Canadian grading system
Canada has no national grading scale: each province sets its school grades and each university its own GPA scale. At Simon Fraser University, a typical example, letter grades run from A+ (4.33, best) to F, and D is the lowest pass. Ontario high school marks: 0 to 100%, lowest pass 50%. British Columbia letter grades: A to F, lowest pass C−. Quebec marks: 0 to 100%, lowest pass 60%.
Example · Credit-weighted average of 3 courses
Between A and A+
Excellent either way: your institution’s rule on rounding decides which grade goes on your record. D is the lowest pass.
3 courses, 15 credits.
University letter grades: A+ to F (4.33 to 0)
Simon Fraser University in British Columbia; many other Canadian universities use similar A+ to F letters on a 4.3 or 4.33 scale. Each university sets its own points and percentages for these letters, so read the grading key printed on the transcript.
| Grade | Meaning | Pass? |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | excellent | Pass |
| A | excellent | Pass |
| A− | excellent | Pass |
| B+ | good | Pass |
| B | good | Pass |
| B− | good | Pass |
| C+ | satisfactory | Pass |
| C | satisfactory | Pass |
| C− | marginal | Pass |
| D | marginal, lowest pass | Pass |
| F | fail | Fail |
Ontario high school marks: 0 to 100%
Ontario schools, Grades 7 to 12; report cards show the percentage mark. The letter beside each range is the one Ontario's education ministry links to the same achievement level in Grades 1 to 6.
| Grade | Meaning | Marks | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|
| A+ | level 4+, above the provincial standard | 95–100% | Pass |
| A | level 4, above the provincial standard | 87–94% | Pass |
| A− | level 4−, above the provincial standard | 80–86% | Pass |
| B+ | level 3+, meets the provincial standard | 77–79% | Pass |
| B | level 3, meets the provincial standard | 73–76% | Pass |
| B− | level 3−, meets the provincial standard | 70–72% | Pass |
| C+ | level 2+, approaching the provincial standard | 67–69% | Pass |
| C | level 2, approaching the provincial standard | 63–66% | Pass |
| C− | level 2−, approaching the provincial standard | 60–62% | Pass |
| D+ | level 1+, well below the provincial standard | 57–59% | Pass |
| D | level 1, well below the provincial standard | 53–56% | Pass |
| D− | level 1−, well below the provincial standard | 50–52% | Pass |
| Below 50 | below level 1, no credit | 0–49% | Fail |
British Columbia letter grades: A to F
Courses numbered 10, 11 and 12 in British Columbia schools. Completing a Grade 10, 11 or 12 course takes at least a C−, and an F can only follow an earlier IE (insufficient evidence of learning) in the same course.
| Grade | Meaning | Marks | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | excellent or outstanding | 86–100% | Pass |
| B | very good | 73–85% | Pass |
| C+ | good | 67–72% | Pass |
| C | satisfactory | 60–66% | Pass |
| C− | minimally acceptable | 50–59% | Pass |
| F | failing | 0–49% | Fail |
Quebec marks: 0 to 100%
Quebec secondary schools and colleges (CEGEPs).
| Grade | Meaning | Marks | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60–100 | pass | 60–100% | Pass |
| 0–59 | fail | 0–59% | Fail |
Canadian grades and a US GPA
This page gives no US equivalents for Canadian 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 Canada
- Canadian universities do not share one GPA scale: McGill uses 4.0, Concordia and UQAM 4.3, the University of Manitoba 4.5, the University of Victoria 9 points and the University of Ottawa 10 points.
- Some universities, including the University of British Columbia, the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina, record percentages rather than letters.
- Ontario raised its top cut-offs in September 2010: an A+ had been 90–100% and an A 85–89%, so older Ontario transcripts read differently.
- An Ontario Grade 9 to 12 course earns its credit at 50% or more, and the final mark is 70% work during the course and 30% a final evaluation.
- At Simon Fraser University a cumulative GPA of 2.00 is needed to continue and to graduate, 3.00 for honours and 3.50 for a degree with distinction.
Sources: Wikipedia, Academic grading in Canada; Wikipedia, Grading systems by country: Canada; Simon Fraser University, Grading systems and policies; Ontario Ministry of Education, Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting in Ontario Schools; British Columbia Ministry of Education and Child Care, Provincial Letter Grades Order (M192/94).