th-percentile student on a school test can easily land in the 60s on the ISEE, and that is normal.
When a stanine looks lower than hoped, the right next step is to read the Analysis section before deciding to retake. If the minus signs cluster in one subsection (say, Inference questions on Reading), targeted prep can move the stanine. If the minus signs scatter evenly, the result probably reflects current ability and a retake without significant new study time may not change much. Remember that ISEE allows three test attempts per year - one per testing season.
Online ISEE tests are typically scored in three to five days, while paper tests take five to ten days because answer sheets and essays are mailed to the ISEE Operations Office for scoring on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Once scoring is complete, ERB posts the Individual Student Report to your parent account and sends an email notification.
Schools focus most heavily on stanine scores, which compress percentiles into a 1-9 scale. Stanines of 7, 8, or 9 are competitive for selective schools; 4-6 are average among ISEE test-takers; and 1-3 fall below the testing pool average. Admissions officers treat all scores within the same stanine as roughly equivalent.
In the Analysis portion of the ISR, a green plus sign means the question was answered correctly, a red minus sign means it was incorrect, the letter S indicates a skipped question, and the letter N marks a question not reached before time expired. Together they create a question-by-question study map.