Colombian grading system
In Colombia, university grades run from 5.0 (best) to 0.0, and 3.0 is the lowest pass. School performance levels: Superior to Bajo, lowest pass Básico.
Example · Credit-weighted average of 3 courses
sobresaliente (outstanding)
A pass. 3.0 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.
Wikipedia’s US table gives letters, not points, so it cannot average these grades: check them one at a time.
University grades: 0.0 to 5.0
Undergraduate and graduate courses at Colombian universities. Universities print the number only; the words are the ones Colombian schools attach to the same ranges.
| Grade | On the transcript | Meaning | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.5–5.0 | excelente | excellent | Pass |
| 4.0–4.4 | sobresaliente | outstanding | Pass |
| 3.5–3.9 | bueno | good | Pass |
| 3.0–3.4 | aceptable | acceptable | Pass |
| 0.0–2.9 | insuficiente | insufficient (fail) | Fail |
School performance levels: Superior to Bajo
Primary and secondary schools, which must show how their own grading scale matches these four national levels. Each school sets the numbers behind each level, so the cut-offs differ from school to school.
| Grade | On the transcript | Meaning | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Superior | desempeño superior | superior performance | Pass |
| Alto | desempeño alto | high performance | Pass |
| Básico | desempeño básico | basic performance, the minimum to pass | Pass |
| Bajo | desempeño bajo | low performance (fail) | Fail |
Colombian grades in US terms
Wikipedia’s table reads the university grades on the US scale as below. It is one convention, not a rule: each US university, or the credential evaluation service it names, makes its own conversion, so the school you apply to decides what your grades are worth.
| Colombian grade | US letter |
|---|---|
| 4.5–5.0 | A |
| 4.0–4.4 | A– |
| 3.5–3.9 | B+, B |
| 3.0–3.4 | C, C– |
| 0.0–2.9 | D, F |
What to know about grades in Colombia
- Since Decreto 1290 of 2009, every Colombian school sets its own grading scale, most often 1 to 5 with one decimal, and must state how it matches the national levels Superior, Alto, Básico and Bajo.
- Schools that grade from 0 to 10 usually require 6 to pass, the equivalent of 3.0 on the 5-point scale.
- Many schools no longer give grades below 1.0.
Sources: Wikipedia, Grading systems by country: Colombia; Wikipedia (Spanish), Calificación escolar: Colombia; Función Pública (Government of Colombia), Decreto 1290 de 2009.