Hungarian grading system
In Hungary, school and university grades run from 5 (best) to 1, and 2 is the lowest pass. Érettségi grades: 0 to 100%, lowest pass 25%.
Example · Weighted average of 3 courses
Between 4 and 5
jó (good) or jeles (excellent): your school’s or university’s rules decide which grade goes on your record. 2 is the lowest pass.
3 courses, weights adding up to 15.
School and university grades: 5 to 1
Primary schools from year 2, secondary schools and universities. Report cards and final course grades show whole numbers only.
| Grade | On the transcript | Meaning | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | jeles | excellent | Pass |
| 4 | jó | good | Pass |
| 3 | közepes | satisfactory | Pass |
| 2 | elégséges | sufficient | Pass |
| 1 | elégtelen | insufficient | Fail |
Érettségi grades: 0 to 100%
The érettségi school-leaving exam at standard level (középszint). At advanced level (emelt szint) the limits are lower: 60% for a 5, 47% for a 4, 33% for a 3 and 25% for a 2.
| Grade | On the transcript | Meaning | Marks | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | jeles | excellent | 80–100% | Pass |
| 4 | jó | good | 60–79% | Pass |
| 3 | közepes | satisfactory | 40–59% | Pass |
| 2 | elégséges | sufficient | 25–39% | Pass |
| 1 | elégtelen | insufficient | 0–24% | Fail |
Hungarian grades and a US GPA
This page gives no US equivalents for Hungarian 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 Hungary
- Teachers mark tests with in-between grades such as 4/5, which sits between 4 and 5, but report cards show whole grades only.
- Pupils in the first year of primary school get a written evaluation instead of grades.
- Some university courses are graded on a three-step scale instead: kiválóan megfelelt (passed with distinction), megfelelt (passed) and nem felelt meg (failed).
- The érettségi certificate records both the grade and the percentage, because universities count the percentage when they work out admission points.
- Schools also grade behaviour and diligence, on a scale from 5 down to 2.
Sources: Wikipedia, Academic grading in Hungary; Wikipedia, Grading systems by country: Hungary; Hungarian Wikipedia, Érettségi vizsga.