South Korea vs Thailand Grading System

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.

How does the Thailand grading system work?

Thai universities use a 4.0 GPA scale aligned with US conventions.

Do South Korea and Thailand 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 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.

What a good grade means in Thailand

The 4.0 scale converts cleanly, so Thai transcripts need little translation — the substance is in the honours conditions rather than the number. First-class honours in Thailand normally requires not only a high GPAX but completion within the standard duration and no repeated subjects, which makes it a stronger signal than the average alone conveys. State the honours designation, because an admissions office abroad will read the GPAX at face value and miss the rest.

Will a grade from South Korea get you into Thailand?

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

For the 4.5 scale, WES normalises to a 4.0 equivalent. A 4.0/4.5 maps to approximately 3.6 US GPA.

Mistakes specific to South Korea grades

• Quoting a Korean GPA without its maximum. "3.8" means different things on the 4.5, 4.3 and 4.0 scales, and the 4.5 scale is the most common.
• Assuming a 4.0 is a perfect score. On the standard Korean scale that is an A0, one step below the A+ ceiling of 4.5.
• Converting by simple proportion. Evaluators normalise Korean scales to a 4.0 equivalent rather than dividing, so a 4.0/4.5 lands near a US 3.6 rather than 3.56.

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

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, Thailand 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. Korean universities issue English transcripts directly and are generally quick about it. The transcript states the scale in use — check it says 4.5, 4.3 or 4.0 explicitly, because a transcript that omits the maximum is the single most common cause of a Korean GPA being misread abroad.
4. Read both systems in full. How South Korea grading works · How Thailand 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.

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.

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.

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.

Frequently asked questions