Percentile Rank in Official Practice Test

Hello, smurphy93. I see nothing out of the ordinary with those percentiles, given your performance (even if a Q48 on the actual GMAT™ is currently reported as a 67th-percentile scaled score). You have to think of it as a trial involving multiple steps—in this case, two, since your performance in Quant and Verbal is the only factor in determining your total score. By way of comparison, on a two-question test consisting of True or False answers, it might be true that any given test-taker would have a 50 percent chance of guessing the correct answer to either question, but one half times one half is only one quarter, and something similar is at work with your practice exam.

Two things to keep in mind are that 1) the total score is NOT based on your section scores (or else everyone with the same section scores would earn the same total score, and that is not the case); and 2) you should not focus too much on percentiles, just as you said at the end of your post. The only percentile that carries weight is the one next to your total score—an 85th-percentile performance should be right around a 690, slightly under a 700—but that percentile pales in comparison to the actual score. (No MBA programs report percentiles.)

As an immediate goal, see if you can reach into the 700s in your next attempt. Such a score can really open a few doors. Good luck.

- Andrew