What do digital PSAT and SAT percentiles mean?

What are percentiles?

When students receive their digital PSAT and SAT scores, they often want to put those scores into context. One way to look at the context of your scores is through percentiles.

College Board provides three percentile ranks: state, country, and all testers (formerly known as user percentile). The percentiles allow students to view their percentile ranking among the following groups of test takers from the past three years:

State (all testers in your state; available for U.S. and U.S. Territories only)
Country (all testers in your country)
All Testers (domestic and international)

The percentiles that most people care about are the “All Testers” percentile ranks. Percentiles reflect the percentage of students at or below each score. In order to maintain a percentile rank achieved on the sophomore PSAT, a student must increase subsequent scores.

To Maintain Your Percentile Rank, You Must Improve Your Scores

For instance, 1140 on the PSAT in 10^th grade would place a student in the 88^thpercentile, but to maintain that position, the student would need to achieve 1250 on the junior PSAT and 1330 on the SAT—an increase of 190 points.

How to Improve Your Percentile Rank

The 88^th percentile means that 12% of students performed better than the student. If this student wanted to cut that percentage in half, ultimately ranking in the 94^th percentile, they would need to achieve 1410 on the SAT—a 270-point increase from the 10^th grade PSAT.

How do you improve your scores?

Scores tend to improve a bit as students mature, take these tests more seriously, and gain more content knowledge. But to gain the kind of score increases needed to improve percentile rank, most students require some form of prep. One-on-one tutoring, group classes, or self prep are all options. Practice tests are a key element of any prep program. We find that most students benefit from a slow and steady approach to prep.

The following table is designed to allow you to track user percentiles and scores from sophomore PSAT to the SAT.

Percentile	10th Grade PSAT	11th Grade PSAT	SAT	Percentile
99+	1420–1520	1490–1520	1570–1600	99+
99	1340–1410	1450–1480	1530–1560	99
98	1300–1330	1420–1440	1500–1520	98
97	1270–1290	1390–1410	1480–1490	97
96	1250–1260	1360–1380	1450–1470	96
95	1230–1240	1340–1350	1430–1440	95
94	1220	1320–1330	1410–1420	94
93	1200–1210	1310	1400	93
92	1190	1290–1300	1380–1390	92
91	1180	1280	1370	91
90	1170	1270	1350–1360	90
89	1150–1160	1260	1340	89
88	1140	1250	1330	88
87	1140	1240	1310–1320	87
86	1130	1230	1300	86
85	1120	1220	1290	85
84	1110	1210	1280	84
83	1100	1200	1270	83
82	1090	1190	1260	82
81	1090	1190	1250	81
80	1080	1180	1240	80
79	1070	1170	1230	79
78	1060	1160	1220	78
77	1060	1160	1220	77
76	1050	1150	1210	76
75	1040	1140	1200	75
74	1040	1140	1190	74
73	1030	1130	1180	73
72	1030	1120	1180	72
71	1020	1120	1170	71
70	1010	1110	1160	70
69	1010	1110	1150	69
68	1000	1100	1150	68
67	1000	1090	1140	67
66	990	1090	1130	66
65	980	1080	1130	65
64	980	1080	1120	64
63	970	1070	1110	63
62	970	1070	1110	62
61	960	1060	1100	61
60	960	1060	1090	60
59	950	1050	1090	59
58	950	1040	1080	58
57	940	1040	1080	57
56	940	1030	1070	56
55	930	1040	1060	55
54	930	1020	1060	54
53	920	1010	1050	53
52	920	1010	1040	52
51	910	1000	1040	51
50	910	1000	1030	50
49	900	990	1030	49
48	900	990	1020	48
47	890	980	1010	47
46	890	980	1010	46
45	880	970	1000	45
44	880	970	1000	44
43	870	960	990	43
42	870	950	980	42
41	860	950	980	41
40	860	940	970	40
39	850	940	960	39
38	850	930	960	38
37	840	930	950	37
36	840	920	940	36
35	840	910	940	35
34	830	910	930	34
33	830	900	930	33
32	820	900	920	32
31	820	890	910	31
30	810	890	910	30
29	810	880	900	29
28	800	870	890	28
27	800	870	890	27
26	790	860	880	26
25	790	860	870	25
24	790	850	870	24
23	780	840	860	23
22	780	840	850	22
21	770	830	850	21
20	770	820	840	20
19	760	820	830	19
18	760	810	830	18
17	750	800	820	17
16	750	800	810	16
15	740	790	810	15
14	740	780	800	14
13	730	780	790	13
12	730	770	780	12
11	720	760	780	11
10	710	750	770	10
9	710	740	760	9
8	700	730	750	8
7	690	730	740	7
6	680	710–720	730	6
5	670	700	720	5
4	650–660	690	710	4
3	630–640	670–680	690–700	3
2	600–620	640–660	670–680	2
1	510–590	560–630	620–660	1
1-	320–500	320–550	400–610	1-

SOURCES: College Board, SAT Understanding Scores 2022 and PSAT/NSMQT Understanding Scores 2022.

What do digital PSAT and SAT percentiles mean?

What are percentiles?

To Maintain Your Percentile Rank, You Must Improve Your Scores

How to Improve Your Percentile Rank

About Ash Kramer

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