Question on raw score and corresponding percentile

[beboppin]

If two people on a given day both get the same raw score, let's say a 48 on the quantitative section, will they always see the same percentile (e.g. 85%)? Or is it possible that one person with a 48Q actually got one more question right than the other person with a 48Q, and so would see a higher percentile (e.g. 86%)?

Thanks!

[mntrlgmat]

Percentile is different from percent. The percentile score that is provided next to your score measures the percentage of test-takers who score below you. Therefore an 85%ile means that your score was better than 85% of test scores.

This percentile figure changes as more people take the test. A 680 for instance used to be the 90th percentile a few years ago. Now a 680 is the 86th percentile meaning that scores are getting better than a few years ago.


Hope this helps.

[beboppin]

Thanks mntrlgmat. I guess my question was more, let's say you and I both got a 50 on the quant section of the GMAT on the same day, but it turns out I got 1 more question wrong than you did (I understand that when you get the question wrong, the difficulty of the question that is wrong, and other factors make a difference, but humor me for the sake of this post). That is, you did BETTER than I did, but only slightly so that, in the end, we came out with the same raw score.

Given this situation, will we see the same percentile next to the 50?

[mntrlgmat]

Well on any given day if we both get a 50 we should get the same percentile. The only exception is if the system happens to update after you're done with your test but before I'm done, then it's theoretically possible that the percentile goes down for me. But I doubt that they update it in that manner. The system is more likely to be updated on a day that no one is taking the test.

But apart from that even, it doesn't matter how many correct questions we each got, if we end up with a raw score of 50 then we would get the same percentile ranking.

At least so I understand.