Japan vs Switzerland Grading System

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.

How does the Switzerland grading system work?

Swiss universities use a 1–6 scale where 6 is the best grade and 4 is minimum pass. Higher numbers are better — opposite direction from Germany.

⚠️ Swiss scale uses 1–6 where 6 is BEST — opposite direction from Germany. Do not confuse the two.

Do Japan and Switzerland 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 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.

What a good grade means in Switzerland

The narrow 4-to-6 usable range is what makes Swiss marking hard to read from outside: only two points separate a bare pass from the maximum, so a 5.0 is a solid result rather than the mediocre "83%" it becomes if converted proportionally. Our own data previously treated everything from 5.5 upward as a top grade, which over-credited a 5.5 by a full band until it was corrected — the published scale distinguishes 5.5 as an A− from 5.75 and above as an A, and that distinction matters on a scale this compressed.

Will a grade from Japan get you into Switzerland?

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

90%+ (Excellent) → approximately 4.0 GPA. 80–89% → approximately 3.3 GPA.

What goes wrong converting grades from Japan to Switzerland?

Japan rarely awards near the top of its own scale, so a result that looks modest in Japan terms converts higher than a direct comparison suggests.

Mistakes specific to Japan grades

• Assuming your GPA drives graduate admission in Japan. Entrance examinations and supervisor agreement matter more, which is why we publish no grade threshold for Japan.
• Treating 60 as a low pass. It is the Japanese pass mark, so the scale's usable range is narrower than in countries passing at 50.
• Reading an 80 as unremarkable because it is 80%. 優 is the highest grade most students regularly achieve.

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

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, Switzerland 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 Japan grading works · How Switzerland 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.

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.

Credits / credit hours

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

Frequently asked questions