Students always get confused between percentage and percentile, as they sound similar, but they have different meanings from each other. Let me explain them one by one.
What is a percentage?
Percentage is a way to express a fraction of 100. It denotes how many makes you get out of 100. It gives a clear picture of your performance in each subject or exam.
How to calculate the percentage ?
Step 1: Add all the marks you have obtained.
Step 2: Find out the total marks for which examination is held.
Step 3: Now, put all the details in the formula and calculate the percentage.
Let’s take one quick example: Suppose you got the following marks in your examination:
physics : 85/100
chemistry: 75/100
Maths : 90/100
English: 65/100
Biology : 80/100
Calculation:
Step 1: Add up marks you obtained.
85+75+90+65+80=395
Step 2: Find out the total marks.
Since each subject is out of 100 marks, and you have 5 subjects, the total possible marks are:
100+100+100+100+100 = 500
Step 3: Calculate the percentage.
The formula to calculate the percentage is:
Percentage= (Marks you got / Total marks) x 100
= (395/500) x 100
= 79%
What does percentile mean?
Percentile is a comparison between the class of students who has given the same exam, it denotes how many students scored less than you. For example, if you got the 80th percentile, then you are ahead of 80% of students.
Percentile formula:
Percentile Rank = ((Number of Values Below x + 0.5) / Total Number of Values) × 100
How to Calculate Percentile?
Step 1: Arrange all the data sets in ascending order from 0 to 1.
Step 2: Count the number of values which are below your score of interest it means (x).
Step 3: Now add 0.5 to the count of values below rank.
Step 4: Divide your rank with the number of values you got .
Step 5: Multiply your result with 100 and get the percentile rank.
Let’s understand it in better manner with a example
Imagine you are taking an exam, and your total marks are 85 out of 100. There are 50 students in total, and here’s the data:
- Your score: 85
- Number of students: 50
- Number of students who scored less than you: 40
Now, we will calculate your percentile with some simple steps
Step1: Number of students who scored less than you = 40
Step 2:Total number of students = 50
Step 3 :Put all values in the formula
Percentile=(40/50)×100
=0.8×100
=80
Result: Your percentile is 80, which means you are ahead of 80% students who took the exam.
Different usages of percentile and percentage
Academics usage:
Percentage: it is commonly used in schools and colleges to evaluate performance in exams and in assignments.is easy to understand. You can calculate it with some simple steps.
Percentile: Percentile is more commonly used in the evaluation of competitive exams like JEE,NEET or CAT in these types of exams your rank matters more than your percentage. Many colleges choose a high percentile at the time of admission.
Importance in career:
Percentage and percentile both are important for career.so for good career choice you need to maintain both of them.
Percentage::
Good scores reflect good academic performance and good academic understanding of a particular subject. It will help you at the time of admission and for scholarship.
Percentile:
It denotes your ability to perform under competition. Percentile will help you to stand out in competitive exams and job placements. Usually college admissions authorities and employers consider percentile to measure students or employees potential.
That’s why a good percentage and percentile are really important. Both of them complement each other, and they provide a bunch of benefits in your academic and professional life.
Real Life Example for percentage and percentile
Let’s say you’re a student who appeared for an exam with the following details:
You have scores 85 marks out of Total 100 marks in your school exams .50 student appeared this exams and 40 student scored less than 85 marks now calculate percentage and percentile
Percentage calculation
Percentage= (Marks you got / Total marks) x 100
= (85 /100) x 100
= 85%
Percentile calculation
Step:1 Number of students who scored less than you = 40
Step: 2 Total number of students = 50
Step :3 Now put value in the formula and calculate percentile
Percentile =(40/50)×100
=0.8×100
=80
Result: Your percentile is 80