Meaning & use
cut off score
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
The lowest mark a person must reach on a test to pass, qualify or be accepted.
Grammar: Countable: the cut off score, a high cut off score.
Patterns
- cut off score for something
- cut off score of a number
The cut off score for the scholarship is eighty-five percent.
Our school raised its cut off score after more students applied.
She missed the cut off score by two points and had to retake the exam.
Word forms
| plural | cut off scores |
|---|
Common combinations
- meet the cut off score
- Only candidates who meet the cut off score will be interviewed.
- set a cut off score
- The committee set a cut off score of seventy.
- minimum cut off score
- The minimum cut off score changes every year.
- fall below the cut off score
- Applicants who fall below the cut off score are rejected.
- pass the cut off score
- He worked hard to pass the cut off score.
Synonyms and how they differ
- passing score
- It stresses the mark needed to pass a test, whereas cut off score can also decide admission or selection.
- threshold
- It is a broader word for any level that must be reached, not only a test result.
- cutoff mark
- This is the British form and means the same thing.
- benchmark
- It is a standard for comparison and not necessarily a minimum for passing.
Word family
Commonly confused: cut off score or average score?
cut off score vs average score
The average is the typical result of everyone. A cut off score is the minimum a person must reach.
Practice
The university will only consider applicants who reach the ____ of 1200 on the entrance test.
Choose one answer.
A cut off score is the minimum required. An average result describes what most people scored, which is not a requirement.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cut off score”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.