Academic grading in India 1

Academic grading in India

Academic grading

Africa

Egypt • Kenya • Morocco • South Africa • Tunisia

North America

Canada • Costa Rica • Mexico • United States

South America

Chile • Venezuela

Asia

Bangladesh • China • Hong Kong • → India • Indonesia • Iran • Israel • Japan • Nepal • Pakistan • Philippines • Singapore • Syria •
United Arab Emirates • Vietnam

Europe

ECTS • European Baccalaureate • GPA in Central and Eastern Europe

Albania • Austria • Bosnia and Herzegovina • Bulgaria • Croatia • Czech Republic • Denmark • Finland • France • Germany • Greece
• Hungary • Iceland • Ireland • Italy • Latvia • Liechtenstein • Lithuania • Luxembourg • Moldova • Netherlands • Norway • Poland •
Portugal • Romania • Russia • Serbia • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain • Sweden • Switzerland • Ukraine • United Kingdom

Oceania

Australia • New Zealand

The grading system in India varies somewhat as a result of being a large country. The most predominant form of
grading is the percentage system. An examination consists of a number of questions each of which give credit. The
sum of credit for all questions generally counts up to 100. The grade awarded to a student is the percentage obtained
in the examination. The percentage of all subjects taken in an examination is the grade awarded at the end of the
year. The percentage system is used at both the school and university. Some universities also use the grading system
and a CGPA on a 4,5 or 10 point scale. Notably, all the IITs,IT-BHU, NITs, IIITs, BITS Pilani (Pilani, Goa
campuses),BIT Mesra, NERIST Itanagar, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Coimbatore Institute of Technology
(C.I.T.) and most of the State run Technical Universities follow this system. DA-IICT, Gandhinagar used to use a 4
point scale, but they too have switched to a 10 point system while Symbiosis Institute of Technology still uses it .
However, the grades themselves may be absolute (as in NITs like Rourkela,Raipur,Durgapur, BIT Mesra),
exclusively relative (as in BITS Pilani, NIT Surathkal,NIT Warangal, NIT Calicut, NIT Trichy, NIT Surat and
Manipal University), or a combination of absolute, relative and/or historic, as in some NITs, IITs, DA-IICT, and IIIT
Hyderabad.
There are several universities and recognized school boards in India which makes an objective comparison of
percentage grades awarded by one examination difficult with those for another, even for an examination at the same
level. At the school level percentages of 80-90 are considered excellent while above 90 is exceptional and
Academic grading in India 2

uncommon. At the university level however percentages between 70-80 are considered excellent and are quite
difficult to obtain. It should be pointed out that the percentage of marks at university vary from one to another which
makes direct comparison of percentages obtained at different universities difficult. Indeed, the differential between
universities in terms of marking scale can be as much as 20%, with some of them requiring a 85% plus for the award
of distinction while yet others would award distinction at anything above of 70%. In instances like the latter, a score
close to 90% can be very rare or virtually impossible. Much of this can be reconciled in the backdrop of the
minimum pass score. In a university with a 90% plus for distinction, 60% may be the minimum passing mark. The
university awarding distinction at 70% may have a passing mark of 40 or 45%. This makes the comparison of GPA
quite difficult for Indian students elsewhere. A student with 95% will be close to 3.9 on the GPA scale. So should a
student with a 75% from a 70% cut-off-for-distinction institution. The best yardstick seems to be, apart from the base
passing mark, the very classification of the awarding university as to where a given range would fall (distinction,
first class, second class, or fail).
That being said, attempts to move to a GPA system have been made by most modern universities, but older ones
tend to continue to rely on percentage marks. Some of these institutions have an obvious disinclination to marking
generously at the 90s and continue to keep the threshold for distinction quite difficult at the early 70s. Especially,
universities like these tend to narrow the gap between the minimum passing mark and distinction so as to make it
difficult for every student to pass a course in the first place, and making distinction all the tougher.
Official Grading System
Official Grading System for Government/Autonomous/Deemed Indian Universities. However, there is a significant
variation among Universities.

Percentage RangeGradeU.S. Grade (Unofficial)Class/Division

70%+ A+ 4.3 Honours/Distinction (rare, awarded only to 2-3 students out of 100 students)

65-69% A 4.0 First Division

60-64% A- 3.5-3.7 ""

55-59% B+ 3.3-3.5 Second Division

50-54% B/B- 3.0-3.3 Second Division

45-49% C+ 2.1-2.7 Third Division

40-44% C/C- 1.5-2.0 ""

Less than F 0 Fail

40%
Article Sources and Contributors 3

Article Sources and Contributors

Academic grading in India  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=324617467  Contributors: Adimax24, Aelfthrytha, Animesh1986, Chikinpotato11, Darrellk, Herbsmoker,
Iccotdis, Neelix, Rahuldoc, Rich Farmbrough, Waldir, Welsh, Xyz12345a, 35 anonymous edits

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