You have finished your Think Talent Personality Inventory (TTPI) assessment. The report is ready. And next to each personality trait, there’s a number from 1 to 10.
Say you scored 9 on Time Conscious, 2 on Outgoing, and 3 on Cooperative. So what does that tell you about yourself?
It’s tempting to look at this and think, I’m great at managing my time, but I’m bad at being outgoing and I’m not a team player. But that’s not really how TTPI scores are meant to be read.
These are STEN scores. They are a standardised way of showing how strongly a certain behaviour shows up in you, compared to a professional norm group. Once you understand what these numbers actually mean, it helps you read your TTPI report properly instead of judging yourself by whichever numbers happen to be highest or lowest.
What is a STEN score
STEN is just the scale TTPI uses to show your trait scores, from 1 to 10.
But the number doesn’t just get assigned out of nowhere. There is a process behind it. Your responses get processed, turned into a raw score, then that raw score gets standardised into a STEN score, and compared against a group of over 17,000 working professionals.
This gives the score a consistent reference point and makes it easier to interpret.
In simple terms it goes like this: Your responses → raw score → standardised STEN score → interpretation in your TTPI report.
You don’t need to understand the technical calculation behind the scoring to use your report. But understanding what the final number represents makes a big difference to how you interpret your results.
What Do TTPI Scores From 1 to 10 Mean?
The STEN scale groups scores into five broad ranges:
|
STEN score |
What it indicates |
|
1–2 |
Very Low |
|
3–4 |
Low |
|
5–6 |
Medium / Average |
|
7–8 |
High |
|
9–10 |
Very High |
The middle range, 5–6, represents the average. The further a score moves from the middle, the more that particular behaviour stands out, in one direction or the other.
So, if you get a 9, that doesn’t mean you got 90% or that you are better than someone who got a 4. Likewise, a 2 doesn’t mean you are bad at something.
Higher does not mean better. Lower does not mean worse. Every TTPI trait describes a behaviour at both ends of the scale. A 2 on Outgoing is not an absence of something. It points to a more reserved way of working with others, which has its own strengths and its own risks.
The STEN score tells you where the tendency sits. The trait itself tells you what that tendency means.
Why You Shouldn't Judge Yourself by the Number Alone
This is where understanding how to interpret personality assessment results becomes important.
Suppose your TTPI report shows a high score on Time Conscious. That may indicate a stronger tendency towards meeting deadlines and completing work on time. A lower score on another trait represents a different behavioural tendency. Neither number, by itself, tells you whether you are a better or worse person, employee, leader, or colleague.
Your TTPI report puts each trait on the scale, adds a description of what that behaviour looks like, and gives you possible enablers, possible derailers, and some questions for reflection. That context is what turns a number into something you can use.
How to Read Your TTPI Scores Correctly
When you look at your report, don’t start by asking:
“Is this score good?” Instead, ask questions like:
“What behaviour does this score represent, and how does it show up in how I work?”
Then look at the description of the trait, where your score sits on the scale, and the interpretation provided in the report. This matters because personality is not a bunch of isolated high and low numbers.
TTPI looks across 20 workplace personality traits and six clusters, and the report interprets the scores in relation to the traits within each cluster.
This applies to coaches and managers too. Understanding a score means you stop guessing and start having a real, focused conversation about behaviour, strengths, development areas, and what may be worth exploring further.
What STEN Scores Help You Do
STEN scores give your TTPI results context. Instead of seeing a number and making a quick judgement, you can understand where a tendency sits compared to the professional norm group and then explore what that may mean in behaviour. That’s the real value of understanding your TTPI personality assessment scores.
The goal isn’t to collect more high scores. It’s about understanding your own behaviour more clearly, so the conversations you have about your own growth are useful, and you can focus on what is worth your attention.
Conclusion
Your TTPI report gives you numbers for a reason, but the number is not the conclusion.
A STEN score gives your behavioural tendency a standardised reference point. The interpretation helps you understand what that tendency may look like in practice. So the next time you see a 9, 6, or 2 in your TTPI report, don’t immediately ask, “Is that good or bad?”
Ask a better question: “What is this score actually telling me about how I tend to behave?”
That is where your TTPI results become useful.
Explore TTPI on Elemetrik to see how each report turns scores into a development conversation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a STEN score a percentage?
No. A STEN score is a standardised score on a 1–10 scale. It is not a test mark or percentage.
Is a STEN score of 9 better than 4?
No. Higher and lower scores represent different levels of behavioural tendency. They are not ratings of good or bad behaviour.
What does a STEN score of 5 or 6 mean?
It falls in the medium or average range of the scale. In practice, people in this range tend to be the most situationally flexible on that trait, adjusting how strongly they show it depending on the task or the team.
Can I understand my TTPI report just by looking at the highest and lowest scores?
No. The score needs to be understood alongside the specific trait and its behavioural interpretation.