Pakistan Grading System Explained
CGPA (4.0 Scale) or Percentage · pass mark 2.00
How do grades from Pakistan 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.
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 Pakistan grading system work?
Pakistani universities use a 4.0 CGPA scale under HEC guidelines, closely mirroring US conventions.
Pakistani universities follow the HEC (Higher Education Commission) scheme: a 4.0 CGPA — a cumulative grade point average on the same 0–4.0 scale the US uses — which makes Pakistani transcripts unusually easy to read abroad.
Older transcripts, and some universities still, report divisions from a percentage instead: Division I from 60%, Division II from 45%, with 50% the usual minimum pass. Both are legitimate; which one you hold depends on your university and when you graduated.
The two are not interchangeable. HEC's mapping puts 85% and above at the top grade, so a percentage cannot simply be divided by 25 to produce a CGPA.
What does each grade mean in Pakistan?
| Range | Classification | ≈ US GPA |
|---|---|---|
| 3.50 – 4.00 | Excellent | 3.9 |
| 3.00 – 3.49 | Very Good | 3.3 |
| 2.50 – 2.99 | Good | 2.7 |
| 2.00 – 2.49 | Pass | 2.0 |
| 0.00 – 1.99 | Fail | — |
What does a good grade actually look like in Pakistan?
Because the 4.0 CGPA maps almost directly onto the US scale, Pakistani grades need less translation than most — a 3.5 CGPA reads roughly as a US 3.5. The trap is the percentage system rather than the CGPA: Pakistani percentage marking is compressed like India's, so a 70% is a genuinely strong result rather than the mediocre one it would be in the US, and converting it as if it were a US percentage will undersell you sharply.
How do WES and other evaluators read grades from Pakistan?
Pakistani 4.0 CGPA maps near-directly to US GPA.
Most foreign universities and evaluators require HEC attestation of your degree and transcript — a verification step run by the Higher Education Commission itself, separate from anything your university does. Budget several weeks for it. WES also requires the transcript sent directly by your institution.
Credential-evaluator source: Scholaro — Pakistan HEC 4.0 CGPA (credential-evaluation database) · cross-checked against Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan · grading data verified 2026-07-24 · how we convert · report an error
Is a degree from Pakistan accepted abroad?
Pakistan now awards 4-year bachelor's degrees (BS), which meet the 16-year expectation of US graduate schools. Older 2-year BA/BSc degrees do not on their own — they were normally followed by a 2-year master's, and it is that combination which is assessed as equivalent to a US bachelor's. If you hold the older structure, submit both qualifications together.
What do people get wrong about grades from Pakistan?
- Converting an older percentage transcript as though it were a US percentage. A Pakistani 70% is a strong Division I, not a C.
- Dividing a percentage by 25 to produce a CGPA. HEC's mapping is not linear and the result will be wrong.
- Leaving out the HEC attestation. Many foreign universities require your documents attested by HEC before they will assess them.
What grade do you need to study abroad from Pakistan?
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 Pakistan'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 Pakistan'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 Pakistan compare, side by side?
Each of these sets Pakistan against one destination in detail — the two grading cultures, the traps specific to that direction, and the converter preset for the route:
- Pakistan vs United States grading system
- Pakistan vs United Kingdom grading system
- Pakistan vs Canada grading system
- Pakistan vs Germany grading system
- Pakistan 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?
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- WES
- World Education Services, the most widely accepted credential evaluation company for the US and Canada — it converts your transcript into a US GPA that universities will accept.
- 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.
- 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.
Frequently asked questions
Is a good grade in Pakistan still good abroad?
Because the 4.0 CGPA maps almost directly onto the US scale, Pakistani grades need less translation than most — a 3.5 CGPA reads roughly as a US 3.5. The trap is the percentage system rather than the CGPA: Pakistani percentage marking is compressed like India's, so a 70% is a genuinely strong result rather than the mediocre one it would be in the US, and converting it as if it were a US percentage will undersell you sharply.
Is a degree from Pakistan accepted for a master's abroad?
Pakistan now awards 4-year bachelor's degrees (BS), which meet the 16-year expectation of US graduate schools. Older 2-year BA/BSc degrees do not on their own — they were normally followed by a 2-year master's, and it is that combination which is assessed as equivalent to a US bachelor's. If you hold the older structure, submit both qualifications together.
What grade do you need to study abroad from Pakistan?
It depends on the destination, and the spread is wide. Stated on Pakistan's own scale, the typical taught-master's bar works out at roughly: Australia 2.35–2.66 / 4, Netherlands 2.42–2.58 / 4, New Zealand 2.42–2.58 / 4. Across the 12 destinations whose entry requirements we have read and cited, the lowest bar is Australia at about 2.35–2.66 / 4. 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 Pakistan?
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 2.35–2.66 / 4 on Pakistan'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.
Does Pakistan use CGPA (4.0) or Percentage (0–100)?
Both are in real use, which is exactly why entering the wrong one produces a confident wrong answer. Pakistani percentage scale mapped to the HEC 4.0 GPA (Scholaro): 85%+ is an A, 50% the minimum pass. Check which scale your transcript states before converting, and pick the matching option in the converter above.
What documents do universities abroad ask students from Pakistan for?
Most foreign universities and evaluators require HEC attestation of your degree and transcript — a verification step run by the Higher Education Commission itself, separate from anything your university does. Budget several weeks for it. WES also requires the transcript sent directly by your institution.