Embodiments of a station (STA), access point (AP) and method for rate adaption are generally described herein. The STA may receive a medium access control protocol data unit (MPDU) encoded in accordance with a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS). The STA may detect bit errors of the MPDU based on a comparison between the received MPDU and the decoded MPDU. The STA may determine an MCS reception margin parameter based at least partly on a comparison between a number of detected bit errors and a predetermined threshold of bit errors. The STA may transmit a block acknowledgement (BA) frame that includes the MCS reception margin parameter. The MCS reception margin parameter may enable a rate adaptation, from the first MCS to a second MCS for a subsequent MPDU for the STA.