Scaled Score or Percentile for Subject Tests?

Graduate School
1

<p>Would a 750 in Biochem+MCB be considered "worse" than a 800 in Bio
even though the percentile may tell a different story and the ETS admonishes
users about the misuse of the subject scaled score 'across different subject tests'?</p>

<p>Is the large magnitude difference for the same percentile range
in scaled score for e.g. 860-990 for GRE BIO compared to for e.g. 740-840 for GRE Biochem+MCB the reason BIO is more popular?</p>

<p>On discussions in the past admissions year, I noticed more students seemed
to have chosen the GRE BIO over GRE Biochem+MCB when they could have
done either.</p>

2

<p>Grad schools will look at the percentiles, not the scaled scores. Grad programs in biology are quite familiar with both tests, and will not compare them unfairly with each other. (Actually, they won’t compare them with much at all – the scores are optional at almost all schools.)</p>

<p>Speaking for myself, the reason I chose the Biology subject test over the MCB subject test was that the Biology test had more prep materials available. My impression was that it was also easier.</p>

3

<p>^^^ Thanks!</p>