A 317 sits just above the average for most graduate fields. That makes it workable, and it makes the next few points unusually cheap.
A 317 sits just above the average for most graduate fields, which is a comfortable but not commanding position. The upside is that points are still cheap here in a way they stop being in the 330s.
Solid rather than strong. A 317 is ahead of most field averages, and close enough to the next band that a few points still visibly changes it.
A 317 is a sum, and admissions committees do not read sums. They read a Verbal score with its own percentile and a Quant score with its own, which is why two applicants with identical totals can look nothing alike.
The distance between the best and worst version of a 317 is the difference between the 17th and 99th percentile on a section. That is not a rounding detail, it is a different application.
An even 317 means 159V and 158Q, and those land at the 80th and 45th percentiles. The asymmetry catches people out constantly — it comes from who takes the test, not from how it is scored.
A 317 is above the reported average in all 8 fields, from Physical Sciences at 314 down to Education at 301. No field average is a constraint on this score.
Do not treat any of these as a cut-off. A field average is a description of who applied, not a rule about who gets in, and every discipline admits well below its own mean.
The single most useful decision from a 317 is which section to fix. Splitting your study time evenly is the default, and it is almost always wrong — one section is further from your field's expectation, and that is the one worth the hours.
At a balanced 317 the Quant half sits lower in percentile terms, and that is normally where the accessible points are — the crowd is less dense around it.
The stack that works: targeted verbal or quant drilling, a two-month plan, and timed practice tests to confirm the gains survive the clock.
The one thing worth checking at a 317 is whether the split fits the field. The GRE percentile calculator gives the real percentile for each section, which is what your programme is looking at.
Check your section percentilesWorth considering, with a condition: name the section and the target before you book. A 317 responds well to focused work and poorly to another general pass through the material.
The comparison to make is section against field average, not total against rule of thumb. If both halves are close to par, another sitting buys very little.
Work out your field's average Verbal and Quant, then aim at the specific gap. A general retake at this level tends to reproduce the same score.
The total is mostly an administrative convenience. What varies — and what gets read — is the section score, which at a 317 can sit anywhere from the 17th to the 99th percentile.
You get two percentiles, not one. A 159 Verbal is the 80th; a 158 Quant is the 45th. ETS deliberately does not combine them.
Yes. There is no field in the ETS data where a 317 sits below the average admitted score.
Balanced it is 159/158. The extremes are 147/170 and 170/147, which is why the split is worth stating on an application.