GRE Percentile

GRE Percentile continued..

Now, the obvious question of why GRE percentile scores are important. The percentile scores give a more clear idea of how good you are. The raw scores just tell about your performance in the exam but the percentile scores give an idea of how other students have performed. The very purpose of GRE is to compare students coming from different set ups. GRE percentiles give a direct idea of how good you are and how many of the total test takers are better or worse than you. It tells about where you stand in comparison with all the others who have taken the same exam. If in a certain year a large number of students score well, say 700 in the verbal section then your raw score can be misleading. If it is supported by a percentile, say which is 84 then your performance can be judged better. Thus it is important to support the raw score with the percentile to give a better idea of where you stand. Another use of the score is for those who retake the test. If you score 660 once with 85 percentile and the next time you score 640 with 90 percentile then obviously your performance has improved. Here, though the score has lessened, the percentile has increased. Another case occurs when you have appeared for the exam much before applying for the admission. The GRE percentiles for the latest exam are used. Irrespective of when you take the exam, when you submit your score to apply for admission then the latest percentiles published by ETS will be considered.

College admission authorities give more importance to the percentile scores of students. The colleges are able to interpret the raw scores only on the basis of the percentile scores. In fact it is the percentile which gives meaning to the raw score. The colleges can compare only those who apply in their institution for admission using the raw scores but they can not judge how the remaining test takers have performed. Whereas if they get the GRE percentiles, then they are able to understand how the applicants have performed as compared with all the test takers. They get a more comprehensive view through the GRE percentiles. But at the same time, the colleges can not decide on whom to admit only on the basis of the percentiles. They have to take into account all the applicants for admission. If a large number of students have a good score and a good percentile as well, then the colleges will have to consider other criterion for scanning students.

The GRE percentiles are helpful to both the college admission authorities as well as to you. From your GRE percentile you can understand your capabilities better. You come to know what weightage your scores hold. Moreover, since colleges deal with GRE scores every year, they have a better idea about the GRE percentiles and their interpretations, whereas you are new to GRE and hence the scoring. If you get a raw score of say 640 in the verbal section and 780 in the quantitative section then you might feel that your performance in the verbal section is not up to the mark. It is only when you see the percentile that you get a fair idea of your score. The corresponding percentile in the verbal section could be as high as 90 and in the quantitative section it could be 87. This shows that though your performance in the verbal section is better than in the quantitative section your score in the latter is higher. So the GRE percentiles are very important for you as well.

The GRE percentiles and the GRE raw scores are used by a number of colleges but there are also some which do not use these scores at all. They have other means of scanning students. Nonetheless, the importance of GRE scores can not be undermined. It is always better to take the test well before time so that in case you have to take it again the results are out before admissions are over. More importantly, you must know what percentiles are acceptable in the colleges which you plan to apply to. If you are well aware you shall be more serious and conscious about your performance and shall work accordingly.

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