The standardized score is a statistical tool that allows comparison of related quantities that are normally distributed. A very good use is test scores. When a student wishes to compare their own results with everybody elses, they may stanaridize their scores to find the percentile in which they lie.
Suppose one student recorded his marks in a set of exams and collected the mean and standard deviation of all the other marks of the other students.
Subject |
Score, |
Mean, |
Standard Deviation, |
Maths |
78 |
72 |
10 |
English |
80 |
83 |
12 |
Physics |
65 |
70 |
15 |
Chemistry |
80 |
60 |
10 |
Biology |
79 |
65 |
17 |
The standard score is given by
For mathsFrom tables, 72.57% of scores were lower.
For englishFrom tables, 59.87% of scores were lower.
For physicsFrom tables, 62.8% of scores were lower.
For chemistryFrom tables, 97.72% of scores were lower.
For biologyFrom tables, 79.49% of scores were lower.
In order of decreasing performance his results were chemistry, biology, maths, physics and english.