GRE Score Percentile – Explained
When you receive your GRE Score report, it will contain following details
- name
- authorized score recipients
- test date(s)
- score(s) for each section
- percentile score
Few have difficulty in understanding GRE Percentiles score, how its is used and why percentile score is important. Following GRE Percentile chart shows the data compiled from all test takers from 2006 to 2009 with Scaled Score and their corresponding Verbal and Quantitative percentiles score.
GRE Score Percentile
Percentage of test takers in a group who obtained scores lower than specified scores. If your score is 95th percentile, then your score is better then 95% of the test takers in your reference group.
Percentile ranks on score report are based on performance of the current reference group (usually 3 years). Years used in reference group will be published by ETS in recent edition of GRE Guide.
GRE Score Percentile chart
| Percentile | ||
|---|---|---|
| Score | Verbal | Quantitative |
| 800 | 99 | 94 |
| 780 | 99 | 89 |
| 760 | 99 | 84 |
| 740 | 99 | 80 |
| 720 | 98 | 75 |
| 700 | 97 | 70 |
| 680 | 96 | 66 |
| 660 | 94 | 61 |
| 640 | 92 | 56 |
| 620 | 89 | 52 |
| 600 | 86 | 47 |
| 580 | 82 | 43 |
| 560 | 78 | 38 |
| 540 | 73 | 34 |
| 520 | 68 | 30 |
| 500 | 63 | 27 |
| 480 | 57 | 23 |
| 460 | 52 | 20 |
| 440 | 46 | 17 |
| 420 | 41 | 15 |
| 400 | 35 | 12 |
| 380 | 29 | 10 |
| 360 | 24 | 8 |
| 340 | 19 | 7 |
| 320 | 13 | 5 |
| 300 | 8 | 4 |
| 280 | 5 | 3 |
| 260 | 2 | 2 |
| 240 | 1 | 1 |
| 220 | 1 | |
| 200 | ||
| Mean | 456 | 590 |
| SD | 120 | 150 |
| Total Examinees | 1,489,162 | 1,489,044 |
| Percent Woman | 55 | 55 |
| Percent Men | 41 | 41 |
Source: ETS Based on the performance of all examinees who tested between July 1, 2006, and June 30, 2009 (Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning Interpretive Data Used on Score Reports)
Do you have additional questions about GRE Percentile Score, do leave a comment.
sir/mam
i appeared on GRE exam on 4 sept 2010 but i havent received my score card from ets. should i register somewhere for the same. however my gre account shows my details.
also i was satisfied by my score so i am appearing for gre once again in november. how long would it take for them to send my scores the second time given that i am hoping to increase my score considerably.
please reply
thanks
My friend had told me that the percentile is based on all those who took the test on that same day, not 3 years. Can you please clarify that?
According to ETS they will publish time period in GRE Guide report. Usually it spans for 3 years.
Can you please tell me, for me are there going to be any changes in the pattern of GRE as Im going to write exam on 12th February 2011?
Can you please suggest me how the preparation of GRE would be the best? Any reference materials to follow, I have just 4 months time so is it possible to score in the range of 1500-1600, if started preparation now onwards?
in my gre score, the quantitive is mentioned as %below 94 and verbal as %below 38
wht does this mean?
see above table
I didnt understand tht…thts why I asked
if %le represents nothing than score….wht is its need? caz we ultimately see score
PERCENTILE RANK (% BELOW)
The percentile ranks in this report indicate the percentage of examinees who scored below your score. Note that these percentile ranks may be different from those that applied when the scores were originally reported to you if the scores were earned prior to July 2009. This reflects annual updating of these data to permit admissions officers to compare scores, whenever earned, with those for a recent reference group.
(Copied from ETS)
Please mail me the changed format of GRE which I believe has negative marking type included. It would be a great help as I am to write the exam next august and by that time we'll have the paper format change, I cannot attend the exam now because I do not have enough preparation and time for preparation.