Introduction
“What does percentile mean?” is a question that people ask when they are looking at their GRE report. If you don’t know what the answer is, you may be surprised to find that it isn’t as simple as many people think. In this post, we will explain what percentiles are and how they can be helpful to your GRE score.
What is the GRE percentile?
- GRE Percentile is the percentage of test takers who scored below a particular score. It’s calculated based on the distribution of scores from all test takers, and it’s one of the most important factors in evaluating GRE test scores.
- The GRE percentile is based on your raw score, not your scaled score or percentile rank. For example: if you got a 160 on your verbal section and 150 on your analytical writing section, then your overall percentile would be 87%).
How are GRE Scaled Scores calculated?
- A scaled score is a representation of your performance on the GRE. The GRE has two types of scaled scores: one for each section, and one overall. For example, if your Verbal Reasoning section score is 160 and the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) section is 180, then your total scale would be 340.
- The average GRE test taker will score around 400 points on both sections combined. If you scored higher than this average (about 450 or 500), this means that you are above average in terms of academic ability compared to other test takers who also took the exam at the same time as you did.
(Read More: GRE study plan for 3 months)
How to use the GRE Percentile Calculator?
- The GRE percentile calculator is a tool to help you determine your percentile based on the scores you receive on the GRE. The experts have given GRE tips to escalate your score. Practice them to score a high percentile.
- Calculate GRE percentiles based on scaled scores: The first step is to find out what percentile range your scaled score falls into; for example, if you received an 800 on Verbal Reasoning and 650 on Quantitative Reasoning (out of 130-170), then using our Percentile Calculator we see that this would put us at approximately 92nd percentile overall–or pretty high!
How are GRE scores converted into percentiles?
GRE-scaled scores are converted into percentiles. Percentiles are used to compare GRE scores across different test administrations and forms, as well as between different testers. For example, if you scored 157 on the Quantitative Reasoning section of the test, your percentile would tell you what percentage of other people who took that same test scored at or below your score.
(Read More: How Much GRE Score is Required to Get into Top Universities?)
How is the GRE percentile determined?
- Your GRE score is compared to other GRE scores for the same test date. You’ll see your percentile when you receive your official report in the mail, which you can access online after signing up for a free account with ETS.
- In addition to reporting your percentile, ETS also gives you two other ways of comparing yourself with other test-takers: scaled score and raw score. A scaled score is an approximation of where your performance falls on a scale from 200-800 points; it’s calculated by finding out how many questions you got right in each section (the Verbal Reasoning section has 60 questions total) and then converting those numbers into a corresponding number between 200 and 800 based on how many people got all those right answers correct during any given testing period (so if everyone else answered 50% correctly, then anyone who answered 100% would have an 800).
Tip for how to increase GRE percentile
• Focus on your weak areas.
• Practice, practice, practice! The more you take the test and get comfortable with the material, the better your score will be.
• Don’t get overwhelmed by the GRE. prepare yourself mentally for the GRE exam. It’s an important part of your application process but it doesn’t define who you are as a person or student. Don’t let it stress you out too much–this is supposed to be fun!
If you do decide to take the test, make sure that you have plenty of time to prepare for the GRE exam and don’t put yourself under too much pressure. If you are applying for graduate school in the US and your native language is not English, then there are some extra considerations for taking this exam. The good news is that there are plenty of resources available on the internet to help you prepare for your exam, including GRE free practice tests with answers at various levels of difficulty.
(Read More: Best Books for GRE self-study preparation)
What does “Percentile” means on the GRE report?
The percentile is a measure of how well you did on the test compared to other test takers. It’s calculated by comparing your scaled score (the number of questions you got right multiplied by 10) against all other test takers, then dividing that number by 100. The higher this number is, the better: if it’s above 50%, then half of all test takers had a lower score than yours; if it’s below 50%, then half had a higher score than yours.
Conclusion
So, in a nutshell, the GRE percentile is the percentage of test-takers who scored below you on the GRE exam. The higher your percentile, the better! Get yourself trained in any GRE coaching center for scoring a high percentile. If your score is above the 90th percentile, then it means that only 10% of all other test-takers scored higher than you did in this section.
