The Dutch grading scale

Dutch education marks on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the top and 1 the bottom, and each number carries a name. The pass boundary is 5.5, normally rounded so that a 6 on a transcript is the lowest whole passing grade.

The top of the scale is deliberately almost unused, and this is the part that costs international applicants places. A 10 is close to mythical. A 9 is rare enough to be remarked on. An 8 from a Dutch university means genuinely good work, and a 7 is a respectable result rather than a mediocre one. Read as a percentage by somebody unfamiliar with the system, a 7.5 average looks like a 75 per cent and therefore like a C student, which is a serious misreading of a solid Dutch record.

Good admissions offices know this, and the better ones say so in print. It is still worth stating your average with the scale named, and worth adding your programme's own context if you have it, because the compression at the top means small differences in the average carry more weight than the numbers suggest.

Averages are weighted by ECTS credits. The Netherlands issues no GPA, so any 4.0-scale figure attached to a Dutch transcript is a conversion somebody applied afterwards. Cum laude exists but its threshold is set per institution and per programme, commonly an 8.0 average with no resits and sometimes a minimum thesis grade alongside it. To put your own marks through the ECTS-weighted arithmetic, use the Dutch grade calculator. To see the scale beside other countries' systems, use the grading scale comparison.

What is the Dutch grading scale?

A scale from 1 to 10, with 10 the highest. The pass boundary is 5.5, usually rounded so a 6 is the lowest whole passing grade. Each number has a name in Dutch: 6 voldoende, 7 ruim voldoende, 8 goed, 9 zeer goed, 10 uitmuntend, and the failing grades run from 5 onvoldoende down to 1 zeer slecht.

What is a passing grade in the Netherlands?

5.5 and above. In practice a transcript shows a 6 as the lowest whole passing grade, because marks are normally rounded to the nearest half or whole point and a 5.5 rounds up. A 5 is a fail and usually carries a resit.

Is an 8 a good grade in the Netherlands?

Yes, genuinely good. The top of the Dutch scale is used sparingly: 9s are rare and 10s nearly unheard of, so an 8 sits much higher in the real distribution than its position on a 1 to 10 line suggests. Do not read Dutch marks as percentages.

Why do Dutch universities never give 10s?

Convention rather than rule. The scale is treated as running to a theoretical maximum that ordinary excellent work does not reach, so examiners reserve 9 and 10 for the exceptional. The effect is that the usable range is roughly 6 to 8.5, which compresses real differences into a narrow band.

How do Dutch grades convert to a GPA?

There is no official conversion, because the Netherlands issues no GPA. Any 4.0-scale number attached to a Dutch transcript was produced by somebody's conversion table afterwards, and tables disagree, particularly about what to do with the unused top of the scale. Report your ECTS-weighted average out of 10 and name the scale.

What is cum laude in the Netherlands?

A distinction awarded on the whole degree rather than on single courses. The threshold is set per institution and often per programme, commonly an average around 8.0 with no resits, and sometimes a minimum grade on the thesis as well. Because it is institution-set, the same average earns cum laude at one Dutch university and not at another.

Are Dutch grades weighted by credits?

Yes. The average weights each course by its ECTS credits, so a 15-credit thesis moves your average far more than a 5-credit elective. That is the arithmetic the Dutch grade calculator on this site runs.

What is a 7 in the Dutch system?

Ruim voldoende, more than satisfactory, and a perfectly respectable result. Because 9s and 10s are rare, a 7 average is a normal good student rather than a weak one, and reading it as 70 per cent understates it.