Neuropsychological report scores can look confusing at first. Percentiles, standard scores, T-scores and labels such as low average are not part of everyday language, and it is easy to read too much into a single number.
This guide explains what the common scores mean, how the descriptive labels work, and why neuropsychologists look at the overall pattern rather than any one result. It may help to have your report beside you as you read.
اہم نکات
- Most scores compare you with a large group of people of a similar age, called a normative sample.
- A percentile shows the percentage of people in that group who scored at or below your level, not the percentage of questions you got right.
- On standard scores, 100 is exactly average and most people score between 85 and 115.
- Labels such as average or low average describe where a score sits, and do not on their own mean something is wrong.
- Healthy people often have a few low scores, so neuropsychologists look at the whole pattern alongside your history.
Why reports use scores at all
A raw score is simply the number of items you got right, or how quickly you finished a task. On its own, a raw score does not tell you much. Remembering 9 words from a list might be excellent for an 85-year-old but lower than expected for a 25-year-old.
To make sense of raw scores, neuropsychologists compare them with norms. Norms are results from a large group of people, called a normative sample, who were tested in the same way. Most tests have norms by age, and some also take education or sex into account. Your raw score is converted into a score that shows where you sit compared with that group.
Percentiles explained
A percentile rank tells you the percentage of people in the comparison group who scored at or below your score. If you are at the 60th percentile on a memory test, you did as well as or better than about 60 out of every 100 people your age.
A percentile is not a percentage of questions correct. Scoring at the 30th percentile does not mean you got 30% of the items right. It means your score sits in the lower part of the average range compared with other people your age.
Percentiles bunch together in the middle. The gap between the 45th and 55th percentile is small in real terms, while the gap between the 1st and 5th percentile is much bigger. So a change of a few percentile points in the middle of the range usually means very little.
Standard scores and other scales
Standard scores
Many tests, including most IQ tests, use standard scores. On this scale 100 is exactly average, and about two thirds of people score between 85 and 115. A standard score of 115 is at about the 84th percentile, and 85 is at about the 16th percentile.
T-scores and scaled scores
Some tests use T-scores, where 50 is average and each 10 points is one step (called a standard deviation) away from average. Other tests, particularly subtests within larger batteries, use scaled scores, where 10 is average. The numbers look different, but they all show the same thing: how far a score sits above or below the average for people your age.
Score ranges
Every test has some measurement error. You might score a little higher or lower on another day because of sleep, stress or chance. Many reports show a range, called a confidence interval, such as 95 to 107. This means your true score is very likely to fall somewhere in that range.
What the descriptive labels mean
Reports usually include words as well as numbers. Different tests and clinicians have used different labels over the years, which can be confusing. In 2020 the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology published a consensus statement on uniform labelling of test scores to make labels more consistent. The table below shows the recommended labels, as summarised by the American Board of Professional Psychology.
| Label | Standard score | T-score | Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exceptionally high | 130 and above | 70 and above | 98 and above |
| Above average | 120 to 129 | 63 to 69 | 91 to 97 |
| High average | 110 to 119 | 57 to 62 | 75 to 90 |
| Average | 90 to 109 | 43 to 56 | 25 to 74 |
| Low average | 80 to 89 | 37 to 42 | 9 to 24 |
| Below average | 70 to 79 | 30 to 36 | 2 to 8 |
| Exceptionally low | below 70 | below 30 | below 2 |
Not every report uses these exact words. Older reports, and reports from other countries, may use terms such as borderline or superior. Your report should explain the labels it uses.
The consensus statement also makes an important point: test scores themselves cannot be impaired. Only abilities can be impaired. A label describes where a score sits. Deciding whether an ability is impaired is a clinical judgement that takes many other things into account.
Why one low score is not a diagnosis
It is natural to focus on the lowest number in a report. Research shows this can be misleading. A review by Binder, Iverson and Brooks found that when healthy adults complete a battery of 20 or more measures, the great majority have at least one score more than one standard deviation below average. The authors concluded that having some low scores in a large set of tests is statistically normal and does not by itself signal a brain problem.
That is why neuropsychologists interpret results as a whole. They consider:
- Your expected level: your education, work history and earlier abilities help show whether a score is lower than would be expected for you.
- The pattern: whether low scores cluster in one area, such as memory, or are spread across unrelated tasks.
- Consistency: whether results fit what you and your family notice in daily life.
- Other factors: mood, pain, fatigue, medicines, sleep, hearing, vision and language background can all affect scores.
- Validity: professional guidance says assessments should check that results are a reliable reflection of ability.
A person with a high expected level may have a score in the average range that still represents a real change for them. Another person may have a low average score that is entirely typical for them. Context is everything.
Getting the most from your report
The most useful parts of a report are often the summary, the interpretation and the recommendations, not the score tables. When you go to your feedback session, it can help to ask:
- What are my main strengths?
- Which results are lower than expected for me, and why might that be?
- What does this mean for work, study, driving or living independently?
- Which recommendations matter most, and who can help with them?
- Would repeat testing in the future be helpful?
If you have a report from elsewhere and do not understand it, the clinician who wrote it is usually the right person to ask first, as they know how the results fit together.
Invictus Health کیسے مدد کر سکتا ہے
Our neuropsychologists provide neuropsychology assessments for adults and paediatric neuropsychology assessments for children. We also offer IQ, memory and giftedness assessments. Every assessment includes feedback, and neuropsychology reports are reviewed by Dr Judy Tang OAM. This article is general information, so please talk to a qualified professional about your own results.
اکثر پوچھے گئے سوالات
کیا پچاسویں پرسنٹائل ایک برا اسکور ہے؟
نہیں۔ پچاسویں پرسنٹائل بالکل اوسط ہے۔ اس کا مطلب ہے کہ آپ نے موازنہ گروپ میں اپنی عمر کے نصف افراد جتنا یا اس سے بہتر اسکور کیا ہے۔ موجودہ اتفاقِ رائے کے مطابق تقریباً 25ویں سے 74ویں پرسنٹائل تک کا کوئی بھی نتیجہ اوسط درجے میں آتا ہے۔ پرسنٹائل اسکول کے نمبروں کی طرح نہیں ہوتے، جہاں 50% ایک حدِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِِّ.
نیورو سائیکولوجیکل ٹیسٹ میں اوسط سے کم کا کیا مطلب ہے؟
کم اوسط سے مراد عموماً وہ سکور ہوتا ہے جو تقریباً نویں سے چوبیسویں پرسنٹائل کے درمیان ہو، یا معیاری سکور 80 سے 89 کے درمیان۔ یہ اوسط حد سے تھوڑا نیچے آتا ہے۔ بہت سے صحت مند افراد کے کچھ سکور اس حد میں ہوتے ہیں۔ اس کا اہم ہونا آپ کی متوقع صلاحیت کی سطح، مجموعی رجحان، اور روزمرہ زندگی میں پیش آنے والی صورتِ حال پر منحصر ہے۔.
میرا آئی کیو اسکور پچھلی ٹیسٹ سے کیوں مختلف ہے؟
Scores can change for many reasons. Different tests and editions use different norms. Everyday factors such as sleep, stress, illness and motivation also affect performance, and all tests carry some measurement error. Practice from repeating the same test too soon can raise scores. A large, unexplained drop is worth discussing with the clinician who assessed you.
Can I get my raw scores from a neuropsychological assessment?
Reports usually show converted scores rather than raw scores, because raw scores have little meaning without norms. Test forms and answers are protected materials, so there are limits on how they are shared, which also keeps the tests useful for future patients. You can ask your clinician to explain any result in more detail.
Want help understanding results?
Our neuropsychologists explain every assessment in a feedback session, in plain language.
حوالہ جات
- Guilmette TJ, Sweet JJ, Hebben N, et al. American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology consensus conference statement on uniform labeling of performance test scores. The Clinical Neuropsychologist. 2020;34(3):437-453. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32037942
- Guilmette TJ, Hagan LD, Drogin EY. A summary of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology recommendations on uniform labeling of performance test scores. American Board of Professional Psychology; 2024. abpp.org/newsletter-post/a-summary-of-the-american-academ…
- Binder LM, Iverson GL, Brooks BL. To err is human: abnormal neuropsychological scores and variability are common in healthy adults. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology. 2009;24(1):31-46. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19395355
- Sweet JJ, Heilbronner RL, Morgan JE, et al. American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN) 2021 consensus statement on validity assessment. The Clinical Neuropsychologist. 2021;35(6):1053-1106. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33823750