Philippine College Grading System Explained — Scale, Honors and GWA Guide
Your registrar uses this system to grade each of your subjects. Your scholarship office checks it before your grant is renewed. Your dean reads it when you apply for honors. The Philippine college grading system is not just a number. It decides your honors, your scholarships, and sometimes your career before you graduate. Here is everything you need to know: the complete scale, what each grade actually means, how different universities apply it, and what your grades need to be for scholarships and Latin honors. Already know your scale? Calculate your GWA here in seconds.
- Complete 1.00–5.00 grading scale
- Latin honors GWA cutoffs
- CHED & DOST scholarship requirements
- FEU, Ateneo, DLSU systems explained
What is the Philippine College Grading System?
Most Philippine colleges use a 1.00–5.00 numerical scale. Lower number = better grade — the opposite of the American GPA system.
Most colleges and universities in the Philippines use a numerical grading scale that runs from 1.00 to 5.00. The Philippine college grading system is the opposite of the American GPA system — the number that represents the best performance is 1.00, not 5.00, which trips up students familiar with the US scale where 4.0 is the highest grade. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) does not mandate a single national grading scale, which is why each university maintains its own version, but the range of 1.00 to 5.00 is the most commonly used standard across UAAP schools. At its core, the Philippine college grading system works like this: the lower the number, the better the grade — a 1.00 means you performed at the highest level in that subject, a 3.00 means you passed, and a 5.00 means you failed.
Philippine College Grading Scale — Complete Table
Standard numerical scale used by most Philippine colleges with percentage equivalent and descriptive rating.
| Grade | Percentage Equivalent | Descriptive Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1.00 | 97–100% | Excellent |
| 1.25 | 94–96% | Excellent |
| 1.50 | 91–93% | Very Good |
| 1.75 | 88–90% | Very Good |
| 2.00 | 85–87% | Good |
| 2.25 | 82–84% | Good |
| 2.50 | 79–81% | Satisfactory |
| 2.75 | 76–78% | Satisfactory |
| 3.00 | 75% | Passing |
| 4.00 | — | Conditional / INC |
| 5.00 | Below 75% | Failed |
What Each Grade Means in College
Each grade on your transcript carries a specific meaning. Know what each one means to protect your standing.
Passing Grade in Philippine College
The passing grade in the Philippines college system is 3.00, and it is the lowest grade that counts as a pass at most universities. If you get a 3.00 in a subject, you pass, but the subject counts toward your total credits and the grade goes into your GWA calculation. A grade of 5.00 means you failed the subject, and depending on your school’s policy, you may be required to repeat the course or it may count as a zero in your GWA until you retake it.
What is a Good Grade in College?
A 1.75 grade in the Philippines falls in the Very Good range and is generally considered one of the strongest grades a college student can aim for. In most universities a GWA of 1.75 or better qualifies a student for Latin honors at graduation, which is why it is the number most honor-track students use as their target. Scholarships like CHED and DOST generally require students to maintain a GWA of 2.00 or better each semester, so if your GWA sits between 2.00 and 2.50, you are comfortably passing but below the honors threshold, and anything above 2.75 is still passing but puts you at risk of losing scholarship eligibility.
What is an INC Grade?
INC stands for Incomplete, and a professor gives this grade when a student has not completed all the requirements for a course, usually due to a medical issue, family emergency, or missing a final exam. An INC is not the same as a failing grade, and most schools give students one academic year to complete the remaining requirements. If the student does not complete them within that period, the INC grade automatically becomes 5.00, and until it is resolved, most schools do not include the INC in the GWA calculation.
How College Grading Differs from High School
Three things change the moment you enter college. Senior high school uses DepEd’s percentage-based system — college is completely different.
Scale is Flipped
First, the scale is flipped. Instead of 75 to 100, the college grading system in the Philippines runs from 1.00 to 5.00, and lower scores are better, so students coming from SHS sometimes misread a 1.75 as a low grade when it is actually very strong.
Credit Units Introduced
Second, credit units are introduced. A 3-unit major course carries three times the weight of a 1-unit PE class in your GWA, which means your performance in major subjects moves your average far more than your electives.
Weighted Average Calc
Third, the general average calculation changes. In SHS you add all grades and divide by the number of subjects, but in college you multiply each grade by its units, add all those products, and divide by the total units, giving you a weighted average rather than a simple one. This is how to compute GWA in college, and it is the same formula your registrar uses.
Does Every Philippine College Use the Same Scale?
No. CHED does not require all universities to use the same grading scale. Some schools use a 4.0-based system instead.
FEU — Quality Point Average (QPA)
The FEU grading system uses a letter grade format with corresponding quality points, similar to the American GPA model, where an A is worth 4.0 quality points and a B+ is worth 3.5. FEU calls this the Quality Point Average (QPA) rather than GWA.
Ateneo — Quality Point Index (QPI)
The Ateneo grading system QPI, or Quality Point Index, also operates on a 4.0 scale where higher scores indicate better performance, so a QPI of 3.5 at Ateneo would be considered very strong in the same way a GWA of 1.25 would be at UP or UST.
DLSU — Cumulative GPA (CGPA)
The DLSU grading system CGPA, or Cumulative Grade Point Average, follows the same 4.0-based direction where a higher number reflects stronger academic performance.
Schools that use letter grades like FEU convert letters into quality points before calculating the average, while schools that use numerical grades like UP, PUP, and UST multiply the grade directly by the units. Both methods produce a weighted average, but the scale and direction are different, because on a 1.00 to 5.00 scale lower is better, while on a 4.0 scale higher is better.
Lower = Better on the 1.00–5.00 scale. Higher = Better on the 4.0 scale. Both methods produce a weighted average.
College Grading — Year by Year Guide
Your GWA shifts every semester. The decisions you make in each year directly affect where your average lands at graduation.
Freshman Year GWA Tips
Freshman year is when most students discover how different the college grading system feels from high school. The subjects are harder, the credit units vary, and a failing grade in a 5-unit major can significantly drag down your GWA. The two things that matter most in your first year are your major subjects and your total units, so focus on getting strong grades in the subjects with the most units, because a 1.50 in a 5-unit course does far more for your GWA than a 1.25 in a 1-unit PE class.
How GWA Changes Each Semester
Your GWA shifts every semester based on the grades and units you add to your record, with a strong semester pulling it lower and a weak semester pulling it higher. In your early years, each new semester carries more weight because you have fewer total units on your transcript, but as you accumulate more units over time, each semester has a smaller impact on your overall average, which means it becomes harder to dramatically improve your GWA in your final year and also harder to seriously damage it.
When to Worry About Your GWA
Two situations require immediate attention. The first is when your GWA is approaching 2.00 and you hold a scholarship that requires you to stay below that line, because one difficult semester could push you out of eligibility. The second is when you are targeting Latin honors at graduation and your GWA is close to the cutoff for the GWA requirements for Latin honors, which is usually 1.75 for Cum Laude, so check your running average every semester and not just before graduation.
College Grading System and Scholarships
Your GWA is the first thing scholarship programs check. Know the exact requirements before each enrollment period.
CHED Scholarship GWA Requirements
The CHED scholarship GWA requirement is a GWA of 2.00 or better, meaning no grade higher than 2.00 each semester, and some CHED programs set the bar at 1.75. Requirements vary by program, so check your specific scholarship terms before each enrollment period.
DOST Scholarship GWA Requirements
The DOST scholarship GWA requirement is a GWA of 2.00 or better per semester for college scholars. DOST-SEI scholars in science and engineering courses are also required to maintain no failing grades and complete their required units on time, and falling below the GWA requirement for two consecutive semesters generally results in termination of the scholarship.
Official References
For the most up-to-date policies on the Philippine college grading system, refer to these official sources.