raw score to percetile conversion

I am unsure how to convert a raw CLEP score to a percentile.

I see many of you stating " I received a 72 score putting me in the 98% percentile..." as an example.

How did you get from 72 to 98%?

Boomer

 

You can't tell without knowing the distribution of the norm group.

If you took 100 test-takers, gave them the exam, then ranked their scores from lowest to highest, each one would represent one percentile. The 98th percentile would be the one with 98 test-takers below it. But you wouldn't know the exact score.

What ETS does (to make it mystical and confusing, thus making them seem more academic) is take the raw scores and distribute them around a 20-80 scale, with the median and mean at 50. That means you don't even know what a score of 72 actually equates to in raw score, and you don't know what the percentile ranking is (unless the score is 50, in which case the percentile would also be 50).

The idea is to compare scores across year groups, so a similar effort will result in a similar score. The raw score is given as a "normed" score (20-80), which relates to a percentile. So, as the test changes--and, thus--average scores change--a similar effort will result in a similar score, even if the exact number of right/wrong answers is different. Confused? If so, don't worry. It is just how ETS wants it.

 

I understand the theory. I simply want to know where to assess the control data in order to calculate my percentile.

Thanks!

Boomer

 

In the back of the official CLEP guide it list percentiles with scores and, I believe, standard deviations.

For DANTES I have a link that would prove to be of some help, but it must be saved on my laptop. I'll try and find it later.

 

ah thanks....

I dont own any CLEP study books so i guess i need to goto the bookstore =)

Will look forward to the post.

Thanks much.

Boomer