Evaluating the AUC for an ROC curve

*Blog post
2004
Diagnostic testing
Author

Steve Simon

Published

July 27, 2004

Someone asked me where I got the following guidance for Area Under the Curve (AUC) for a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve.

  • 0.50 to 0.75 = fair
  • 0.75 to 0.92 = good
  • 0.92 to 0.97 = very good
  • 0.97 to 1.00 = excellent.

I cannot find where I got these numbers. It must be a sign of senility on my part. I’ll keep looking, but if anyone else knows of justification for this or any other rule, let me know.

I did find a web page (gim.unmc.edu/dxtests/roc3.htm) that suggested this rule

  • .90-1 = excellent (A)
  • .80-.90 = good (B)
  • .70-.80 = fair (C)
  • .60-.70 = poor (D)
  • .50-.60 = fail (F)

but the evenness of the intervals strikes me as rather arbitrary. I’ll keep looking.

Earlier versions are here and here.