Grrr. So, when asked for a summary of my gre scores, I sent in the percentiles from when I took the test. Apparently, the score reports send out the current percentile for your score at the time. So, my 98th percentile (perfect) math score is now 92nd. 99th verbal now 98th, and 89th analytical now 79th. (how they figure that one given that they are no longer offering the analytical section I’d love to know.) I just hope the percentile inconsistency doesn’t make me look like I’m trying to inflate my performance. Stupid.
Hmm. That would make an interesting study. If your score of X was good enough for a 98th percentile Y years ago, and it’s only good enough for a 92nd percentile now, does that mean that the tests are getting easier, or that people are getting smarter (or something else)?
Or that a larger percentage of the existing high scorers on standardized tests are applying to grad school. =)
See they’d have no way of knowing who was applying though, unless they gave a “percentile of people requesting score reports this year who did worse then you”
I wonder if they compare you to “all test takers everywhere” or just compare all score reports sent this year with the statistics for all tests taken this year.
Ah yes. (=
It almost makes total sense why they’d do that.
When you accept candidates for grad school, you don’t want to know “Oh, is this guy better then everyone who graduated college the year he did?” you want to know “Oh, is this guy better then everyone who is applying to grad school this year”
Well, sure. Ideally, you’d have a test such that it really was an adequate measure of performance and didn’t lump the top 2 or 8 percent together. But I’m such a fan of standardized testing to begin with. =)
Wait. Are you trying to tell me that there are other ways to measure human intelligence? But how can you logically compare one person directly to another unless they take the same exact test?
Heh heh. To paraphrase G.E.P. Box, “All tests are wrong, but some are useful.”
don’t worry too much about your ‘official’ percentiles being different from what you submitted. i work in a graduate admissions office and i see this all the time.
Cool, you may be seeing another one of it sometime soon, given that umn is on my apply very soon now dammit list. =)