Grading systems in European schools

49 comments
  1. It’s -2 to 12 for Denmark. Not -3.

    Edit: I’m stupid it’s -3. It been way too long since I studied.

  2. I think there are two identical threads?

    Either way, the map is not correct: elementary and middle schools are *probably* still using the old system with evaluations ranging from ‘eccellente’ to ‘non sufficiente’. The numerical scale depicted is only employed in secondary schools, along with teacher-specific marks such as 9++ or 5- representing fractions of a grade; but the absolute minimum you can get for failing an exam is actually 2 (caveat: I still managed to get 1.37 on a trigonometry test).

    I’m also not sure whether the lowest *theoretical* grade is 1; it should be 0 but would need some confirmation about that. Speaking of zeroes, getting one would be absolutely regarded as a ‘fuck you’ of herculean proportions on the part of your teacher: I personally never managed to get one, though admittedly not for lack of trying!

    Diplomas on the other hand have a different scale altogether, from 0 to 100, where 60 is the bare minimum required for graduating and 70 is the score to aim for if you ever wish to find employment within semi-public conglomerates like Poste Italiane, or have a fighting chance at passing most entry-level civil service competitions.

    Come think of it… a 0/30 scale is used for university exams – passing score is 18 – but the final grade ranges from 0 to 110 with or without honours, mentions, academic kisses (not as squicky as the name implies) and embraces.

  3. I knew a man who had started his education in Germany, but later moved to Latvia. When entering the new school the teachers asked how well did he do in his studies and he proudly responded he generally received ones and twos…

  4. While officially in Italy the grading system is 1-10, it often is “illegal” (or better against policies at some level, couldn’t specify which) to give marks under 3, since it is basically impossible to recover from it for a student

  5. I live in Finland in the same house I first went to school back in 1974. I’ve been graded on scales 4-10, 1-3 (with +, – and halfs in-between), 1-5 and failed/passed. So if you consider all levels of education, it may vary a bit…

  6. NG is no grade which is a grade beneath 20% afair. It goes NG, F, D, C, B, A in Ireland but there are different grading systems at different education levels

  7. Gotta admit, I was a big fan when Sweden switched to this system. Even though it was in the middle of my education so now I have a diploma with mixed grades depending on when I finished a course.

  8. I’ve lived in Denmark since 2007 (Came from Sweden) and every time someone talks about grades I step right the fuck off…

  9. Sweden switched to this system only about 10 years ago, which for me was when I transitioned from primary school to high school. Last system was so weird, we had (from worst to best):

    – IG (Icke Godkänt / “Not Passed”)
    – G (Godkänt / “Passed”)
    – VG (Väl Godkänt / “Well Passed”)
    – MVG (Mycket Väl Godkänt / “Very Well Passed”)

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