Japanese grading system
In Japan, university grades run from S (best) to F, and C is the lowest pass.
Example · Credit-weighted average of 3 courses
Between A and S
優 (very good) or 秀 (excellent): your institution’s rule on rounding decides which grade goes on your record. C is the lowest pass.
3 courses, 15 credits.
University grades: S to F
Undergraduate and graduate courses at Japanese universities. These are the grade points of the common GPA method, as the University of Miyazaki describes it. Miyazaki itself works out each course's grade point from the mark, (mark − 54.5) ÷ 10, so an 80 counts 2.55; the transcript legend gives each university's own.
| Grade | On the transcript | Meaning | Marks | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | 秀 | excellent | 90–100% | Pass |
| A | 優 | very good | 80–89% | Pass |
| B | 良 | good | 70–79% | Pass |
| C | 可 | pass | 60–69% | Pass |
| F | 不可 | fail | 0–59% | Fail |
Japanese grades and a US GPA
This page gives no US equivalents for Japanese 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 Japan
- Each university sets its own scale, and some have no 秀 (S), so 優 (A) covers every mark from 80 to 100; where 秀 exists it is rarely given.
- The GPA is the credit-weighted average of the grade points; in the common method 秀 counts 4 and 不可 counts 0.
- Some transcripts show 認 (nin) or 合 (gō) for credit given without a grade, for example after a credit transfer, and such courses stay out of the GPA.
- A bachelor's degree needs at least 124 credits, and one credit stands for 45 hours of study including preparation and review.
- Most high schools grade each subject from 5 (best) to 1.
Sources: Wikipedia, Academic grading in Japan; University of Miyazaki, GPA（厳正な成績評価の推進）.