Iran vs Japan Grading System

How does the Iran grading system work?

Iranian universities use a 0–20 scale where 10 is the minimum pass. Scores of 17+ are genuinely excellent.

How does the Japan grading system work?

Japanese universities use a 100-point percentage scale where 60 is the minimum pass. The descriptors (可/良/優/秀) are standard national designations.

⚠️ Japanese passing grade is 60, not 50.

Do Iran and Japan 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 Iran

As in every 20-point system, the top of the scale is largely unused: a 17 is an excellent result and marks above 18 are very rare, so a moadel of 15 represents a strong degree rather than the 75% it becomes under arithmetic conversion. Iranian universities — Sharif, Tehran and Amirkabir in particular — are well known to admissions committees in engineering and the sciences, and a strong moadel from those institutions is read in context rather than at face value.

What a good grade means in Japan

Japanese marking is conservative at the top. The 秀/S band above 90 is genuinely uncommon, and 優 (80–89) is the highest grade most strong students earn routinely — so an average in the 80s is a good degree rather than a modest one, and an aggregate above 90 is exceptional. The other thing worth knowing is that undergraduate grades carry less weight in Japanese graduate admission than they do almost anywhere else: entry usually turns on an entrance examination and on a prospective supervisor agreeing to take you.

Will a grade from Iran get you into Japan?

Japanese graduate admission turns on an entrance examination set by each university — usually written subject papers plus an interview, and often a prospective supervisor agreeing to take you — rather than on your undergraduate GPA. There is no published grade threshold to measure against.

Excellent (17–20) → approximately 4.0 GPA.

What goes wrong converting grades from Iran to Japan?

Japan rarely awards near the top of its own scale — 90 is realistically the ceiling rather than 100 — so a converted result will look lower than you expect even when it is strong.

Mistakes specific to Iran grades

• Multiplying the 20-point average by five. A 15/20 is a strong Iranian degree; "75%" does not convey that in US terms.
• Assuming the pass mark is always 10. Some institutions pass at 12 and postgraduate thresholds are higher.
• Underestimating document lead times. Obtaining and legalising Iranian transcripts for use abroad frequently takes longer than applicants expect.

What should you do next, applying from Iran to Japan?

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. Check whether an evaluation is even required. Unlike the US and Canada, Japan universities commonly assess foreign transcripts in-house. Confirm on the course page before paying for a report you may not need.
3. 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.
4. Read both systems in full. How Iran grading works · How Japan 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.

Grade compression

Where a marking culture rarely uses the top of its own scale, so the highest grades anyone actually earns sit well below the theoretical maximum.

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