Quantitative Literacy Practice Exam 2026 – Comprehensive Preparation Guide

The term that refers to the percentage of data values that are less than or equal to a given value is percentile. In statistics, a percentile is a measure used to indicate the value below which a certain percentage of observations in a group of observations falls. For example, the 50th percentile (also known as the median) represents the value below which 50% of the data lies. This concept is widely used in various fields such as education, health, and social sciences to assess relative standing compared to a larger dataset.

Quartiles, while related to percentiles, specifically divide the dataset into four equal parts and provide information about the distribution but do not express data in terms of percentage for a specific value. The median is primarily the middle value of a dataset and does not indicate the percentage below it. The range measures the difference between the highest and lowest values in a dataset and does not express any positional significance in terms of percentage. Hence, percentile is the most accurate term for describing the portion of data that falls below a specified value.