Scores are graded on a scale of 5 (high) to 1 (low) as follows.
5: Extremely Well Qualified, College grade A equivalent
4: Well Qualified, College grade A-, B+, B equivalent
3: Qualified, College grade B-, C+, C equivalent
2: Possibly Qualified, no college grade equivalent
1: No recommendation, no college grade equivalent
Multi-choice responses are machine-graded.
For free-response written answers, human readers are employed to read and grade the responses. In the first 2 weeks of June, a reading convention of teachers and college professors is held in which the readers meet and grade every candidate's free-response questions. In 2023, this took place in Kansas City.
Because the multi-choice and free-response sections both carry equal weight (50% each), they are added to give a composite score. These are scaled into a range 1-5 to give your final grade. You won't see your composite score, only your grade 1-5.