How Your Score Is Calculated?
The Position Check Rubric
How your score is calculated
The Position Check gives you a baseline: where you stand today across the three steps of the 169to1 method. This page explains exactly how your answers become that score, so nothing about it is hidden. Transparency is the same standard we ask of the organisations we work with.
What the check measures
It measures readiness, not knowledge and not results. Readiness is your ability to run the three steps of the method: to Select the goals that fit you, to Classify what you already do against them, and to Prove your impact with evidence. A high score does not mean your work is finished. It means you are equipped to do it well.
What we ask
The check has two kinds of question.
- Four context questions that describe you: your pillar, the number of people your work reaches, your country, and how long you have worked toward these goals. These are not scored. They set who you are and, in the case of country, which national figure your baseline is shown against. They do not change your readiness score.
- Nine scored questions, three for each of the three steps. These produce the score.
The nine scored questions
Every question uses the same four answers, on one consistent scale. This is what makes the three steps comparable, because a point means the same thing in every question. The first answer scores 0 and the last scores 3.
| Score | Level | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Not established | Not in place. |
| 1 | Emerging | Beginning to take shape, still informal. |
| 2 | Established | In place and working. |
| 3 | Demonstrable | In place and able to be shown or checked. |
The nine questions, three for each step, are below.
| Step | Question |
|---|---|
| Select | How clear are you about which SDG goals are relevant to your work? |
| Select | Have you narrowed your focus to a small number of SDG goals? |
| Select | Is your focus based on your own context and priorities? |
| Classify | Can you identify specific activities that contribute to those goals? |
| Classify | Can you distinguish actual contribution from good intention? |
| Classify | Have you documented your contribution in a structured way? |
| Prove | Do you measure the results of your work? |
| Prove | Can you show evidence of your contribution and its results? |
| Prove | Could your evidence be independently verified? |
From answers to scores
The calculation runs in three steps.
Add the three answers for that step. The result is between 0 and 9. Convert it to a figure out of 100 by dividing by 9 and multiplying by 100. So a step where you scored 3, 2 and 2 gives 7 out of 9, which is 78 out of 100.
Take the three step figures and average them. All three carry equal weight. This average, out of 100, is your overall readiness score.
Each figure, for the three steps and for the overall, falls into one of three bands.
A worked example
| Select | answers 3, 2, 2 | = 7 of 9 | 78 · Ready |
| Classify | answers 2, 1, 1 | = 4 of 9 | 44 · Building |
| Prove | answers 1, 1, 0 | = 2 of 9 | 22 · Starting |
Overall is the average of 78, 44 and 22, which is 48, a Building score. The step to work on first is Classify, explained below.
Which step to work on first
The check does not simply send you to your lowest number. It sends you to the earliest step in the Select, Classify, Prove order that is not yet Ready, because each step depends on the one before it. You cannot classify work against goals you have not selected, and you cannot prove impact on work you have not classified.
In the worked example, Prove is the lowest score at 22, but the first action targets Classify. Select is already Ready, so the earliest real gap is Classify. Fixing that comes before Prove. This is why the guidance you receive follows the order of the method, not the size of the gap.
The national comparison
Your results screen also shows how your country is performing on the Sustainable Development Goals, as an overall score and a status for each of the 17 goals. This is drawn from the SDSN Sustainable Development Report 2026 and is shown for context only. It is your country's progress, not your own. It is a separate measure and forms no part of your readiness score. The two numbers are on different scales and are not comparable.
What the score is, and what it is not
- It is a self-reported baseline. It reflects the answers you give, so it is honest to the degree you are.
- It is a starting line, not a verdict. A low score means there is a clear first step to take, not that the work is beyond you.
- It is not a certification or an audit. Recognition through 169to1 is a separate process with its own evidence requirements.
- It is meant to be repeated. Take it again later and the change in your score shows your progress against your own earlier baseline.
Ready to go?
