How to read the percentile on your LGS result

Every late June our admissions phone rings with the same question: "My son's percentile is 1.8, is that good?" The short answer may be "yes", but the real question is which school and programme it is good for. In this post we explain how to read the percentile on the LGS result, in the order our guidance service uses with parents.

Score versus percentile

The score a student gets in the central exam of the high school transition system depends on how hard that year's exam was. In a hard year 450 points can be worth more than 470 in an easy one. The percentile shows where the student stands among everyone who sat the exam. A 1% percentile means the student is in the top one per cent nationwide.

That is why comparing years by percentile is more reliable than by score. A school's "cut-off percentile" is read the same way: the lowest percentile among students placed in or registered at that school that year.

A smaller number is better

The confusing part for first-time parents: with percentiles, a smaller number is better. 0.5% is a better percentile than 2%. If a school's cut-off is 0.6%, its "widest" student that year came from the top six in a thousand.

This is why the axis in our LGS tool is logarithmic. On a linear axis the gap between 0.1% and 0.5% would disappear next to the gap between 5% and 10%, yet at the top it is exactly these small differences that decide the order of choices.

A cut-off is a record, not a promise

There is no rule that last year's cut-off will stay the same. Three things that move it change every year:

Quota. When a school or programme takes more students, the cut-off usually widens.
Demand. A school that is popular one year sees its cut-off tighten; the next year it may be the opposite.
The exam itself. When the question mix changes, the same group of students can shift percentiles.

So look at the range of the last three years rather than a single year. If your percentile is better than the tightest of the three, you are comfortably inside; if it is slightly behind the widest, you are at the edge.

Central placement and private schools are separate processes

Some state schools admit students by the central exam score, following the Ministry of National Education's choice and placement calendar. Private schools admit students on their own registration calendar. A cut-off published by a private school is that school's own registration data, not the same thing as central placement results.

In practice many families run both processes at once. Writing the two calendars side by side on one sheet keeps the deadlines from getting mixed up. Check the current choice calendar every year in the Ministry's announcements.

Building your list

Write down the percentile with both decimal places.
Make three groups: schools you comfortably fit, schools at the edge, and dream schools.
Visit in person. Two schools with the same cut-off can be very different in class size, weekly hours and culture.
Ask your child. They will spend four years there. Notice whether they look at the lab, the debate room or the sports field.

Scholarships and percentiles

Many private schools award scholarships by percentile too. Check how long the scholarship lasts and what keeps it going. A four-year scholarship tied to the year-end average and one given only for the first year make a large difference to the total cost. Ask for the conditions in writing.

Our LGS tool shows our scholarship bands and past cut-offs on the same axis. It does not give an official placement result; it only shows where your percentile stands against past years. The rest is a conversation we will have together.