The discussion clarifies that percentile ranks indicate the percentage of scores that fall below a given score, not an upper bound. Specifically, if a student is in the 95th percentile, it means they scored higher than 95% of test-takers, leaving 5% who scored equal to or higher. In cases of ties, such as three students sharing the highest score, they would be classified in the 97th percentile, as 97 students scored lower. Percentile scores are distinct from percentage correct scores, which simply reflect the number of correct answers.
PREREQUISITESStudents, educators, and statisticians who need to interpret test scores and understand the implications of percentile rankings in educational assessments.
WHAT ARE PERCENTILE SCORES?
In contrast to stanines, percentiles give parents a more detailed description of how their children compare with other students who took the test by showing scores that range from 1 to 99.
For example, if a student scored in the 66th percentile on a test, that student achieved a score that is higher than 66%of the other students who took the test. So, if 1,000 students took the test, the student in the 66th percentile scored higher than 660 students.
Do not confuse percentile scores with percentage correct scores. Percentile scores allow you to compare one student's scores with a group of students who took the test. Percentage corrects cores simply reveal the number of items that a student answered correctly out of the total number of items.
Thank you for this, but I am still confused. My question is: If the top 3 students have the same score on an exam (and everyone else has less) and I am one of these 3 students, am I in the 97 percentile or 100 percentile?jedishrfu said:
If you round to integers, you could be. If you are the best out of 200 students, then 99.5 out of 100 students are worse than you, that could be rounded to 100.jedishrfu said:I don't think you could ever be in the 100th percentile because that would mean out of 100 students 0 students would be in it.
So if you are in the 97 percentile you did better than 97 percent of the test takers, but you don't know what u did compared to the other 3 percent, right? (you don't know if you had the same score as them or lower)jedishrfu said:If the top 3 students out of 100 students had a tie score then I think they are in the 97th percentile meaning 97 students are below them in score.
I don't think you could ever be in the 100th percentile because that would mean out of 100 students 0 students would be in it.
Percentile scores are not upward roundable -- 99.9th percentile means the score has an abundancy of no more than 1 in 1000 -- 98.9th percentile is part of the 98th percentile -- etc..mfb said:If you round to integers, you could be. If you are the best out of 200 students, then 99.5 out of 100 students are worse than you, that could be rounded to 100.