Raw score
Raw score is the count of correct answers. It usually appears at the top of the report and is the easiest number to read. It is also the least informative in isolation because it cannot be interpreted without the norm group.
If your report only shows raw score, look for a percentile lookup table elsewhere in the document or in vendor documentation. The raw score alone is a starting point, not a conclusion.
Percentile
Percentile is your rank against the norm group. The 70th percentile means you scored better than 70 percent of the reference population. This is the number employers actually use for comparisons because it is comparable across tests.
Be careful about which norm group generated the percentile. Reports sometimes show multiple percentiles against different norm groups: general applicants, role-specific applicants, country-specific applicants. Understanding which norm group the employer uses tells you which percentile is the one that matters.
Role target score
Some vendors include a role target score or Job Target Score on the report, which is the threshold the employer set for the specific role. If your score is at or above the target, you cleared the cutoff. If below, you did not.
Role targets are most common on PI Cognitive Assessment reports, where the Job Target Score is explicitly configured by the employer. Other vendors sometimes include role target bands as reference information.
Section breakdown
Multi-section tests usually report sub-scores for numerical, verbal, abstract, and logical reasoning separately. This is the most useful part of the report for retake preparation because it identifies exactly where you lost ground.
If your report shows you scored the 80th percentile overall but the 40th percentile on verbal reasoning, you know exactly where to concentrate prep for a retake. Section breakdowns are cheaper than any tutor because they diagnose for free.
Confidence interval
Most modern score reports include a confidence interval around the point estimate. A raw score of 28 plus or minus 3 means your true ability most likely falls somewhere between 25 and 31. The interval exists because any single test session is noisy.
Employers who understand confidence intervals sometimes set cutoffs above the interval band to absorb the noise. Candidates near the cutoff should understand the interval because a score within interval range of the cutoff is genuinely uncertain pass/fail territory.
Percentile lookup tables
Vendor documentation publishes percentile-to-raw-score conversion tables for their default norm groups. These tables let you interpret raw scores without needing the full report. They are publicly available in the vendor's psychometric manuals, typically accessible through their support channels.
If you have access to your raw score but not a percentile, look up the conversion table for your specific test and norm group. The percentile is the interpretable number.
What is not on the report and how to get it
Most reports do not include answer-by-answer breakdowns, which means you cannot see which specific questions you got wrong. This is intentional. Vendors protect test content. If you want more granular feedback, targeted practice questions with immediate explanations are the next best option.
Reports also usually do not include time-per-question data. If you want to understand whether your weakness was content or pacing, diagnostic practice tests with timing analytics are worth the small investment. Many paid prep platforms include this.