Spanish grading system
In Spain, university grades run from 10.0 (best) to 0.0, and 5.0 is the lowest pass. School grades: 0 to 10, lowest pass 5.
Example · Credit-weighted average of 3 courses
notable (NT) (very good)
A pass. 5.0 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.
University grades: 0.0 to 10.0
Subjects in bachelor's and master's degrees at Spanish universities. Matrícula de honor (MH) is a distinction a university may add to a grade of 9.0 or more.
| Grade | On the transcript | Meaning | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9.0–10 | sobresaliente (SB) | outstanding | Pass |
| 7.0–8.9 | notable (NT) | very good | Pass |
| 5.0–6.9 | aprobado (AP) | pass | Pass |
| 0–4.9 | suspenso (SS) | fail | Fail |
School grades: 0 to 10
Compulsory secondary school (ESO) and Bachillerato. Bachillerato grades are whole numbers from 0 to 10. In ESO the official assessment records use the words insuficiente, suficiente, bien, notable and sobresaliente, and some regions add the number.
| Grade | On the transcript | Meaning | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9–10 | sobresaliente (SB) | outstanding | Pass |
| 7–8 | notable (NT) | very good | Pass |
| 6 | bien (BI) | good | Pass |
| 5 | suficiente (SU) | sufficient | Pass |
| 0–4 | insuficiente (IN) | insufficient | Fail |
Spanish grades and a US GPA
This page gives no US equivalents for Spanish 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 Spain
- Matrícula de honor can go only to students with 9.0 or more, and to no more than 5% of those enrolled in a subject, or a single student when fewer than 20 are enrolled.
- A university average is weighted by credits: each grade is multiplied by its credits, and the sum is divided by the total credits earned.
- University grades are written with one decimal, and the word (aprobado, notable, sobresaliente) may be printed next to the number.
- Some transcripts also give an average on a 1 to 4 scale, where aprobado counts 1, notable 2, sobresaliente 3 and matrícula de honor 4.
- Grades measure how much of the course content a student has mastered rather than rank in the class, so low pass rates are not unusual, especially in science and engineering.
Sources: Wikipedia, Academic grading in Spain; Wikipedia, Grading systems by country: Spain; Boletín Oficial del Estado, Real Decreto 1125/2003, article 5: grading system; Boletín Oficial del Estado, Real Decreto 217/2022, article 31: ESO assessment records.