Grading Scale: Percentage to Letter Grade Chart

Find your percentage and read across: the letter on the three common US scales, the GPA points it earns and whether it passes. Print it, or tap a row to share it: 75, 86 and 93 each have their own link. Anything below 50 is an F on every scale.

Have a score out of a number of questions instead of a percentage? Pick the test length: each chart turns every score into a percent and its letter on these three scales, shows how many right each letter needs, and prints free. 16 out of 20, for example, is 80%, a B on the 10 point scale, a B- with pluses and minuses and a C on the 7 point scale.

Most US colleges and many high schools split each letter into three. The top three points of a band earn a plus, the bottom three a minus and the middle four the plain letter: 87 to 89 is a B+, 83 to 86 a B and 80 to 82 a B-. The A band has no plus on this scale and runs 93 to 100. The sign changes your GPA, not whether you pass: a C- is still a C for most purposes, except where a course needs "C or better".

The 10 point grading scale gives every letter a band of 10 percentage points: A 90 to 100, B 80 to 89, C 70 to 79, D 60 to 69, F below 60. It is the most common scale in the US and the one most teachers mean by the standard grading scale. Tennessee's Uniform Grading System rule sets it for grades 9 to 12 since the 2022 to 2023 school year, and North Carolina's State Board of Education moved every high school grade, 9 to 12, from its 7 point scale to the 10 point scale in the 2015 to 2016 school year.

The 10 point grading scale with pluses and minuses (the "10 point grading scale with + and -") keeps those cutoffs and splits each band, as in the table above. Your report card shows which version your school uses: if you see a B+ anywhere, it is the split version.

The 7 point grading scale is stricter: an A needs 93, a B 85, a C 75 and a D 70, so anything under 70 fails. Tennessee used it until the 2022 to 2023 school year (North Carolina's old scale was similar but started the C at 77), and some districts and private schools still do. The same 72 is a C on the 10 point scale and a D on the 7 point scale, which is why a transfer transcript always names its scale.

Most US colleges use letter grades with pluses and minuses on a 4.0 scale. The Concordia University Wisconsin catalog shows a typical college grading scale: an A from 93 to 100, an A- from 90 to 92, down to an F below 60. Colleges differ in three places:

• The A+. The University of Iowa gives an A+ 4.33 points, so a GPA can pass 4.0; West Chester University and most colleges cap it at 4.0.
• The thirds. Some colleges write an A- as 3.67 and a B+ as 3.33 instead of 3.7 and 3.3. The difference is small but shows up in honors cutoffs.
• What a D is worth. A D earns credit at most colleges but often does not count toward a major, a prerequisite or a transfer. Many programs ask for a C or better. See what counts as a passing grade for the details.

The percent cutoffs often come from each instructor's syllabus, so two professors at the same school can set different bands; some colleges, like Concordia University Wisconsin, publish one scale for every course.

The US grading scale, A to F, is the same ladder everywhere, but high schools and colleges use it a little differently:

• High school usually follows the district or state: the plain 10 point scale in most places, the 7 point scale in some, and pluses and minuses where the district prints them. Honors, AP and IB classes often add a weighting bonus on top (the GPA scale shows the 5.0 weighted chart).
• College mostly uses pluses and minuses on a 4.0 scale, with no weighting. The registrar sets the points per letter; the percent cutoffs often come from each instructor, though some colleges set one scale for every course.
• Passing is a D on the 10 point scale in both, but many college programs and some high school courses need a C.

For a student from another country, the US grading scale is the letter plus its GPA points. A, B and C are good to fair passes, D a weak pass and F a fail; schools abroad that grade 1 to 10 or 0 to 20 need an official credential evaluation to translate a grade into a US letter.

Letter grades rank work from best to failing. Registrars word it in their own way: Washtenaw Community College, for example, calls an A superior, a B excellent, a C average, a D below average and an F failure. In plain terms:

• A (excellent): 90 to 100 on the 10 point scale, 4.0 GPA points. What an A does to your GPA.
• B (good, above average): 80 to 89 on the 10 point scale, 3.0 GPA points. What a B does to your GPA.
• C (average): 70 to 79 on the 10 point scale, 2.0 GPA points. What a C does to your GPA.
• D (below average, still passing): 60 to 69 on the 10 point scale, 1.0 GPA points. What a D does to your GPA.
• F (failing): below 60 on the 10 point scale, 0.0 GPA points. What an F does to your GPA.

Why no E? Mount Holyoke College, the earliest recorded letter grade system in the US, used E as its failing grade in 1897 and replaced it with F a year later. Most schools followed, partly so students would not read an E as excellent. A few still use it: the University of Arizona grades A, B, C, D and E.

Some marks are not letters at all: P (pass), W (withdrawn), I (incomplete) and NC (no credit) carry no GPA points. A P or CR still earns credit; a W, I or NC does not.

On the common 4.0 scale an A is 4.0, a B 3.0, a C 2.0, a D 1.0 and an F 0.0; each plus or minus moves the letter by about a third of a point (3.3 for a B+, 2.7 for a B-). Your GPA is the average of those points, weighted by credits. The GPA scale and converter covers the weighted 5.0 scale and every letter, and the GPA calculator averages a whole term.

Not by the scale itself. The scales here pick the letter from the exact percentage, so an 89.5 is still a B+ (a B on the plain 10 point scale) and an 89.9 too. Many teachers round to the nearest whole percent first, which turns an 89.5 into a 90 and an A-, and some gradebooks do it automatically. Your syllabus says which rule applies; if it says nothing, ask before the final.

Working from points? Divide first, then look up the letter: 43 out of 50 is 86%, a B. The easy grader chart for a test does the division for every score on a test, and the final grade calculator shows what you need on the final for the next letter.

Use the letter grade calculator at the top of this page: type a percentage and it reads the letter off the 10 point, plus and minus and 7 point scales from the same band files as the charts, with the GPA points and whether it passes. To do it by hand, divide the points you earned by the points possible, multiply by 100 and find the band your number falls in on your school's scale.

Two mistakes to avoid: averaging percentages from assignments with different point totals (add the points instead, or use the grade calculator for weighted categories), and reading your letter off the wrong scale. A 65 is a passing D on one scale and an F on another.