Confused about Score results...HELP!

[johns672]

So I took the GRE at the end of July and I am scheduled to retake it at the beginning of October.

My scores were : 148 in Verbal / 143 in Quantitative / 4.5 in writing

I am confused about the percentiles for these scores. On the ETS website it says that I am 36% below for verbal and 17% below for quantitative. So does this mean that I am in the 36th and 17th percentile?? These scores seem terrible but I thought that a raw score of 150 was average so I am confused seeing as how my raw scores aren't that far from 150.

Thanks for the help!

[mop]

The percentile does not change the same amount per point, because there can be many students with one score near the average, so change in percentile from 150 to 149 could be 5% while 170 to 169 only 1% etc

[amlobo]

Yes, it means 36th and 17th percentile. As the previous poster said, the percentile change between raw numbers can vary widely, and the different sections have different percentiles, as well. So, you could get the same "raw" score on Verbal and Quant but get very different percentiles. Also, don't forget that the scores are 130-170, so even though 150 is the "middle," it is a bell curve and the percentile drops off drastically in each direction.

[emmm]

More important that your actual scores/percentiles is how they compare to average scores for your programs of interest. If you were applying for a heavily quantitative program, the Q score would be a major problem, but for your program, it may not be (I don't know, but you should have a sense of this).