Egypt vs Philippines Grading System

How does the Egypt grading system work?

Egyptian universities use a percentage system under Supreme Council of Universities oversight. Mumtaz (Excellent) is awarded at 85%+ (some faculties set it at 90%), so an 88% is a genuinely top result. Grading varies by faculty.

How does the Philippines grading system work?

Most Philippine universities use an inverted 1.0–5.0 scale where 1.0 is the highest grade and 3.0 is the minimum pass. Some US-affiliated institutions use a regular 4.0 GPA scale instead.

⚠️ Most Philippine universities use an INVERTED scale — 1.0 is BEST, 3.0 is minimum pass. Some use a regular 4.0 GPA. Check your transcript carefully.

Do Egypt and the Philippines 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 Egypt

Egyptian marking is conservative at the top: Mumtaz begins at 85 and high marks are genuinely rare, so an aggregate in the 80s is a strong result rather than the middling one it would be in the United States. This is an area where our own data was previously wrong — we had Mumtaz starting at 80, which over-credited a whole country until it was corrected — and it illustrates the wider point: an Egyptian 82 is Jayyid Jiddan, a very good degree, and reading it as an American 82% both flatters and misleads.

What a good grade means in the Philippines

The inverted scale is the single most consequential thing on a Philippine transcript sent abroad: a 1.25 is an excellent grade and a 2.75 is a weak pass, and an admissions officer reading it the other way round will draw exactly the wrong conclusion. Latin honours — summa, magna and cum laude — are awarded against these averages and translate far more reliably than the numbers do, so lead with them where you have them.

Will a grade from Egypt get you into the Philippines?

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

Excellent (80%+) → approximately 4.0 GPA.

What goes wrong converting grades from Egypt to the Philippines?

the Philippines runs an inverted scale where 1.0 is the BEST grade. A converted result that looks alarmingly low is usually an excellent one. Egypt rarely awards near the top of its own scale, so a result that looks modest in Egypt terms converts higher than a direct comparison suggests.

Mistakes specific to Egypt grades

• Reading an Egyptian percentage as an American one. An 82 is Jayyid Jiddan here, a genuinely strong result, not the unremarkable grade it appears in the US.
• Assuming the Mumtaz threshold is fixed. It varies by faculty between 85 and 90, so check what your own certificate states.
• Submitting the certificate without the transcript. Evaluators want the year-by-year record, not only the final descriptor.

What should you do next, applying from Egypt to the Philippines?

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. the Philippines runs an inverted scale where a lower number is the better grade, while Egypt 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, Philippines 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 Egypt grading works · How Philippines grading works

What do these grading terms mean?

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.

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.

Degree classification

A named band your final result falls into — First Class, 2:1, Distinction — used across the UK, Ireland, Nigeria, India and much of the Commonwealth instead of a single number.

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