Converting percentages to letter grades and GPA points
An 89.5 in chemistry is an A- on a 10-point plus/minus scale and a B on a 7-point scale. Which scale you use can move a GPA by a third of a point, so pick one, use it for all four years, and print it on the transcript.
The 10-point scale
A starts at 90, B at 80, C at 70 and D at 60. With plus and minus grades, the top three points of each band are a plus, the bottom three a minus, and 97 and above is an A+.
| Percentage | Letter | Points | Whole-letter version | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 97 to 100 | A+ | 4.0 | A (90 to 100) | 4 |
| 93 to 96 | A | 4.0 | ||
| 90 to 92 | A- | 3.7 | ||
| 87 to 89 | B+ | 3.3 | B (80 to 89) | 3 |
| 83 to 86 | B | 3.0 | ||
| 80 to 82 | B- | 2.7 | ||
| 77 to 79 | C+ | 2.3 | C (70 to 79) | 2 |
| 73 to 76 | C | 2.0 | ||
| 70 to 72 | C- | 1.7 | ||
| 67 to 69 | D+ | 1.3 | D (60 to 69) | 1 |
| 63 to 66 | D | 1.0 | ||
| 60 to 62 | D- | 0.7 | ||
| Below 60 | F | 0.0 | F (below 60) | 0 |
The 7-point scale
A starts at 93, B at 85, C at 77 and D at 70, so anything below 70 fails. It is usually written with whole letters only.
| Percentage | Letter | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 93 to 100 | A | 4 |
| 85 to 92 | B | 3 |
| 77 to 84 | C | 2 |
| 70 to 76 | D | 1 |
| Below 70 | F | 0 |
Both scales are in real use. South Carolina's public high schools graded on a 7-point scale until the 2016-17 school year, when the State Board of Education moved them to a 10-point scale; the Department of Education's FAQ explains that the change "creates the floor for a 'passing grade' at 60 (D) rather than 70" (SC Department of Education, 10-point grading scale FAQ). The College Board's own conversion chart comes with the warning that "Some schools don't use pluses and minuses, and others have different grade cutoffs" (BigFuture).
Worked example: five percentages, three results
Five one-credit courses finished at 94, 89.5, 86, 78 and 71. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number first, so 89.5 becomes 90.
| Percentage | 10-point, plus/minus | 10-point, whole letters | 7-point |
|---|---|---|---|
| 94 | A (4.0) | A (4) | A (4) |
| 89.5, rounded to 90 | A- (3.7) | A (4) | B (3) |
| 86 | B (3.0) | B (3) | B (3) |
| 78 | C+ (2.3) | C (2) | C (2) |
| 71 | C- (1.7) | C (2) | D (1) |
| GPA over 5.0 credits | 14.70 / 5 = 2.94 | 15.00 / 5 = 3.00 | 13.00 / 5 = 2.60 |
The spread is 0.40 of a grade point from the same work. None of the three is more correct; what matters is that the transcript names the scale so a reader can check it.
Recording percentages on the transcript
If you type a percentage into the builder, the transcript shows both, for example "90 (A-)", and the grading key prints the bands of the scale you chose and says that percentages were rounded to the nearest whole number. Letter grades you type directly are used as they are. You can mix the two, which helps when some courses came from an outside provider that reports percentages.
The builder converts every percentage with the scale you pick and prints the key on the transcript. Free to preview; $29 for the PDF.