Understanding SAS scores
What standardised age scores are, how they’re calculated, and how to read them alongside stanines.
What is a standardised age score (SAS)?
A standardised age score (SAS) is the main score Quest uses to report a candidate’s performance. Unlike a raw score (the number of questions answered correctly), an SAS puts each candidate’s performance on a common scale. This means you can compare candidates fairly, even when they are different ages or answered different questions.
SAS ranges from 58 to 142, with an average of 100.
How is SAS calculated?
Each candidate’s SAS takes three things into account:
- Their responses: which questions they answered correctly.
- Question difficulty: harder questions carry more weight than easier ones.
- Their age: calculated in years and months from their date of birth.
Why does age matter?
Within a single year group, the oldest and youngest candidates can be almost 12 months apart in age. At 7+ to 11+ in particular, that difference has a real effect on performance. Age standardisation adjusts for it, so a younger candidate isn’t disadvantaged simply for being younger.
This is why it’s important that each candidate’s date of birth is entered correctly before they sit the assessment.
How to read an SAS
| SAS | What it means |
|---|---|
| Around 100 | Average for the candidate’s age |
| Above 100 | Above average for their age. The higher the score, the further above average. |
| Below 100 | Below average for their age |
Most candidates score between 85 and 115. Scores above 130 or below 70 are uncommon.
SAS and stanines
Each score also comes with a stanine (“standard nine”), which places the candidate in one of nine bands:
- 1 to 3: below average
- 4 to 6: average
- 7 to 9: above average
Stanines are useful for a quick comparison. The SAS gives you the finer detail: two candidates can share a stanine but have noticeably different SAS scores.
Common questions
Why does a candidate with more correct answers have a lower SAS than another candidate?
This can happen because SAS reflects both question difficulty and age, not just the number of correct answers. A candidate who answered harder questions correctly, or who is younger, may receive a higher SAS from a similar raw score.
Can I compare SAS scores across subjects?
Yes. Each subject is standardised on the same scale, so an SAS of 120 in Maths and 120 in English represent a similar level of performance relative to age. This makes it easy to see a candidate’s relative strengths.
What is the overall score?
The overall SAS summarises the candidate’s performance across all the subjects they sat in the assessment. It comes with its own overall stanine and performance band.