Why are the math 2 and physics percentiles so messed up?

<p>I was looking over some percentiles on college board, it seems that an 800 on math II is only 85th percentile, and an 800 on physics is only 90th percentile, heck if you get a 700 on math 2 which I would consider not stellar, but decent, it's already 50th percentile. I'm well aware both physics and math II have extremely generous curves, but don't you think college board would be inclined to recenter the scores? Right now it almost seems like you're not a competitive math/engineering applicant if you don't have that 800 on Math II, and colleges can't accurately judge you, can anyone give me insight as to why they would do this?</p>

<p>The collegeboard has a tendency of letting these percentiles become inflated over time. I don’t know if they ever were not inflated. I think collegeboard should recenter scores too. Math II and Physics are typically hard content wise. There are plenty of raw score points available to make an 800 the 99%.</p>

<p>Recentering scores is a big hassle though. They will constantly have to remind colleges that scores from past years are not comparable.</p>

<p>I feel like the biology scores were re centered recently, I got a 710 bio E score freshman year, and when I first checked after the test I could have sworn it was 83rd percentile, but I checked back recently to see it was only 77th percentile, does that make my score less valuable, Did I actually see this? Yet apparently my 710 on bio is more valuable than my 750 on chemistry because that is only 73rd percentile W T F? Also, say I get an 800 on math 2 now, and then they recenter it so that only the 95th percentile get 800s, will that make my score more valuable, kind of like investing in stock?</p>

<p>It will not make your score more valuable because the re-centered 800 would mean higher ability than the older 800. The new scores would not be comparable to the old scores. It’s a big deal to re-center scores. </p>

<p>Also, changes in percentile rank do not by themselves indicate re-centering. That just means the groups taking the tests recently are more proficient than earlier groups.</p>

<p>So in theory it could work for you, like all of a sudden the group becomes less proficient and an 800 is 95th percentiale?</p>