Percentiles
How Your Scores Compare to Other Scores
Percentiles compare your scores to those of other students who took the test. Say, for example, your critical reading score is 500. If the national percentile for a score of 500 is 47, then this means you did better than 47 percent of the national group of college-bound seniors.
Percentiles are based on the most recent scores earned by students in the previous year's graduating class who took the SAT anytime during high school. For the SAT, percentiles are given both for the nation and for your state. Your percentile changes depending on the group with which you scores are compared. Because the national group is larger and more diverse than the state group, your national and state percentiles may differ.
You can view SAT Percentile Ranks (.pdf/114K) for the most recent graduating class.
SAT Subject Tests—Don't Compare Percentile Ranks
Different groups of students—with varying skills and abilities—take different SAT Subject Tests. For instance, some SAT Subject Tests tend to have many test-takers who excel in that subject. That means that a ranking that seems mediocre may in fact be very good. For example, students who take the Mathematics Level 2 Test often have taken several higher-level mathematics courses, such as pre-calculus or calculus, while students who take Mathematics Level 1 have a much more varied mathematics background. A score of, say, 610, will likely result in a higher percentile rank for Mathematics Level 1 than for Mathematics Level 2.
You can view Subject Test Percentile Ranks (.pdf/264K) for the most recent graduating class.
