A Complete Guide To University Grading System in Australia

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Are you a study abroad aspirant who is looking forward to moving to Australia for their further studies? Australia is definitely an excellent choice for education, as the quality of education, learning strategies, and thriving job opportunities are exceptional. Australia is one of the leading countries for study abroad students, and if you are one of them, then you need to know the Australia grading system.

Students who come from abroad often get confused with the Australian grading system. This is because many countries have their own grading system and scale. To ensure you don’t get confused or overwhelmed with the grading system in Australia, we are here with the detailed guide for Australian grading system university. So, let’s get you prepared for academic grading system Australia.

Australian Education System

Before we jump to the simple university grading system in Australia, let’s first understand the education system of Australia works. The levels of education that are followed by the Australian grading system are:

Firstly, let’s talk about school Education in Australia. Primary school in Australia starts from kindergarten and goes up to grade six or seven.
Secondary school in Australia starts from either grade seven or eight and goes up to grade 10.
Senior education in Australia consists of Grade 11 and 12.
Secondly, the concept of tertiary education refers to the education that students get after completing school.
This includes both higher education or vocational education & training.

You must be wondering how Australian education is different from other education systems worldwide. Let us tell you how.

In 1995, the Australian Qualifications Framework was established, that takes care of the certificates of students who graduated school, and tertiary education qualifications as well. Because of this Australian Qualifications Framework, now all tertiary education institutions are linked into one system (only those that are accredited by the AQF). This way, students transfer from one institution to another if they want.

Moreover, the duration of study programs also varies according to the degree. For example:

Foundation years are for one year.
Vocational Education & Training lasts from one to four years.
Undergraduate programs are usually three years, but you may have a fourth year if you want.
Postgraduate programs from one to three years.
Doctoral studies are for three years, with an additional year for review.

Universities in Australia: Grading System

In this section, we will provide you all the information that you need regarding your question ‘what is the grading system in Australia?’. Given below is the visual representation of the grading scale in Australia, for both, undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

Grades	Grade Description	Grade Scale (%)	GPA	UK Equivalent
HD	High Distinction	85-100	7.00	First Class
D	Distinction	75-84	6.00-6.99	Second Class – Upper Division
C	Credit	65-74	5.00-5.99	Second Class – Lower Division
P	Pass	50-64	4.00-4.99	Third Class
F	Fail	0-49	0.00-3.99	Fail

Now that you know the grades in Australian education system, you don’t have to panic when you see a ‘D’ on your scorecard.

Now, if you are planning to pursue move to Australia to get an undergraduate degree, then you must know that there is a significant difference between a Bachelors’ Degree and an Honours Degree. As mentioned earlier, an undergraduate degree is of 3 years duration, and the additional one year gives you the Honours’ degree in your field of study. However, to obtain that additional one-year degree, the student is required to submit independent (but supervised) research in their field of study.

The Australia grading system university for Honours’ degree will look like:

GRADES	GRADE DESCRIPTION	GRADE SCALE (%)
H1	First Class Honours	80-100
H2A	Second Class Honours (Division A)	75-79
H2B	Second Class Honours (Division B)	70-74
H3	Third Class Honours	65-69
P	Pass	50-64
N	Fail	0-49

GPA & ATAR

You probably already know that most countries follow the GPA (Grade Point Average) System for scoring. However, Australia does not. GPA or Grade Point Average is a numerical representation of a student’s academic performance. Please note that GPA is used in Australia in some courses, such as Law and Medicine.

GPA = (Grade Point x Credit Points) % Sum of Credit Points

In Australia, Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks or ATAR is the most used scale in Australia to assess a student’s performance. Did you know? Students with exceptional performance who manage to exceed the ATAR threshold are eligible to get government-sponsored positions and opportunities.

Like stated above, there are some universities that may use GPA in their Australia grading scale.

The GPAs also differ from country to country. In Australia, GPA may look like:

GRADE SCALE (%)	7-POINT GPA SCALE	4-POINT GPA SCALE	UK EQUIVALENT
85-100	7	4	First Class
75-84	6-6.99	3	Second Class – Upper Division
65-74	5-5.99	2	Second Class – Lower Division
50-64	4-4.99	1	Third Class
0-49	0-3.99	0	Fail

Conclusion

Moving to a new country for higher education can sometimes get overwhelming. But, with the right knowledge and information, you can say goodbye to the negative feelings. We hope this blog has helped you understand how the grading system in Australia is different from other countries. For a clearer understanding, we have also provided the grade descriptions followed by the United Kingdom in their education system.

Also Read:- UK Grading System, US Grading System