United States
Hong KongWhy your score misleads
A practice percentage is not comparable to a scaled score, is usually inflated by seen questions and untimed conditions, and may be weighted to the pre-2026 paper.
Four separate problems, and they all push the same way.
One: it is not the same kind of number
PTCB reports a scaled score with a pass at 1,400 on a 1,000 to 1,600 range. It does not publish the raw count that produces it, because scaling adjusts for form difficulty. Fix the conditions.
So there is no percentage to compare your percentage to. Anyone who tells you otherwise is converting between two things that do not convert.
Two: the questions were probably not new
A score on questions you have worked before measures recall of those questions. It is reliably higher than a score on unseen ones and the gap is large. Headroom is the defense.
Three: it was probably not properly timed
An untimed score measures a different exam. This paper allows about 73 seconds a question and roughly a fifth of it is arithmetic.
A bank written before 6 January 2026 gives Medications 40 percent and Federal Requirements 12.5, rather than 35 and 18.75. Scoring 85 percent on it means less than it appears, because it over-samples the domain you have probably over-prepared and under-samples the one that grew by half.
What to do instead of adjusting the number
Fix the conditions rather than discounting the score. Unseen questions, full length, properly timed, current weighting.
A trustworthy 78 percent is worth more than an untrustworthy 90, because you can act on it.
What a practice score is good for
- Comparing you against yourself over time
- Identifying which domain is weakest
- Testing whether you finish in the time
- Nothing that resembles predicting a scaled score
The readiness target
Ours is 80 percent of mock items, and it is ours rather than PTCB's. It sits deliberately above where we think the line falls, because a live form scales differently from a practice one and headroom is the only defense against that. They all push one way.
Common questions
Does my PTCB practice score predict my result?
No. PTCB reports a scaled score and publishes no percentage, so the two are not comparable.
Why is my practice score inflated?
Usually seen questions and untimed conditions, and sometimes an outdated weighting.
What should I do about it?
Fix the conditions rather than discounting the number. A trustworthy 78 beats an untrustworthy 90.
What is a practice score good for?
Tracking yourself over time, finding your weakest domain, and testing whether you finish.
What target should I use?
80 percent of mock items is ours, set above the likely line to build headroom.