Guide
How to read your score report
Most people read one number on that page and close it. That number is the least useful thing on the report.
The number that upset you is a summary, not a diagnosis
Your total tells you the outcome. It tells you nothing about what to do next. The part that does is further down, usually labeled something like performance by category, and it is the part almost nobody reads twice.
That breakdown is the entire value of the report. It is the closest thing you will ever get to a map of what went wrong.
Raw points and scaled scores are different things
Your total is usually a scaled score, adjusted so that a slightly harder version of the test is not punished. Your category breakdown is usually raw points, meaning questions right out of questions asked.
They are not on the same scale, they will not add up, and averaging them produces a number that means nothing. If you have ever tried to reconcile the two and given up, that is why. You were right that it did not make sense.
Your lowest score is usually the wrong place to start
This is the one that costs people a second retake. Instinct says attack the category that looks worst. But the categories are not worth the same. One might carry a third of the exam and another eight percent.
Six points missing from a heavily weighted area is a bigger problem than ten points missing from a light one, and the report does not tell you which is which. The exam’s blueprint does, and that is public.
Rank your areas by points at stake, not by how bad the number looks. That reordering is the single highest-value thing you can do with this page.
Compare against your state, not a forum
A passing score is set by your state, not by the company that writes the test. The same exam can require substantially different scores depending on where you are licensed, and we found tests where the gap between states runs past thirty points.
See how far apart the states actually are, then confirm your own before you plan anything.
Common questions
- What is the difference between a raw score and a scaled score?
- A raw score is how many questions you got right. A scaled score adjusts for the difficulty of the specific form you sat, so that a slightly harder version is not punished. Your pass or fail is decided on the scaled score, but the category breakdown is usually reported in raw points, which is why the two sets of numbers on your report do not add up to each other.
- Why does my category breakdown not add up to my total score?
- Because they are on different scales. Category performance is typically raw points out of the questions in that category, while your reported total is scaled. Comparing them directly, or averaging them, produces a number that means nothing.
- Which area should I study first after failing?
- Not the one you scored lowest in. Study the area where the points you are losing are worth the most on the exam, which depends on how heavily that area is weighted. A weak area worth eight percent of the test matters less than a middling area worth thirty.
- How close was I really?
- Compare your scaled score to your state's qualifying score, not to a number you read online. The same test has different passing scores in different states.
If you would rather not do that ranking by hand, that is the whole job of the free analyzer. Upload the report and it reads the categories, maps them to the official blueprint, and orders them by what is actually at stake.