When you complete an assessment, Personality Assessor tells you how you score in each personality trait that was measured in that specific test. For example, you might see a results summary similar to the one below.

A percentile tells you how you score, relative to other people who've completed the same personality test. A percentile is more useful than a raw score. For example, imagine that someone took a personality test and received a raw score of 3.76/5.00 in extraversion. What does 3.76/5.00 in extraversion even mean? Is that a high score? A low score? About average?

In contrast, a percentile score has a very straightforward interpretation. For example, if someone scores in the 82nd percentile of extraversion, this means that they are more extraverted than 82% of other people. Stated differently, they are in the top 18% of extraverts—which seems to be a relatively high score.

Interpreting High Percentiles

Most Introverted	Exactly Average	Most Extraverted

Interpreting Low Percentiles

Most Disagreeable	Exactly Average	Most Agreeable

"Exactly Average"

Least Conscientious	Exactly Average	Most Conscientious

It's important to understand that a single personality score will never fully capture you. This is because your personality is a moving target in at least two ways:

First, you don't have a single "true" score on each personality trait. Rather, your personality can shift around a bit in different situations or at different times (Fleeson, 2001).

For example, think about how extraverted you are. Some days you probably feel more extraverted—energetic, sociable, and active. Other days, you probably feel less extraverted. Your level of extraversion is actually a range—not a single point.

Whenever you take a personality test, your results capture a small snapshot of your personality at a single point in time. So, it's completely possible that your results on a single test might not accurately describe how you usually are.

As a concrete, hypothetical example, in the image below, one person's range of extraversion is highlighted in red. His extraversion is usually around the 76th percentile. However, his level of extraversion can range anywhere from the 65th percentile to the 87th percentile, depending on his circumstances and how he feels at the moment. One day, when he was feeling particularly energetic and active, he took a personality test. His results indicated that he scored in the 82nd percentile in extraversion. This single test result is an accurate reflection of how extraverted he felt the day he took the test—but it is an overestimate of his typical level of extraversion.

Most Introverted	Exactly Average	Most Extraverted

Because your personality shifts around a bit, if you take an assessment multiple times and use Personality Assessor's History feature, you will likely notice that your score on any one trait tends to bounce up and down somewhat randomly over time.

However, Personality Assessor's History feature automatically adds a broad, semi-transparent regression line to the graph, which represents your typical level of each trait. Therefore, one of the best ways to get an accurate estimate of your personality is to complete an assessment repeatedly at different points in time and use the History feature to see your typical level of each trait.

In the image below, the person's typical level of extraversion is around the 76th percentile. However, their scores tend to fluctuate up and down depending on their circumstances and mood. Second, your personality actually changes over time (Hudson & Fraley, 2015; Roberts & Mroczek, 2008). For example, most people become more agreeable and conscientious over time (Roberts, Walton, & Viechtbauer, 2006).

Because our personalities change as we get older, if you take a personality assessment repeatedly over a long period of time, you might discover that you've increased or decreased in some traits.

In the image below, the person started around the 50th percentile of conscientiousness in January. However, over time, their level of conscientiousness increased to about the 68th percentile. The broad, semi-transparent regression line illustrates how the person's conscientiousness has changed over time. Nevertheless, each time the person took the personality test, their scores tended to bounce up and down around their typical level, depending on their circumstances and mood.

• Different assessments can measure the same trait differently. For example, although both the Big Five Inventory and the IPIP-300 measure extraversion, you might receive different extraversion scores from each test. This is because the different tests measure extraversion slightly differently. The IPIP-300 measures your propensity to feel positive emotions as part of your extraversion score, whereas the Big Five Inventory does not.
• Your percentiles compare you to other people who took the same tests on Personality Assessor. Personality Assessor computes your percentile ranks by comparing your responses to real data from up to hundreds of thousands of other users. It is important to keep in mind that your scores are relative to other people who have taken online personality tests.

• Personality Assessor tells you your percentile rank for each trait
• A percentile is the percent of people that you score higher than
• Your personality is a moving target, so each test is just a small snapshot of who you really are
• The best way to fully understand your personality is to take an assessment multiple times over an extended period of time and use the History feature