Switzerland Grading System Explained
1–6 Scale (4 to pass, 6 is best)
How do grades from Switzerland 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.
⚠️ Swiss scale uses 1–6 where 6 is BEST — opposite direction from Germany. Do not confuse the two.
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 Switzerland grading system work?
Swiss universities use a 1–6 scale where 6 is the best grade and 4 is minimum pass. Higher numbers are better — opposite direction from Germany.
Swiss universities mark on a 1–6 scale where 6 is the best grade and 4 is the pass mark — the opposite direction from Germany's, and a frequent source of confusion given the two countries' proximity.
Marks are usually awarded in quarter or half steps, so values such as 5.25 and 5.5 are ordinary rather than unusual precision, and the decimals carry real meaning on so short a scale.
The top of the scale is finely divided in practice: 5.0 corresponds to roughly a US B+, 5.5 to an A− and 5.75 and above to an A, so small differences carry real weight.
⚠️ Swiss scale uses 1–6 where 6 is BEST — opposite direction from Germany. Do not confuse the two.
What does each grade mean in Switzerland?
| Range | Classification | ≈ US GPA |
|---|---|---|
| 5.8 – 6.0 | Excellent | 4.0 |
| 5.5 – 5.7 | Very Good | 3.7 |
| 5.0 – 5.4 | Good | 3.3 |
| 4.5 – 4.9 | Satisfactory | 2.7 |
| 4.0 – 4.4 | Sufficient | 2.0 |
| 1.0 – 3.9 | Insufficient (Fail) | — |
What does a good grade actually look like in Switzerland?
The narrow 4-to-6 usable range is what makes Swiss marking hard to read from outside: only two points separate a bare pass from the maximum, so a 5.0 is a solid result rather than the mediocre "83%" it becomes if converted proportionally. Our own data previously treated everything from 5.5 upward as a top grade, which over-credited a 5.5 by a full band until it was corrected — the published scale distinguishes 5.5 as an A− from 5.75 and above as an A, and that distinction matters on a scale this compressed.
How do WES and other evaluators read grades from Switzerland?
Swiss 6 → 4.0 GPA. 5.5 → approximately 3.7. ETH/EPFL credentials carry significant prestige.
Credential-evaluator source: Scholaro — Switzerland grading system (credential-evaluation database) · cross-checked against State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), Switzerland · grading data verified 2026-07-24 · how we convert · report an error
Is a degree from Switzerland accepted abroad?
Swiss bachelor's degrees run three years under Bologna, followed by a master's of one and a half to two years. Switzerland's universities are well regarded internationally, and the three-year bachelor's is generally recognised without difficulty.
What do people get wrong about grades from Switzerland?
- Assuming Swiss grades run the same way as German ones. In Switzerland 6 is best and 1 is worst — the reverse of Germany's 1-to-5 scale.
- Converting proportionally to a percentage. With a usable range of only 4 to 6, proportional conversion badly distorts what a mark means.
- Treating 5.5 and 6.0 as the same. They are roughly an A− and an A, and on a two-point range that gap is significant.
What grade do you need to study abroad from Switzerland?
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 Switzerland'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 Switzerland'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 Switzerland compare, side by side?
Each of these sets Switzerland against one destination in detail — the two grading cultures, the traps specific to that direction, and the converter preset for the route:
- Switzerland vs United States grading system
- Switzerland vs United Kingdom grading system
- Switzerland vs Canada grading system
- Switzerland vs Germany grading system
- Switzerland 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.
- Credits / credit hours
- A measure of how much a subject counts toward your degree — bigger subjects carry more credits and pull your average further.
- 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 Switzerland still good abroad?
The narrow 4-to-6 usable range is what makes Swiss marking hard to read from outside: only two points separate a bare pass from the maximum, so a 5.0 is a solid result rather than the mediocre "83%" it becomes if converted proportionally. Our own data previously treated everything from 5.5 upward as a top grade, which over-credited a 5.5 by a full band until it was corrected — the published scale distinguishes 5.5 as an A− from 5.75 and above as an A, and that distinction matters on a scale this compressed.
Is a degree from Switzerland accepted for a master's abroad?
Swiss bachelor's degrees run three years under Bologna, followed by a master's of one and a half to two years. Switzerland's universities are well regarded internationally, and the three-year bachelor's is generally recognised without difficulty.
What grade do you need to study abroad from Switzerland?
It depends on the destination, and the spread is wide. Stated on Switzerland's own scale, the typical taught-master's bar works out at roughly: Australia 4.3–4.6 / 6, Netherlands 4.3–4.6 / 6, New Zealand 4.3–4.6 / 6. Across the 12 destinations whose entry requirements we have read and cited, the lowest bar is Australia at about 4.3–4.6 / 6. 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 Switzerland?
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 4.3–4.6 / 6 on Switzerland'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.