Grading scales

There is no national grading system in Sweden. Higher education institutions may determine which grading system to use.

Grading scales at Uppsala University

Uppsala University uses five different grading scales for first- and second-cycle courses. Each faculty decides which of the grading scales will be used in that faculty. A list of a student's completed courses may, therefore, contain several different grading scales.

The following grading scales are used at Uppsala University:

• Fail (U), Pass (G)
• Fail (U), Pass (G), Pass with distinction (VG)
• Fail (U), Pass (3), Pass with credit (4), Pass with distinction (5)
• Fail (U), Pass (B), Pass with credit (Ba), Pass with distinction (AB)
• Fail (F), Sufficient (E), Satisfactory (D), Good (C), Very good (B) Excellent (A)

All grades are given, unlike in some countries, where some grades on a scale are not given.

The grade “Fail” does not appear on an official transcript of records.

If a student receives a passing grade, no retakes or supplemental assignments can be done to receive a higher grade, nor can a student be re-registered on the course.

The syllabus specifies the grading scale

The course syllabus specifies which grading scale will be used for that particular course. The same grading scale applies to everyone taking the same course. The syllabus also specifies the course goals, formulated as intended learning outcomes. The goals describe the requirements for a passing grade.

Criterion-referenced grades

All grades at Uppsala University are criterion-referenced. This means a student's performance is assessed based on the objectives stated in the course syllabus.

A criterion-referenced grade does not indicate how well a student has performed compared to other students, but to what extent he/she has fulfilled the course objectives. Furthermore, the boundary between pass and fail should be the same regardless of the scale used.

No Grade Point Average (GPA) is used

Since criterion-referenced grades are used students are not ranked. Therefore, Sweden does not use Grade Point Average (GPA) or other ranking systems.