Difference between Percentage and Percentile Rank
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The area under the curve represents the number of people who received that particular score. So, more people received a score of 35 than a score of 20.
If the same candidate answered 35 questions correctly, according to the distribution of all the scores in the group, she scored better than 60% of the other applicants. This is her percentile rank. To be clear, she did not get a 60% on the assessment. Her 60th percentile rank is an expression of how the candidate did relative to everyone who took the test, not her individual score. In other words, a percentile rank is a way of rank ordering people compared to others in a sample. In the example above, a raw score of 35 means that she answered 87.5% of the questions correctly (percentage) AND scored higher than 60% of everyone else who took the test (percentile).
For some, there could be an initial shock if they see that their percentile rank for an assessment is at or near the 60th percentile. You might immediately assume that you’ve somehow failed since we’re so used to being graded and measured in terms of percentage. In reality, a percentile rank of 60 is actually an above average score. It isn’t directly related to how many questions someone answered correctly, but where their score fits among every other test takers’ scores. On this same test, someone who answered 30 questions correctly would have gotten 75% correct (percentage) and fall into the 31st percentile. The percentile just depends on how everyone else scored.
There’s a reason that percentile rankings are often more useful for interpreting test results. If you aren’t familiar with a test, knowing that someone got 75% of the questions correct doesn’t tell you if they scored well or not since you don’t know how hard the questions are or what the average score is. However, if someone scores within the 75th percentile, you know that they did well on the test because they scored better than ¾ of the people who have taken it.
Understanding the difference between percentages and percentiles ultimately can help you interpret pr-employment test results so you can make the most informed decision on which candidates you should invite to the next step of the hiring process.
Difference Between Percentage & Percentile Rank
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