“If you're looking for Alzheimer's, then you'd be reassured to say that there's no signs of that disease,” Nasreddine said, referring to a perfect score on the test. A person with a a high school education in the United States should be able to get 26 to 30, Honig said. This is because there are often confounding factors such as the level of education and whether the test is being given in the person’s native language. He has seen patients with dementia score greater than 26 and he has seen patients without dementia score below 26.
Lawrence Honig, a neurologist and one of the directors of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Columbia University, said while the test is a pretty good indicator, it’s not perfect.
