France Grading System Explained
0–20 Numerical Scale · pass mark 10.0
How do grades from France convert to US GPA?
A Bachelor's / first-degree grade — for graduate (Master's) admission or employment
Got a school-leaving qualification instead — A-levels, Class 12, WASSCE, the Abitur? Here's what actually happens to those.
Hover or tap a band to see what it means.
⚠️ The French pass mark is 10/20 — not 50%. A score of 12–14 is a good result.
Hover or tap a band to see what it means.
Enter a grade above to see what it means in the United States
You'll get the classification it corresponds to, the range it falls in rather than a single false-precise number, and how firm that answer is.
How does the France grading system work?
French universities use a 20-point scale where 10/20 is the pass mark. Most students score 10–14. A 14/20 is a genuinely strong result. Scores above 16 are rare.
French universities mark on a 0–20 scale where 10 is the pass mark — not 50%, which is the assumption that trips up almost every international reader of a French transcript.
The mentions attached to those marks are what appear on your diploma: Très bien from 16, Bien from 14, Assez bien from 12 and Passable from 10.
France follows the licence–master–doctorat structure with ECTS credits, so a French transcript is readable across Europe even where the 20-point marking is unfamiliar.
⚠️ The French pass mark is 10/20 — not 50%. A score of 12–14 is a good result.
What does each grade mean in France?
| Range | Classification | ≈ US GPA |
|---|---|---|
| 16.0 – 20.0 | Très bien / Excellent | 4.0 |
| 14.0 – 15.9 | Bien | 3.3 |
| 12.0 – 13.9 | Assez bien | 2.7 |
| 10.0 – 11.9 | Passable | 2.0 |
| 0.0 – 9.9 | Insuffisant (Fail) | — |
The table runs to 20.0, but in practice France rarely awards above 18.0. That is the ceiling the converter anchors to, which is why it will never output a grade almost nobody in France actually receives. Why we do that.
What does a good grade actually look like in France?
The 20-point scale is not designed to be filled. Marks above 16 are rare, above 18 essentially never awarded, and 20 is treated as theoretically unattainable rather than a target — the distribution clusters between 8 and 16 with a passing mean around 11 to 13, and only a small percentage of students reach Très bien. A 14/20 is therefore a genuinely strong degree. Anyone converting by multiplying by five and reading "70%" will misjudge it in both directions depending on which country they are comparing against.
How do WES and other evaluators read grades from France?
WES is familiar with French grade compression. Bien (14/20) → approximately 3.3 GPA. Très bien (16+) → approximately 4.0 GPA.
Credential-evaluator source: Nuffic — French grading system (Dutch credential evaluator) · cross-checked against Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur, France · grading data verified 2026-07-24 · how we convert · report an error
Is a degree from France accepted abroad?
The French licence runs three years after the baccalauréat, followed by a two-year master's. As with other three-year degrees this can raise the 16-year question for US graduate admission, though the licence–master sequence together is well recognised.
What do people get wrong about grades from France?
- Assuming the pass mark is half. It is 10 out of 20, and the scale's usable range sits well below the maximum.
- Multiplying by five to get a percentage. A 14/20 is Bien, a good result, and "70%" does not carry that meaning in either the US or India.
- Leaving the mention off an application. Très bien and Bien are recognised internationally and explain the mark better than the number does.
What grade do you need to study abroad from France?
Each destination below publishes its own typical entry requirement for a taught master's — a one-to-two-year postgraduate degree made mostly of classes. The last column restates that bar in France's own grading terms, so you can hold it against your actual transcript instead of converting in your head.
The last column is a double conversion — the destination's bar onto the US 4.0 scale and then onto France's, so its uncertainty is wider than a single conversion and it is shown as a range for that reason. Treat it as orientation, and check the course page for the bar that actually binds. How this is worked out.
Only destinations whose entry requirement we have read and cited appear here. Several countries publish no numeric bar at all — France admits on the dossier, Japan by entrance examination — and others we simply have not researched yet. An absent row never means “no requirement”.
The last column links the organisations that maintain each country's programme data — we hold none of it ourselves, and none of them can tell you whether you will be admitted. Several countries have no single national directory for postgraduate study at all: master's applications go straight to the university, so the course page is the authoritative source.
How do grades from France compare, side by side?
Each of these sets France against one destination in detail — the two grading cultures, the traps specific to that direction, and the converter preset for the route:
- France vs United States grading system
- France vs United Kingdom grading system
- France vs Canada grading system
- France vs Germany grading system
- France vs Australia grading system
Applying to the US or Canada? Read the WES credential evaluation guide before you order — choosing the wrong report type is the most common (and costly) mistake.
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
Is a good grade in France still good abroad?
The 20-point scale is not designed to be filled. Marks above 16 are rare, above 18 essentially never awarded, and 20 is treated as theoretically unattainable rather than a target — the distribution clusters between 8 and 16 with a passing mean around 11 to 13, and only a small percentage of students reach Très bien. A 14/20 is therefore a genuinely strong degree. Anyone converting by multiplying by five and reading "70%" will misjudge it in both directions depending on which country they are comparing against.
Is a degree from France accepted for a master's abroad?
The French licence runs three years after the baccalauréat, followed by a two-year master's. As with other three-year degrees this can raise the 16-year question for US graduate admission, though the licence–master sequence together is well recognised.
What grade do you need to study abroad from France?
It depends on the destination, and the spread is wide. Stated on France's own scale, the typical taught-master's bar works out at roughly: Australia 11.4–12.6 / 20, Netherlands 11.6–12.3 / 20, New Zealand 11.6–12.3 / 20. Across the 12 destinations whose entry requirements we have read and cited, the lowest bar is Australia at about 11.4–12.6 / 20. These are typical requirements, not guarantees — selective programmes ask for more, and each figure is a conversion, so treat it as orientation and check the course page.
Can you study abroad with a low grade from France?
Often yes, but be specific rather than hopeful about it. The lowest published bar among the destinations we hold data for is Australia at roughly 11.4–12.6 / 20 on France's scale, so a result below that clears no destination on our list on grades alone. Below the bar the route is not closed — conversion, qualifying and pre-master's programmes exist in most countries and are designed for exactly this — but expect to need one, and expect grades to matter more where the programme is competitive. Convert your own grade above to see which bars it actually clears.
What grade do you need for a master's in France?
French master's admission is decided programme by programme on your full application dossier — motivation, coursework, references and fit — rather than against a published minimum grade. The commonly repeated "you need 12/20" is not a rule any French university publishes, so we don't compare your grade against it.