Canada is indeed a desirable study destination among international students for a lot of reasons as it remains on the top list. With the best education system and best quality of life it offers so much to students that one cannot miss this destination for their career. This blog is a guide to Grading system in Canada and how it is useful for your university admissions.
There is a diverse grading system in Canada which is followed in Canada’s education system. To always be in the top list of top candidates for institution seats students must know the grading system in Canada for their best. You can find Alberta’s grading system similar to all other provinces.
A variable grading system in Canada
There is no uniform grading system in Canada’s ten provinces. In reality, it depends on where you live, where you attended university, and what kind of education you chose. A range of grading scales can be applied, from a 4.0 grading scale to a 9.0 grading scale. There are also variations and combinations of alphabetical grades, numerical scores, and percentages being used in each region or university.
Canadian grading scales
There may be variations in grading scales among universities, departments and even professors in Canada, but these are the most common:
| SCALE I | SCALE II | ||||
| Alphabetical grade | Percentage | GPA | A+ | 90-100 | 9 |
| A | 92-100 | 4.33 | A | 80-89 | 8 |
| A | 88-91 | 4 | B+ | 75-79 | 7 |
| A- | 85-87 | 3.67 | B | 70-74 | 6 |
| B+ | 82-84 | 3.33 | B- | 65-69 | 5 |
| B | 78-81 | 3 | C+ | 60-64 | 4 |
| B- | 75-77 | 2.67 | C | 55-59 | 3 |
| C+ | 72-74 | 2.33 | C- | 50-54 | 2 |
| C | 68-71 | 2 | D | 40-49 | 1 |
| C- | 65-67 | 1.67 | F | 0-39 | 0 |
| D | 55-64 | 1 | |||
| F | 0-54 | 0 |
Source: https://www.universitiesintheusa.com/blog/2015/july/canadian-university-grading-system
What each grade means
While there are many variants of these, here is roughly what each grade means:
| Letter grade | Description |
| A | Excellent |
| B | Very good |
| C | Good |
| D | Average |
| E / F | Unsatisfactory |
GPA, credits, and credit hours
Since Canada is a North American country, it shares some similarities with the US grading system. The number of hours you have to spend on each course varies from semester to semester. Semester hours or credit hours are what you have to spend on each course. Students earn credits for completing the course satisfactorily and using credit hours to their advantage.
Each course is assigned a specific number of credits, which is even listed in the schedule. Typically, in order to graduate with a bachelor’s degree you will need 15 credit hours per semester. For master’s degrees, the number of credits may reach 24. Over the summer or through independent study, it is possible to make up any shortfall.