Question

Admission to dental school in Ontario requires that applicants take a standardized test, the DAT. Suppose for your year of application, 1000 students write the DAT. For one particular section of the DAT that requires you to perform a manual dexterity test, you score 63 marks (out of a possible 100), which represents the 73rd percentile. Which of the following statements is TRUE regarding the 73rd percentile?

Select one:

a. 730 people got 73 or better.

b. 270 people got 73 or better

c. 27% of the people got 73 or worse

d. 73% of the people got 63 or better.

e. 270 people got 63 or better.

Answer 1

If I scored 63 marks out of 100 and my marks are 73rd percentile in the test which was given by 1000 students in all then it means that my marks are ahead of 73% of the people. This means that my marks are better than 730 people who gave the test or 730 people out of 1000 scored less than 63.

This also means than 270 people which is the remaining number of students out of 1000 scored more than 63 i.e. who are ahead of me. Implying that 270 people got 63 or better.

Ans. e. 270 people got 63 or better.