Key takeaways
- Percentage is about your marks; percentile is about the people below you.
- Rank depends on how many people wrote; percentile lets you compare across test sizes.
- Ties share a rank; how the next rank is numbered depends on the convention used.
- Read percentile trends across mocks, not one mock in isolation.
Percentage, rank and percentile
- Percentage: your marks as a share of the maximum. 180 out of 300 is 60%.
- Rank: your position when everyone is sorted by marks. The topper is rank 1.
- Percentile: the share of test-takers who scored at or below you (definitions vary slightly). A 95 percentile means you did as well as or better than 95% of the group.
A worked example
Imagine 400 students write a mock. You score 182 and 360 students scored less than you. Using the common 'below me' definition, your percentile is 360 ÷ 400 × 100 = 90. If 39 students scored more than you, your rank is 40.
Now imagine the same performance in a mock with 4,000 students. Your rank might be 400, which feels worse, but your percentile would still be around 90. That's why percentile is the better number to track across tests of different sizes.
How ties work
Students with identical marks share a rank. Some systems then skip ranks (1, 2, 2, 4) and some don't (1, 2, 2, 3). Many test series break ties by time taken or by marks in a priority subject. Whatever convention you use, state it in the result notice.
How students should read the report
- Track percentile across mocks; one test is noise, five is a trend.
- Compare section-wise scores with the topper and the class average.
- Look at the questions most of the class got right that you got wrong: they're the cheapest marks to win back.
Where Examezy fits
Every Examezy report shows score, rank and percentile, a comparison with the class average, highest and lowest, section-wise accuracy and time, and what percentage of the class chose each option on every question.