Saudi Arabia Grading System Explained
GPA (5.0 or 4.0 Scale) · pass mark 2.00
How do grades from Saudi Arabia 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.
⚠️ 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.
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 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 grade on a 5.0 GPA with Arabic descriptors attached: Mumtaz (exceptional or excellent) from 4.51, Jayyid Jiddan (very good) from 3.51, Jayyid (good) from 2.51 and Maqbul (pass) below that. Some institutions use a 4.0 scale instead.
There is also a widely used percentage equivalent, where Mumtaz sits at 90 and above and the descriptors map onto ten-point bands.
Because both a 5.0 and a 4.0 scale are in circulation, the maximum must be stated — a 4.2 is a strong result on the 5.0 scale and an outstanding one on the 4.0 scale.
⚠️ 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.
What does each grade mean in Saudi Arabia?
| Range | Classification | ≈ US GPA |
|---|---|---|
| 4.51 – 5.00 | Excellent (Mumtaz) | 4.0 |
| 4.01 – 4.50 | Superior | 3.7 |
| 3.51 – 4.00 | Very Good (Jayyid Jiddan) | 3.3 |
| 3.00 – 3.50 | Good (Jayyid) | 2.7 |
| 2.00 – 2.99 | Pass | 2.0 |
| 0.00 – 1.99 | Fail | — |
What does a good grade actually look like 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.
How do WES and other evaluators read grades from Saudi Arabia?
For 5.0 scale: Excellent (4.25–5.0) → approximately 4.0 GPA.
Credential-evaluator source: Scholaro — Saudi Arabia grading system (credential-evaluation database) · cross-checked against Ministry of Education, Saudi Arabia · grading data verified 2026-07-24 · how we convert · report an error
Is a degree from Saudi Arabia accepted abroad?
Saudi bachelor's degrees run four years, or five to six for engineering, pharmacy and medicine, which meets the 16-year expectation of US graduate schools. Many programmes include a preparatory year, which appears on transcripts and is worth explaining if the total looks longer than expected.
What do people get wrong about grades from Saudi Arabia?
- 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 grade do you need to study abroad from Saudi Arabia?
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 Saudi Arabia'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 Saudi Arabia'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 Saudi Arabia compare, side by side?
Each of these sets Saudi Arabia against one destination in detail — the two grading cultures, the traps specific to that direction, and the converter preset for the route:
- Saudi Arabia vs United States grading system
- Saudi Arabia vs United Kingdom grading system
- Saudi Arabia vs Canada grading system
- Saudi Arabia vs Germany grading system
- Saudi Arabia 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?
- 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
Is a good grade in Saudi Arabia still good abroad?
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.
Is a degree from Saudi Arabia accepted for a master's abroad?
Saudi bachelor's degrees run four years, or five to six for engineering, pharmacy and medicine, which meets the 16-year expectation of US graduate schools. Many programmes include a preparatory year, which appears on transcripts and is worth explaining if the total looks longer than expected.
What grade do you need to study abroad from Saudi Arabia?
It depends on the destination, and the spread is wide. Stated on Saudi Arabia's own scale, the typical taught-master's bar works out at roughly: Australia 2.71–3.17 / 5, Netherlands 2.71–3.17 / 5, New Zealand 2.71–3.17 / 5. Across the 12 destinations whose entry requirements we have read and cited, the lowest bar is Australia at about 2.71–3.17 / 5. 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 Saudi Arabia?
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 2.71–3.17 / 5 on Saudi Arabia'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.