What Is a Passing Grade? Is a D Passing in High School and College?

What is a passing grade?

A passing grade is the lowest grade that earns credit for a class. In US high schools and colleges that is usually a D, and anything below it is an F. Where the D starts depends on your school's grading scale: 60 to 69% on the 10 point scale, the most common one, and 70 to 74% on the older 7 point scale. Passing a class and having it count are not the same thing, though. A D earns the credit, but many majors, prerequisites, pass/fail options and graduate programs ask for a C or a C-. The two tables below show both answers for every letter and for the percents students ask about most.

Is a D a passing grade?

Yes, at most schools a D is a passing grade. It earns the credit for the class, and on the 4.0 scale it is worth 1.0 point (a D+ 1.3, a D- 0.7). The University of Arizona puts it plainly: for most classes a D is the lowest passing grade that will earn course credit. Texas A&M and Arizona State both define a D as "Passing", and at the University of Washington and Lehigh the floor is one step lower, a D-.

The catch is what a D does not do. At Lehigh, D+, D and D- all pass but none of them meets a prerequisite, so you cannot move on to the next course in the sequence without retaking or getting a waiver. A D also drags your GPA: a single D in a four class term with three Bs averages 2.50. So a D gets you through, but it rarely gets you where you were heading.

Passing grade in college

The passing grade in college is the same letter as in high school, a D (or D-), but colleges add more rules on top of it. Each college sets its own line in its catalog, and many set a higher one for the classes that matter most. The policies below were read on the registrar or catalog page linked in each row.

Is a D passing in college?

Usually yes. Every college in the table counts a D as passing, and the credit goes toward your total hours and general education. Where it stops counting is your major, your minor and any course that is a prerequisite for the next one.

Passing grade in graduate school

Graduate school sets the line higher, usually at a C. Texas A&M accepts only A, B, C and S grades for graduate credit, the University of Arizona gives a graduate student a P only for a C or better, and Arizona State marks a D "No Graduate Credit". Many graduate programs also expect a 3.0 (B) average to stay in good standing, so one C can matter more than it would as an undergraduate. Your program handbook has the exact rule.

Pass/fail classes

In a pass/fail class you get a P (or S) instead of a letter. The P earns the credit but stays out of your GPA, which makes it a safe way to take a hard elective. What it takes to earn the P varies more than anything else on this page: a D or better at the University of Arizona (undergraduate) and Lehigh, but a C or better at Texas A&M and Clovis Community College, and a 2.0 at the University of Washington. A failed pass/fail class still counts as an F at many schools, and most majors do not accept a P for a required course.

Is a C passing? When you need a C or better

A C is always passing, and it is the grade that unlocks the most. On the 10 point scale a C is 70 to 79% and on the 7 point scale 75 to 84%. It is worth 2.0 points, exactly the 2.0 average many colleges require to stay in good standing and to graduate. A C- (70 to 72%, 1.7 points) is also passing, but it only satisfies a rule written as "C- or better".

You will most often need a C or better for:

• courses in your major or minor (a C- or better at Northwestern's School of Professional Studies, a C at many other colleges);
• prerequisites, where a D lets you pass but not move on (Lehigh, and some chemistry and computer science courses at Rutgers Engineering);
• core or upper division courses in some colleges at the University of Arizona;
• an S or P in a pass/fail class at schools like Texas A&M;
• graduate credit, where many programs accept nothing below a C.

Many colleges also ask for a C or better before they accept a class for transfer credit; check the receiving college's transfer policy before you count on a D.

Passing grade in high school

In most US high schools the passing grade is a D, 60 to 69% on the 10 point scale. Tennessee sets that scale for grades 9 to 12 by state rule (A 90, B 80, C 70, D 60, F below 60), the North Carolina State Board of Education adopted the same 10 point scale for grades 9 to 12 in January 2015, and Florida law grades a D, 60 to 69%, as "lowest acceptable progress". In those states a 60 passes.

Other places draw the line at 70. Texas rules allow high school credit only for a grade equal to 70 on a scale of 100, and Houston ISD states that course credit is earned through a passing grade of 70% or above. Districts and private schools still on a 7 point scale also pass at 70, because their D runs 70 to 74%. Passing every class is not the whole story either: Florida awards a standard diploma only with a cumulative 2.0 GPA, so a string of Ds can stand between you and graduation even when each one passed.

Passing grade in middle school

Middle schools usually use the same scale as the high schools in their district, so a D, 60 to 69%, is passing in most of them. Florida's grading law covers grades 6 to 12, and Leon County Schools, for example, promotes a middle schooler who earns a final grade of D or better in the core subjects (language arts, math, science and social studies). Many middle schools also report standards based grades instead of letters, so the report card legend tells you where passing starts.

Is 70 passing? Is 60 passing?

A 70 passes on every common scale: it is a C on the 10 point scale, a C- with pluses and minuses and a D on the 7 point scale. A 60 is the edge. It is a D (D- with pluses and minuses) and passes on the 10 point scale, but it is an F on the 7 point scale and below the 70 that Texas and Houston ISD require for credit. The same goes for a 65, 67 or 68: passing at a 60 school, failing at a 70 school, as the table above shows row by row. Look up any other percent on the grading scale chart, or a test score on the charts for 20 questions, 25 questions and 50 questions, which show the passing line in right answers.

What grade do you need to pass a college class?

To pass and earn the credit you usually need a D or D-, about 60% where the college uses a 10 point scale. To have the class count toward a major, unlock the next course or transfer, plan on a C (or C-). Check the syllabus too: professors can set their own percent cutoffs, and curved classes may not follow the standard scale at all.

Grades also feed your financial aid. Federal rules require schools to check satisfactory academic progress, and for a program longer than two years a student must have at least a C average (or standing consistent with graduation) by the end of the second year, so passing with Ds can still put aid at risk. The college GPA calculator shows where your average stands, and the raise GPA calculator shows how many terms it takes to climb back to 2.0.

Can you still pass? Check what you need on the final

If you are close to the line, do the math instead of guessing. Open the final grade calculator with a 60% goal, enter your current grade and the final's weight, and change the goal to 70% at a 70 school, or to a C if your major needs one. It tells you the exact score you need, or that you have already secured the pass. To see your current grade first, use the grade calculator, and the D GPA page shows what a D does to your average.

Sources for the high school rules, checked 23 Oct 2026: Tennessee rule 0520-01-03-.02; Wake County Public Schools on the North Carolina 10 point scale; Florida Statutes 1003.437 and 1003.4282; 19 TAC 74.26 as quoted in Texas School for the Deaf policy EI; Houston ISD grading and report cards; Leon County Schools promotion requirements; financial aid: 34 CFR 668.34.