What your percentile score means

It is a ranking, not a grade. It does not say you got 70 marks out of 100, and it does not say you are 70 per cent open. It says where you sit in the crowd. Once that clicks, your results become much easier to read. You can see percentiles in action on the Big Five personality test.

These two words look alike and mean very different things.

• A percentage is a share of something. Seventy per cent on an exam means you got seventy of the hundred marks.
• A percentile is a position. The 70th percentile means you are ahead of seventy in every hundred people.

A useful picture: imagine a big crowd of people lined up from the lowest score to the highest. Your percentile is how far along that line you are standing. The 50th percentile is the middle of the queue. The 95th is near the front. The 5th is near the back.

Raw scores on their own do not tell you much. If you answered "agree" to most of the statements about organisation, is that a lot? It depends on how everyone else answered. Many people agree with flattering statements, so a raw score that looks high might be completely ordinary.

A percentile solves that. It compares your answers with other people's, so it tells you something real: how you differ from other people. That is the whole point of a personality result. Nobody needs a test to tell them they are human. What is interesting is where you stand out.

Personality traits are spread out the way height is. Most people sit in the broad middle, and fewer sit at either end. So a rough guide:

• Near the top (around the 80th and above): this trait is a defining feature of yours. People who know you probably notice it.
• Above the middle (around the 60th to 80th): a clear lean. You show this trait more than most people, though not in every situation.
• The middle (around the 40th to 60th): you are flexible on this trait. You can go either way depending on the day and the setting.
• Below the middle (around the 20th to 40th): a clear lean the other way.
• Near the bottom (around the 20th and below): the opposite of this trait is a defining feature of yours.

On the Big Five, a score between the 45th and 55th percentile is marked as close to the middle, because small differences there do not change much in daily life.

This is the most important thing to know. On a personality trait, a low percentile is not a failing mark. It is simply the other end of the dial, and both ends have real strengths.

• Low extraversion means you go deep rather than wide, and you are comfortable in your own company. See the extraversion page.
• Low agreeableness means you will say the awkward true thing and hold your ground in a negotiation. See the agreeableness page.
• Low emotional sensitivity means you stay steady when everyone else is rattled. See the emotional sensitivity page.
• Low conscientiousness means you are flexible, spontaneous and rarely thrown when plans change.

The same is true of high scores. A very high percentile is a strength in the right setting and a stretch in the wrong one. Very high conscientiousness gets the project finished and can make a lazy Sunday feel impossible.

Some of our tests use percentiles to give you a label as well as a number. The introvert or extrovert test is a good example. Below the 35th percentile you are an introvert, from the 35th to the 65th you are an ambivert, and above the 65th you are an extrovert. The label is the headline. The percentile tells you how strongly it applies.

So two people can both be introverts, one at the 10th percentile and one at the 33rd, and have quite different weekends. The number keeps that difference visible.

• Can my percentile change? Yes. Your answers can shift as your life changes, and if you retake a test some time later you may land in a different place.
• Is a high percentile better? Not on a personality trait. It is a description, not a ranking of worth.
• Why does my friend score higher with similar answers? Small differences in a few answers can move a percentile, especially near the middle where many people cluster.
• What does the 50th percentile mean? You are right in the middle of everyone who took the test, which on most traits is exactly where a great many people sit.

Read your highest and lowest percentiles first. They are the parts of your personality other people will notice most. Then look at anything near the middle: those are the traits where you have the most flexibility, and often the most choice about how you show up.

When you are ready, take the Big Five personality test and see where you stand on all five traits.