Netherlands Grading System Explained
1–10 Scale (6 to pass)
How do grades from the Netherlands 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.
⚠️ A 10/10 is almost never awarded in the Netherlands. An 8 or 9 is outstanding.
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 Netherlands grading system work?
Dutch universities use a 1–10 scale where 6 is the minimum pass. A 10 is almost never awarded. An 8 is genuinely excellent performance.
Dutch universities mark on a 1–10 scale where 6 is the pass mark. It looks like a percentage divided by ten, and it is not — the distribution is completely different.
The bands run 9–10 uitmuntend (excellent), 8–8.9 goed (good), 7–7.9 ruim voldoende (very satisfactory) and 6–6.9 voldoende (satisfactory). Grades are usually reported to one decimal place.
Dutch degrees do not carry an overall classification the way UK ones do; your weighted average and, for some programmes, a cum laude distinction are what represent your result.
⚠️ A 10/10 is almost never awarded in the Netherlands. An 8 or 9 is outstanding.
What does each grade mean in the Netherlands?
| Range | Classification | ≈ US GPA |
|---|---|---|
| 9.0 – 10.0 | Excellent (Uitmuntend) | 4.0 |
| 8.0 – 8.9 | Good (Goed) | 3.3 |
| 7.0 – 7.9 | Satisfactory (Ruim vold.) | 2.7 |
| 6.0 – 6.9 | Pass (Voldoende) | 2.0 |
| 1.0 – 5.9 | Fail (Onvoldoende) | — |
The table runs to 10.0, but in practice the Netherlands rarely awards above 9.0. That is the ceiling the converter anchors to, which is why it will never output a grade almost nobody in the Netherlands actually receives. Why we do that.
What does a good grade actually look like in the Netherlands?
This is the most extreme grade compression of any major destination, and Nuffic — the Dutch credential authority — states it outright: high grades of 9 and 10 are rarely awarded regardless of how good the work is, with a 10 given in roughly 0.1% of cases. The most common grades are 6 and 7, and an average of 8 is considered excellent. The convention dates to the nineteenth century, when 10 was defined as absolute perfection. Read a Dutch 7.5 as a genuinely good degree, and never as "75%".
How do WES and other evaluators read grades from the Netherlands?
An 8.0 → approximately 3.3 GPA. A 9+ → approximately 4.0 GPA.
Dutch institutions issue a transcript plus a diploma supplement explaining the grading scale in English — send the supplement, because it makes the 0.1% point about 10s for you and pre-empts the misreading that costs Dutch applicants most.
Credential-evaluator source: Nuffic — Dutch grading system · grading data verified 2026-07-24 · how we convert · report an error
Is a degree from the Netherlands accepted abroad?
Dutch bachelor's degrees run three years at research universities (WO) and four at universities of applied sciences (HBO). The distinction matters: an HBO bachelor's often requires a bridging or pre-master's year before a WO master's, and admissions abroad sometimes treat the two differently.
What do people get wrong about grades from the Netherlands?
- Multiplying a Dutch grade by ten. An 8.0 is not "80%" — it is an excellent result that few students average across a degree.
- Expecting a degree classification. Dutch degrees generally have none; cum laude exists but is awarded sparingly and on institutional rules.
- Assuming a Dutch bachelor's guarantees entry to any Dutch master's. Research master's and selective programmes set their own grade bars, typically 7.0 to 7.5.
What grade do you need to study abroad from the Netherlands?
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 the Netherlands' 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 the Netherlands', 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 the Netherlands compare, side by side?
Each of these sets the Netherlands against one destination in detail — the two grading cultures, the traps specific to that direction, and the converter preset for the route:
- Netherlands vs United States grading system
- Netherlands vs United Kingdom grading system
- Netherlands vs Canada grading system
- Netherlands vs Germany grading system
- Netherlands 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.
- Taught master's
- A one-to-two-year postgraduate degree made mostly of classes and assignments, as opposed to a research master's built around a thesis.
- 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.
Frequently asked questions
Is a good grade in the Netherlands still good abroad?
This is the most extreme grade compression of any major destination, and Nuffic — the Dutch credential authority — states it outright: high grades of 9 and 10 are rarely awarded regardless of how good the work is, with a 10 given in roughly 0.1% of cases. The most common grades are 6 and 7, and an average of 8 is considered excellent. The convention dates to the nineteenth century, when 10 was defined as absolute perfection. Read a Dutch 7.5 as a genuinely good degree, and never as "75%".
Is a degree from the Netherlands accepted for a master's abroad?
Dutch bachelor's degrees run three years at research universities (WO) and four at universities of applied sciences (HBO). The distinction matters: an HBO bachelor's often requires a bridging or pre-master's year before a WO master's, and admissions abroad sometimes treat the two differently.
What grade do you need to study abroad from the Netherlands?
It depends on the destination, and the spread is wide. Stated on the Netherlands' own scale, the typical taught-master's bar works out at roughly: Australia 6.6–7.3 / 10, New Zealand 6.8–7.2 / 10, Italy 6.7–7.4 / 10. Across the 11 destinations whose entry requirements we have read and cited, the lowest bar is Australia at about 6.6–7.3 / 10. 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 the Netherlands?
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 6.6–7.3 / 10 on the Netherlands' 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 the Netherlands?
Typically 7.0 / 10. Read these against Dutch grading culture, not as ordinary percentages: a 7.0 is a solid result on a scale where an 8 is already excellent. The University of Twente asks 7.5 of applicants holding an international degree. A Dutch academic (WO) bachelor's often gives direct access to the matching master's with no grade bar at all — these figures apply to selective and research master's. Published by University of Amsterdam, Graduate School of Humanities — entry requirements, checked 2026-07-25. This is an entry requirement, not a guarantee — programmes select competitively above their stated minimum.
What documents do universities abroad ask students from the Netherlands for?
Dutch institutions issue a transcript plus a diploma supplement explaining the grading scale in English — send the supplement, because it makes the 0.1% point about 10s for you and pre-empts the misreading that costs Dutch applicants most.