what's the deal with the percentiles?

[monopolova]

I know it's probably the least important thing we are thinking about tonight, but why are the percentiles so broad? Is everyone's elses like that (mine have like a ten percent difference between the high and low given)?

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[LauraMac]

i was wondering about that, too. the total score has a pretty narrow percentile, so i'm just kind of sticking with that.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Yeah, I want to know whether I'm closer to the 3rd, or the 13th percentile. Now I'll never know!

 

[liverotcod]

Say 100 people take an exam, and the best 10 of them get the same number right. Their percentile score would be 90-100%.

It's reflective of one of the limitations of the MCAT scoring, which compresses the high and low ends and poorly differentiates the peak of the curve.

 

[dankev]

The percentile is for your number score, not how many you personally got right (that number essentially doesn't exist). Since there are only 15 possibilities, the percentiles will be broad. Add to that the fact that the very high and very low scores have narrower percentiles, and the "middle" scores are even more broad.