Cameroonian grading system
In Cameroon, university courses in both the francophone and the anglophone subsystems are marked out of 100 and graded A+ (90–100) to F (0–29) under the national LMD order, and 50 (grade C) is the lowest pass. GCE Ordinary Level subjects, in the anglophone subsystem, are graded A to U, and C is the lowest pass. University of Yaoundé II grades: A to F (0 to 100), lowest pass 50.
Example · Credit-weighted average of 3 courses
Very good, 3.70 points
A pass: 80–89% of the marks. 50 is the lowest pass.
3 courses, 15 credits. Your institution’s own rules on rounding or cutting off decimals decide the grade on your record.
University grades: A+ to F (0 to 100)
Bachelor’s, master’s and PhD courses at universities and higher-education institutions in Cameroon, under the Ministry of Higher Education’s LMD order of 28 January 2018. The order also gives each grade as a mark out of 20 (A+ 18–20 down to C 10–11) and prints shared boundaries such as 80–90 and 90–100; a mark on a boundary is shown here in the higher grade, as the pass at exactly 50 requires. Depending on the university, a course marked 35–49 can still earn credit as “compensatory”.
| Grade | Meaning | Marks | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|
| A+ | excellent, 4.00 points | 90–100% | Pass |
| A | very good, 3.70 points | 80–89% | Pass |
| B+ | good, 3.30 points | 70–79% | Pass |
| B | fairly good, 3.00 points | 65–69% | Pass |
| B− | fairly good, 2.70 points | 60–64% | Pass |
| C+ | averagely good, 2.30 points | 55–59% | Pass |
| C | average, 2.00 points | 50–54% | Pass |
| C− | below average, 1.70 points | 45–49% | Fail |
| D | poor, 1.30 points | 40–44% | Fail |
| E | very poor, 1.00 point | 30–39% | Fail |
| F | fail, 0.00 points | 0–29% | Fail |
University of Yaoundé II grades: A to F (0 to 100)
Course units at the Faculty of Economics and Management (FSEG) of the University of Yaoundé II. Each course unit is marked out of 100; the semester average (MGP) is the credit-weighted average of the grade points, out of 4. The Faculty of Arts, Letters and Social Sciences of the University of Yaoundé I prints the same marks, letters and points, and calls C− to D “capitalisé mais non transférable”.
| Grade | On the transcript | Meaning | Marks | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | très bien | very good, 4.00 points | 80–100% | Pass |
| A− | bien | good, 3.70 points | 75–79% | Pass |
| B+ | bien | good, 3.30 points | 70–74% | Pass |
| B | assez-bien | fairly good, 3.00 points | 65–69% | Pass |
| B− | assez-bien | fairly good, 2.70 points | 60–64% | Pass |
| C+ | passable | pass, 2.30 points | 55–59% | Pass |
| C | passable | pass, 2.00 points | 50–54% | Pass |
| C− | insuffisant | insufficient, 1.70 points; credits kept but not transferable | 45–49% | Fail |
| D+ | insuffisant | insufficient, 1.30 points; credits kept but not transferable | 40–44% | Fail |
| D | insuffisant | insufficient, 1.00 point; credits kept but not transferable | 35–39% | Fail |
| E | échec | fail, 0.00 points | 30–34% | Fail |
| F | échec | fail, 0.00 points | 0–29% | Fail |
GCE O Level grades: A to U
The General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level in the anglophone subsystem, set by the Cameroon GCE Board. The Board counts grades A to C as passes in its results; D, E and U are below the pass.
| Grade | Meaning | Pass? |
|---|---|---|
| A | highest pass | Pass |
| B | pass | Pass |
| C | lowest pass | Pass |
| D | below the pass | Fail |
| E | below the pass | Fail |
| U | lowest grade, below the pass | Fail |
Cameroonian grades and a US GPA
This page gives no US equivalents for Cameroonian grades: we found no table for them on Wikipedia or from an official source, and we do not make one up. A US university reads a foreign transcript itself or through the credential evaluation service it names, and its conversion is the one that counts.
Send your grades as they are, with the scale above. When a form asks for your average, give it on your own scale and say which scale it is: the converter’s average does exactly that, weighted by credits when you enter them.
What to know about grades in Cameroon
- Cameroon runs two secondary subsystems: the anglophone one ends with the GCE Ordinary and Advanced Levels, the francophone one with the baccalauréat, and the GCE Advanced Level and the baccalauréat are the two main entrance qualifications for higher education.
- Under the 2018 order a course earns its credits at 50 out of 100; depending on the university, a course marked 35–49 can earn credit as “compensatory”, and the transcript says so.
- A bachelor’s degree needs at least 180 credits and a master’s at least 120, and the 4-point grade point average is used to rank students, not to decide whether they move up a level.
- At the University of Yaoundé I’s Faculty of Arts, Letters and Social Sciences, moving on to the second year of the master’s needs all 60 first-year credits and a weighted average of at least 2.4 out of 4.
- GCE Ordinary Level candidates take at least six subjects, including English Language, French and Mathematics, and the Advanced Level is open to holders of pass grades in at least four Ordinary Level subjects.
Sources: University of Buea, Thesis and Dissertation Guide 2021 (Order N°18/00035/MINESUP/SG/DDES/DAJ of 28 January 2018); University of Yaoundé II, Guide pratique des études, FSEG 2022–2023; University of Yaoundé I, Projet de programmes de la Faculté des Arts, Lettres et Sciences Humaines; Cameroon GCE Board, 2023 Ordinary Level Subject Report; Cameroon GCE Board, GCE Ordinary Level; Cameroon GCE Board, GCE Advanced Level; Wikipedia, Education in Cameroon.