You are probably familiar with the numerical MCAT scoring system, which ranges from 472-528. However, your MCAT score reporting will also include percentiles, which can help you interpret your numerical score.
These MCAT score percentiles explain how your score compares with all other people who are taking the MCAT. In some ways, this percentile is more meaningful than the actual numerical score. You can find your MCAT percentiles in your score report just like the one below.
Check out the link for an
What do MCAT score percentiles mean?
Like I said above, the percentile in the score report is a measure of how well your score compares with all other people who took the MCAT. It is NOT a measure of what percentage of questions you got right. For example, a 95th percentile score means that 95% of all test takers received the same score or lower.
In other words, a student that attains a 95th percentile score is in the top 5% of all test takers.
When the new MCAT was launched in 2015, there was a lot of concern about all the new content that would be tested. It’s true that the exam has changed. However, the goal of getting a high score has not.
One advantage of the is that we have hundreds of practice questions from each area, and we added an extra CARS section (that’s a total of 212 CARS questions!). Here, we show you the most recent score percentiles. These percentiles help medical schools compare you with other test takers.
New MCAT Percentiles for 2017-2018
Below are the MCAT percentiles, in effect from May 2017 through April 2018. There were 150,893 administrations of the MCAT from 2015 to 2016. The average total score was 500 and the standard deviation was 10.5.
| Total Score | Percentile | Total Score | Percentile | Total Score | Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 472 | <1 | 491 | 22 | 510 | 82 |
| 473 | <1 | 492 | 24 | 511 | 85 |
| 474 | <1 | 493 | 27 | 512 | 87 |
| 475 | <1 | 494 | 30 | 513 | 89 |
| 476 | 1 | 495 | 33 | 514 | 91 |
| 477 | 1 | 496 | 37 | 515 | 93 |
| 478 | 2 | 497 | 40 | 516 | 94 |
| 479 | 2 | 498 | 43 | 517 | 95 |
| 480 | 3 | 499 | 47 | 518 | 97 |
| 481 | 4 | 500 | 50 | 519 | 97 |
| 482 | 5 | 501 | 54 | 520 | 98 |
| 483 | 6 | 502 | 57 | 521 | 99 |
| 484 | 7 | 503 | 61 | 522 | 99 |
| 485 | 9 | 504 | 64 | 523 | 100 |
| 486 | 11 | 505 | 67 | 524 | 100 |
| 487 | 12 | 506 | 71 | 525 | 100 |
| 488 | 15 | 507 | 74 | 526 | 100 |
| 489 | 17 | 508 | 77 | 527 | 100 |
| 490 | 19 | 509 | 80 | 528 | 100 |
Old MCAT Percentiles
For comparison, you can check out the from previous years, as well as the old MCAT.
Do my MCAT score percentiles for the different sections matter?
It depends.
Medical schools want to see balanced performances on the MCAT. If your overall score was in the 99th percentile, and the different sections ranged from 97-99%, the MCAT score percentiles for each section probably are not as important.
As a contrasting example, let’s say you scored in the 80th percentile, with the following in each section:
- 99% for Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems
- 99% for Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems
- 40% for Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills
- 30% for Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior
That 80th percentile may not be as strong as one might think, because it raises red flags about the test taker’s abilities outside of science.
The point to take away is that you can’t rely on only one subject or section to help boost your overall score. In addition to a high score and percentile, balance is very important.
What score percentile should I try to get?
, 90% of applicants who matriculated to medical school in 2017-18 scored between 500 and 510. These equate to roughly the 50th percentile to the 80th percentile.
However, as mentioned in our “What is a good MCAT score?” post, the percentile that is “good” or “good enough” for you really depends on your goals and the rest of your application.
If you look closely at the MCAT score percentiles for both exams, you’ll notice that the distributions are close to that of a bell curve. This means that most students score close to average and few score particularly high or low.
To determine their target scores, most students will start by looking at the average score of matriculants to a certain medical school. For example, say a student was interested in NYU School of Medicine. The for the entering class is 519. On the new MCAT, this is a 97th percentile score. Logically, the student would then shoot for a 519 or higher on the MCAT.
More MCAT Resources
If you haven’t taken the MCAT yet, and want to get an idea of what percentile you would currently fall into, consider taking a practice test!
And for the rest of your study needs, check out the . Our MCAT prep contains over 300 video tutorials and over 700 online practice questions, to help you achieve your MCAT goals!
Happy studying! 🙂
A big thanks to MCAT blogger Ken for his contributions to this post!
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in February 2016 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
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