How is this figured out?
Each floor of the tower matches the questions a typical student at that grade could answer. Your Brain Level is estimated from every answer you gave. Hard questions you got right count for more, and the math allows for lucky guesses on 4-choice questions.
To compare you with each group, we use a real pattern from national testing: students in the same grade are spread out over a wide range. On NWEA's MAP Growth tests, the spread inside one grade (about 16 points) is about the same as two or more years of average growth. So each grade is modeled as a bell curve centered on its floor, about 2 floors wide.
College groups come from who keeps going in school: about 62% of high school graduates start college right away (NCES, 2022), about 38% of adults have a bachelor's degree, and about 14% have an advanced degree (U.S. Census, 2022). Each group is modeled as the matching top share of 12th graders.
It's a fun estimate, not an IQ test or a grade. The best way to raise your level is to learn. Every question you miss shows you something new.
Sources: NWEA 2020 MAP Growth norms · NCES Fast Facts · U.S. Census Bureau