A 7 in the Netherlands is not a 70%. A 2.5 in Germany is not a 2.5 in the US. Every country's grades carry a grading culture along with a scale 鈥?and converting without knowing that culture produces numbers that look wrong to the people reading them. Each guide here explains the system, then gives the honest conversion range.
German grades run 1.0 (best) to 4.0 (pass), 5.0 (fail) 鈥?the opposite direction of a US GPA. The modified Bavarian formula is the standard conversion; the bands around it matter for admissions.
Read the guide 1鈥?0 路 6 is a passDutch grades cluster between 6 and 8 because 9s and 10s are almost never given. A Dutch 8 is a genuinely strong result 鈥?convert with that culture in mind, not a linear 80%.
Read the guide 20-point 路 10 is a passFrench university grades are marked out of 20 with 10 as the pass line, and the average is closer to 12 than to 14. A French 12 is solid work, not a 60%.
Read the guide 10-point CGPAIndian transcripts carry CGPA on a 10-point scale, percentages, or both. Linear, WES-style and UGC percentage routes read differently 鈥?and institution practice varies a lot.
Read the guide 100-pointChinese universities grade out of 100 with 60 as the pass line and 85+ as strong work. The 梅25 shortcut, the common 90/85/80 bands and the 鍖椾含澶у 4.0 algorithm give three different answers.
Read the guideIn the Netherlands a 7 is solid, respectable work 鈥?a "good". Treating it as 70% and mapping that to a US C would badly understate the same transcript.
German grades run the other way: 1.0 is the best you can get and 4.0 is the minimum pass. A 2.5 is comfortably in the "good" band, not a middle-of-the-road 2.5.
That is why every country guide here converts three ways 鈥?the simple rule of thumb, a WES-style band mapping, and a country-specific approach 鈥?and labels each. Evaluators (WES, ECE and their peers) read the transcript, the institution and the grading culture together, and their output varies by institution. No single published table is authoritative; the range is the honest answer.
Grades aren't the only thing that needs translating. When your transcript carries ECTS, convert European credits to US credits in the same pass.
Figures last verified August 2026 路 Band tables are reconstructions of common practice, not official WES output; WES results are course-by-course and institution-specific