Upper ISEE Scoring: The Comprehensive Guide in 2024
The Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE) is one of the most common standardized tests used by private schools in the United States for admissions decisions. The Upper ISEE, used for students applying to grades 9-12 at private high schools, has a complex scoring system that often confuses parents and students alike. This blog serves as a guide to understanding how it is scored and what constitutes a good score.
Photo by Andy Barbour
The Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE) is one of the most common standardized tests used by private schools in the United States for admissions decisions. There are six levels of the ISEE, and students take the exam that corresponds with the grade they are entering (i.e. a 2nd grader applying to private school for the following school year would take the test for 3rd graders). The Upper ISEE, used for students applying to grades 9-12 at private high schools, has a complex scoring system that often confuses parents and students alike. Part of the confusion is that 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th graders all take the same test. Rest assured, your score is scaled when it’s compared to other students in your same grade only. This blog serves as a guide to understanding how it is scored and what constitutes a good score. We’ve also written a comprehensive guide to taking the Upper ISEE which you can find here.
How is the Upper ISEE Scored?
The Upper ISEE provides students with four separate scores for each section of the test, which is one of the reasons it can be confusing to families. These scores are a raw score, a scaled score, a percentile rank, and a stanine. Students will receive an Individual Student Report (ISR) that gives detailed information about their performance in each section of the test as well as their raw score, scaled score, percentile rank, and stanine for each section. The ISEE does not provide a combined or comprehensive score.
One of the most crucial things to know about the ISEE at any level is that wrong answers do not result in a penalty, so it is always advantageous to guess, provided the student is not wasting time he or she needs to answer questions they know or are capable of figuring out. Lastly, it is worth noting that the essay portion of the exam is not scored, serving only as a writing sample for schools in their admissions decisions.
Raw Score
A student’s raw score is a measure of how many questions they completed correctly in a section. Each question is only worth one point in the raw score. Your ISR will show you how many questions you answered correctly in each section - Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, and Mathematics Achievement - as well as breaking down the questions into subsections. No combined raw score is provided.
Scaled Score
The scaled score tends to be the most confusing to students and families. The scaled score is the raw score converted to a different numerical scale. The range of scaled scores on the ISEE is 760–940. You will receive a scaled score for each section, but no combined or averaged scaled score.
The Education Records Bureau (ERB), creators of the ISEE, do not release the exact conversion metrics for how this score is calculated, but the scaled score is designed to account for slight variations between test versions. In their authorized guide to the Upper ISEE, which contains a practice exam, they provide typical scaled score ranges based on the raw scores earned on the practice test. For instance, a student who correctly answers 30 out of 30 questions on the practice Reading Comprehension section (the practice test uses fewer questions than the real test) typically earned scaled scores of 909 to 939 when they took the actual test. The score is scaled in comparison to other students taking the test who are in your same grade. You are not compared to students who are taking the same test but are in different grades.
When preparing for the test, focus on getting the most questions correct as this is the only influence students have on their scaled score.
Percentile Rank
Each student also receives a percentile rank for each section of the test which will show on the ISR as a whole number between 1 - 99. The percentile rank shows how a student performed compared to their peers. This number is not calculated against students who took the test the same day/month/year, but rather uses what is called a Norm Group. The Norm Group is all the students who took the ISEE in the last three years when entering the same grade as the test taker. For example, a 9th grader would receive a percentile rank for each section based on the averages of the last three year’s worth of 9th graders who took the ISEE. So your student’s percentile rank shows how their scores compare to those of the norm group. A percentile rank of 65 means that they performed better than 65% of test takers in the norm group in that section, but not as well as the top 35%. Remember that the population of students taking this test is different from the public school population. Students who take the ISEE are either current private or boarding school students or aspiring private or boarding school students who have worked hard to study for this very difficult exam. So the “norm group” is full of high achievers and sets a very high bar. For these reasons, students who take a diagnostic ISEE or take the ISEE for the first time without practice can be really surprised about their percentile or stanine score. It is often lower than they anticipated based on their class grades.
Stanine
The last score on your ISR is the stanine. You will see a score between 1-9 for each section of the test. Short for “standard nine”, the stanine is calculated using a bell curve and shows a student’s “statistical place” on the bell curve. Like the percentile rank, a student’s stanine scores are based on the Norm Group. The percentage intervals that coincide with each stanine are determined by plotting the Norm Group scores onto a bell curve and dividing the bell curve into 9 sections. Each section represents 0.5 standard deviation, excluding the highest and lowest scores (9 and 1), which are the remainders. This graphic shows what the bell curve could look like in any given year.
What is a good upper level ISEE score?
A good upper level ISEE score depends on the competitiveness of the school(s) to which you’re applying. Most schools look at the Stanine score for admissions decisions. An average score is a stanine score of 4-6. These scores are sufficient for many schools, but might not be high enough for elite schools. For these schools, your child may need to score above average, or a stanine 7-9, to be considered competitive. Schools look at a variety of factors when determining admission, so do not count your child out if they have an average score. Additionally, many progressive independent schools are changing (or have changed) the weight that test scores play in their admissions process, some outright refusing to take them even if you have them.
In NYC, needed scores vary greatly by school, but most schools are looking to see a 4 or above, with the most competitive looking for a 6 or above. In Atlanta, many of the private schools prefer the SSAT or state standardized testing scores for admission. Those that accept the ISEE have many students who scored in the 4-6 range.
What is the best score on the ISEE exam?
The highest stanine score on the ISEE is a 9 and students who earn a 9 typically rank in the 96-99% percentile of scorers.
Photo by Mary Taylor
How can the same test be used for grades 9 - 12?
The Upper ISEE is used for all students entering grades 9 - 12, meaning students in 8th - 11th grade take the same test. 8th graders in particular are likely to be tested on concepts they have yet to learn, and this is frequently a cause for concern by parents and students. Let’s cover a few common concerns.
Yes, 8th graders must answer all the questions. There are no questions that are not scored for younger test takers. Even though the questions will test them on concepts they have not been exposed to, these questions will still affect their final score. In part, this is by design. Many schools use students’ performance to determine who is ready for more advanced coursework in math or language arts.
No, older students’ scores do not impact younger students’ scores. It is important to remember that your student’s score is not impacted by those who take the test in other grades. In fact, it is not even impacted by students of the same grade taking the test in the same year as your child. The percentile score mentioned above is calculated by the “Norm group”: all students who have taken the ISEE in your grade level in the last three years. Thus the norm group used to calculate an 8th grader's score is only other students who took the test as 8th graders in the last three years. This means younger students do not need to do as well as older students on the test in terms of content known and understood, they simply need to do as well as their peers.
Yes, diagnostic and practice tests can help. A good way of determining how your student will score is through a diagnostic test. A diagnostic test is also one of the best ways of discovering knowledge gaps and ensuring your student is prepared for the real test. It is also a good way of seeing how your student compares to others in his or her grade and it is the best way of determining whether or how much additional studying will be needed for a good score.
The Upper ISEE can be intimidating to students and parents. The best way to do well is to prepare. Take a diagnostic test to determine your start point, then make a concrete plan of study to improve your score if necessary. A mock test is also a great way to prepare for the real environment and circumvent any test anxiety students might feel around test day. Ivy Tutors Network’s experienced tutors can help your student earn the necessary score for private high school admissions in your area. Get started with a diagnostic/mock test today.
