A test score records a performance under conditions, not a complete inventory of a person.

A score is a measurement of one hour, taken under particular conditions, in a format that suits some minds better than others. Sleep, nerves, whether the question happened to match what was revised, whether reading is easy for you: all of it is inside the number. The result is still information, just much narrower information than the way it gets used. Treating it as a summary of a person asks it to do work it cannot do.

If a score has landed badly, name what it actually measured and what it did not. And when you read someone else’s, hold it as one reading rather than a verdict.