A US university asks for a 3.5 GPA. A UK master's wants a 2:1. An Indian transcript says 8.2 CGPA, a Sri Lankan one lists A-Level letter grades, and an IB student holds 38 points. These systems measure different things on different scales, and no official global exchange rate exists — but universities convert between them every day, and their working rules are more knowable than the internet's contradictory charts suggest. This guide gives you the honest mappings and, more usefully, explains what admissions teams actually do.
The rough equivalences universities work with
Treat this table as the practical consensus for postgraduate admissions — individual universities publish their own versions, which always win:
- UK First (70%+) ≈ US GPA 3.7–4.0 ≈ Indian 8.5+ CGPA or ~75%+ (institution-dependent) ≈ 'Distinction' grades
- UK 2:1 (60–69%) ≈ GPA 3.3–3.6 ≈ Indian 7.5–8.5 CGPA or 65–75% ≈ the standard bar for good master's programmes
- UK 2:2 (50–59%) ≈ GPA 2.7–3.2 ≈ Indian 6.5–7.5 CGPA or 55–65% — accepted by many programmes, excluded by the most competitive
- School-level: A-Level A*AA–AAB ≈ IB 36–40 ≈ CBSE/ISC ~90%+ for the same tier of offers
- Sri Lankan A-Level grades map directly to UK A-Level letter equivalents in university tables
Why the charts disagree — and why UK percentages aren't yours
The classic trap: a UK score of 70% is an excellent First, while 70% on an Indian transcript is a decent-but-ordinary first division — because UK marking clusters between 50 and 75 while Indian marking runs to the 90s. Percentages are system-relative, and any chart that maps them one-to-one is wrong by construction. The same applies to GPA: a 3.5 from a harsh-grading engineering school and a 3.5 from a generous one aren't the same signal, and admissions teams know it.
This is why universities convert institution-aware: UK universities keep internal lists mapping specific Indian, Sri Lankan and other institutions to First/2:1 thresholds — the same 7.8 CGPA can be a 2:1 from one university and a First from another. You cannot see these lists, but you can ask: admissions teams routinely confirm by email what a given result converts to for their courses.
When you need official conversion — and when you don't
For most applications to the UK, Australia, Canada and our catalog's destinations, you submit your transcript as issued, and the university converts internally — no paid evaluation needed. Credential-evaluation services (WES in North America, UK ENIC statements) enter the picture in specific cases: some Canadian and US graduate schools require a WES evaluation of Indian transcripts, and employers or professional bodies sometimes want ENIC confirmation of a foreign degree's UK equivalence. Never buy an evaluation speculatively — check whether each university requires one, because most don't, and the fee plus processing weeks are wasted otherwise.
What this means for your applications
- Report grades exactly as your institution issued them — converting them yourself on a CV or application reads as inflation, even when innocent
- Check each university's published country-specific requirements; where none exist, email admissions with your exact result and institution
- If your result sits near a boundary (7.4 CGPA against a 7.5 bar), apply anyway with context — boundaries are guidelines, and strong references or relevant experience move borderline files
- For scholarship applications, the stated class matters: 'First-class degree required' means your institution's First or its listed equivalent, not your own conversion