Saudi Arabia vs South Korea Grading System

How does the Saudi Arabia grading system work?

Saudi Arabian universities use either a 5.0 or 4.0 GPA scale. The 5.0 scale is most common at major institutions.

⚠️ Saudi universities may use 5.0 OR 4.0 GPA scales. A 4.0/5.0 is NOT equivalent to 4.0/4.0. Check your transcript.

How does the South Korea grading system work?

South Korean universities use either a 4.5 or 4.0 GPA scale — 4.5 is most common. Always check your transcript to confirm which applies.

⚠️ South Korean universities use 4.5 OR 4.0 scales. Check your transcript carefully.

Do Saudi Arabia and South Korea 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 Saudi Arabia

The descriptors do more work than the number in Saudi Arabia, and they are set high: Mumtaz begins at 4.51 on the 5.0 scale, so the exceptional band is genuinely narrow. Our own data previously started Mumtaz at 4.25, which over-credited grades by roughly a quarter of a band until it was corrected against the published scale. For an applicant, the practical consequence is that a 4.3 is Jayyid Jiddan — very good — rather than the near-perfect result it looks like when read against a 4.0 maximum.

What a good grade means in South Korea

Korean grading is competitive rather than lenient: many universities operate relative grading, capping the share of a class that can receive an A regardless of absolute performance. That makes a high GPA harder to earn than the numbers suggest and means small differences between students can reflect cohort competition rather than ability. A 3.5 on the 4.5 scale is a respectable result; treating it as "3.5 out of 4.0" both overstates it arithmetically and understates the effort behind it.

Will a grade from Saudi Arabia get you into South Korea?

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

For 5.0 scale: Excellent (4.25–5.0) → approximately 4.0 GPA.

Mistakes specific to Saudi Arabia grades

• Quoting a GPA without saying whether the maximum is 5.0 or 4.0. Both are in use and the same number means very different things.
• Reading a 4.2 as near-perfect. On the 5.0 scale that is Jayyid Jiddan, comfortably short of the Mumtaz threshold at 4.51.
• Skipping attestation. Saudi documents commonly require attestation before foreign universities will accept them.

What should you do next, applying from Saudi Arabia to South Korea?

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, South Korea 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 Saudi Arabia grading works · How South Korea 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.

CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average)

The same idea as a GPA but covering your whole degree rather than one term — the scale differs by country (India 10, Nigeria 5.0, Pakistan 4.0), so the number alone means nothing without its scale.

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.

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