Norway vs Philippines Grading System

How does the Norway grading system work?

Norwegian universities use A–F letter grades where A is highest and E is minimum pass. F is fail. Enter A=5, B=4, C=3, D=2, E=1, F=0.

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 Norway 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 Norway

The A–F letters look immediately familiar to American readers, and that familiarity is misleading in one specific way: the Norwegian scale is criterion-referenced against ECTS definitions, where C is explicitly described as a good result meeting the standard expected — not the mediocre grade a C signals in the United States. A Norwegian B is a strong result. Anyone converting letter-for-letter into a US GPA will systematically understate a Norwegian transcript.

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 Norway 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.

Norwegian A → 4.0 GPA. B (Very Good) → approximately 3.3 GPA.

What goes wrong converting grades from Norway 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.

Mistakes specific to Norway grades

• Reading a Norwegian C as an American C. Under ECTS definitions it describes solid work meeting the expected standard.
• Assuming E is a fail. E is the minimum pass in Norway; only F fails.
• Converting letters straight into US grade points. The underlying definitions differ, so the arithmetic misleads.

What should you do next, applying from Norway 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 Norway 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 Norway grading works · How Philippines 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.

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.

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