The individual sten scores are defined by reference to a standard normal distribution.
Like stanines, individual sten scores are demarcated by half standard deviations.
Sten scores (for the entire population of results) have a mean of 5.5 and a standard deviation of 2.
For example, suppose that scale scores are found to have a mean of 23.5, a standard deviation of 4.2, and to be approximately normally distributed.
An alternative method of calculation requires that the scale developer prepare a table to convert raw scores to sten scores by apportioning percentages according to the distribution shown in the table.