The numerical scores from each section are added together to give a composite score. The score from the writing sample may also be appended to the composite score (e.g. 35S). The maximum composite score is 45T but any score over 30P is considered fairly competitive, as this is the average for matriculants to medical school.[7] There is no penalty for wrong multiple choice answers, and thus even random guessing is preferable to leaving an answer choice blank (unlike many other standardized tests). Students preparing for the exam are encouraged to try to balance their subscores; physical, verbal, and biological scores of 12, 13, and 11 respectively may be looked upon more favorably than 14, 13, and 9. (even though both tests amount to the same grade).

The standard deviation is 2.0-2.3 depending on the year and form of the exam.[8] For example, if a student received a 10, the mean being an 8 and the standard deviation being 2, then that student tested better than 84% of the students on that section.