CUET Marks vs Percentile: How to Estimate Your Ranking
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After appearing for the CUET exam, aspirants often wonder what actually is the difference between marks and percentile. Percentile indicates the percentage of students who have scored lower than you or equal to you; it does not reflect your percentage. While the Marks indicate the raw score which is calculated by giving 5 marks to correct answers and deducting 1 marks for a wrong answer. Understanding this difference helps students estimate their ranking, predict admission chances and plan for the upcoming counselling and seat allocation rounds. Scroll through the page to know the complete detail on CUET marks and percentile.
What is CUET Percentile?
In the CUET exam percentile is a way to measure a candidate's performance of a candidate with the others who appeared for the entrance. This does not show you how much percentile a candidate has himself scored but shows how many candidates have scored less than you or equal to you. Lets understand this with an example: a 95 percentile means you performed better than 95% of the candidates who appeared for the entrance. This percentile is important during the admissions because it adjusts the scores across different examination shifts and difficulty levels to ensure a transparent comparison.
How CUET Percentile is Calculated?
Candidates must know the way to calculate their percentile in order to know how actually they have performed in the exam as compared to others. The way to calculate is really simple and the formula for calculation is given below.
CUET Percentile Calculation Formula
Percentile (P) = m/N× 100
m = Number of candidates with score < Your Score in the session.
N = Total number of candidates in the session.
For example, suppose a total of 10,000 candidates appeared in a CUET exam session. Out of these, 8,500 candidates scored less than your score..
Using the formula given for calculation
Where:
- m = 8,500 (number of candidates with score less than yours)
- N = 10,000 (total number of candidates in the session)
Percentile = (8,500 ÷ 10,000) × 100 = 85
This means your CUET percentile is 85, which shows that you scored better than 85% of the candidates in that session.
CUET Marks vs Percentile Table
CUET aspirants can check the table given below to understand the approx relation between the marks and percentile. This table gives a general idea of how different scores may translate into percentiles.
| CUET Percentile vs Marks Table | |
| Marks (Out of 300) | Approx. Percentile |
| 290+ | 99.9 |
| 270–289 | 99.5–99.8 |
| 250–269 | 98–99.4 |
| 230–249 | 95–97.9 |
| 200–229 | 90–94.9 |
| 170–199 | 80–89.9 |
| 140–169 | 70–79.9 |
| 100–139 | 50–69.9 |
| Below 100 | Below 50 |
Factors Affecting CUET Percentile
CUET is conducted in multiple sessions so shift-wise normalization is applied to ensure fair comparison between all candidates. Several factors that may affect a candidate’s percentile in the CUET exam, not just the marks scored. One major factor is the difficulty level of the question paper in exam shift. If an exam shift is difficult students may get a higher percentile even with slightly lower marks. Another important factor is the number of candidates appeared in that session, as percentile is based on relative performance.. The overall performance of students in your session also plays a role, as percentile depends on how others scored compared to you.
How CUET Percentile Influences University Admissions
An an exam aspirants percentile in the Common University Entrance Test directly plays a role in admission for Universities as it is generally used to prepare the merit lists and cut-offs after the exam. In top government universities such as DU, JNU, and BHU candidates with very high percentiles around 99th percentile may secure a seat in their preferred courses. While Students with relatively lower percentiles around 90th percentile may get admission in other central, state or private university. Since the CUET entrance is held in multiple sessions, percentiles are calculated after adjusting for exam difficulty and session differences to ensure fair comparison for the aspirants. Understanding your CUET percentile helps you judge your admission chances and choose the best universities wisely.