Percentage is the score you got out of the total possible marks; percentile tells you how you performed relative to other candidates — the percentage of test-takers who scored at or below you.
These two numbers can look similar but mean very different things.
A straightforward calculation: (marks obtained ÷ total marks) × 100. It's fixed regardless of how anyone else performed.
A percentile of 90 means you scored better than (or equal to) 90% of everyone who took that exam — it depends entirely on the performance of the whole candidate pool, not just your raw score.
Two candidates can have the same percentage score on different exam sessions but very different percentiles, if one session's overall candidate pool performed better or worse. Competitive exams with large applicant pools, especially those with varying difficulty across sessions, often rely on percentile (or a normalized score) rather than raw percentage for fair ranking.
Last reviewed: September 2026