Austria vs Brazil Grading System

How does the Austria grading system work?

Austrian universities use a 1–5 inverted scale identical to Germany. 1 is the best grade, 4 is minimum pass, 5 is fail.

⚠️ Austrian grades are INVERTED — 1 is BEST, 5 is Fail. Same system as Germany.

How does the Brazil grading system work?

Brazilian universities use a 0–10 scale with 5.0 as the pass mark. Grading varies between public and private institutions.

Do Austria and Brazil mark to the same standard?

No — and it is the difference in marking culture, not the arithmetic, that makes a direct comparison mislead. Here is how each country actually uses its own scale.

What a good grade means in Austria

The inverted, whole-number scale is the thing to state plainly on any application: a 1 is the best possible grade and a 4 is a bare pass, which is counterintuitive to anyone from a percentage system and produces exactly the wrong impression if left unexplained. Because there are only four passing values, an Austrian transcript carries less fine-grained information than a German one, and "mit Auszeichnung" is consequently the strongest signal available — worth stating explicitly where you have it.

What a good grade means in Brazil

The variable pass mark is the detail that matters most: a 6.5 means something quite different at an institution passing at 5 than at one passing at 7, so the number alone under-describes the result. On top of that the 0–10 scale is used conservatively at the upper end, with 9s uncommon and 10s rare, so a 7.5 is a solid degree rather than the mediocre 75% it becomes under direct conversion. Send the grading key from your transcript, because it states your university's own pass mark.

Will a grade from Austria get you into Brazil?

We do not yet hold published entry requirements for Brazil, so we do not compare your grade against a bar we cannot cite. The conversion above still tells you how your result reads in Brazil terms.

Austrian 1 (Sehr Gut) → 4.0 GPA. Treated equivalently to German credentials by WES.

What goes wrong converting grades from Austria to Brazil?

Austria runs an inverted scale where 1 is the BEST grade, while Brazil runs the normal way round. Reading a result from Austria as though higher were better inverts the conclusion entirely.

Mistakes specific to Austria grades

• Reading the scale the wrong way round. A 1 is excellent and a 4 is the minimum pass, the opposite of the percentage instinct.
• Expecting decimal precision. Austrian grades are whole numbers, so there is no equivalent of a German 1.3.
• Omitting mit Auszeichnung. On a four-value scale it is the main way to distinguish an outstanding degree from a good one.

What should you do next, applying from Austria to Brazil?

1. Check the course, not the country. Entry requirements are set per programme and revised every cycle. We hold no published national bar for this destination, so the course page is the only figure that binds.
2. Do not read the two scales the same way round. Austria runs an inverted scale where a lower number is the better grade, while Brazil runs the usual way. This is the single most common misreading on this route.
3. Check whether an evaluation is even required. Unlike the US and Canada, Brazil universities commonly assess foreign transcripts in-house. Confirm on the course page before paying for a report you may not need.
4. Get your documents moving early. Universities normally require your transcript sent directly by your institution rather than as a copy from you, which takes longer than most applicants expect.
5. Read both systems in full. How Austria grading works · How Brazil grading works

What do these grading terms mean?

GPA (Grade Point Average)

The US way of expressing an overall grade, on a 0–4.0 scale where 4.0 is the top — so a 4.0 is roughly what a 90–100% or a First Class would be elsewhere.

Percentage scale

A 0–100 marking scale — but the numbers are not comparable across countries: 70% is an outstanding result in the UK and a modest one in India.

Credits / credit hours

A measure of how much a subject counts toward your degree — bigger subjects carry more credits and pull your average further.

Transcript

The official document from your university listing every subject you took and the grade you got — not the same as your degree certificate, and universities abroad want both.

Credential evaluation

A paid report from an approved company that restates your foreign qualification in local terms, which many US and Canadian universities require before they will assess you.

Frequently asked questions