Academic grading in Spain

Spain uses a 0 to 10 grading scale for elementary and high schools:

• 8.5-10 is the best possible grade and is called "sobresaliente" ("outstanding"). 10 is also sometimes called "Matrícula de Honor" or "Mención de Honor," but these distinctions are usually limited to a low number of students (often none) per course, because they may imply tuition wavers for the following course. In a lot of places, sobresaliente begins in 9.
• 7-8.4 is called "notable" ("remarkable"). In some occasions education institutions make the distinction between "notable bajo" ("low remarkable") and "notable alto" ("high remarkable").
• 6-6.9 is called "bien" ("good").
• 5-5.9 is the lowest passing grade and is called "suficiente" ("sufficient").
• 3-4.9 is called "insuficiente" ("insufficient"; "fail") or "suspenso".
• 0-2.9 is the lowest possible grade and is called "muy deficiente" (literally translated as "very deficient").

Spanish universities use a 0 to 10 grading scale to score student performance and a 1 to 4 points grading scale to record the student achievement. The 0 to 10 scores determines the grade of the student. There is no official equivalence between this score and the corresponding grade. Customary use is as follows:

• About 10: "Matricula de Honor". The achievement of this grade greatly follows professor idiosyncrasy. De facto, it is given to less than 1% of the student population at university level.
• 8.5-10: "Sobresaliente" ("outstanding").
• 7-8.4: "Notable" ("remarkable").
• 5-6.9: "Aprobado" ("pass").
• 0-4.9: "Suspenso" ("fail").

When the student obtains a score higher or equal to 5, i.e. not fail, the student completes the study of the subject in question and the grade is recorded using the 1 to 4 point scale as the following equivalence shows:

• "Matricula de Honor": 4.
• "Sobresaliente": 3.
• "Notable": 2.
• "Aprobado": 1.

Equivalence between the Spanish university and the ECTS grading scales

University Spanish Academic Record Grade	Definition	ECTS Grade	Definition
4	Matricula de Honor	A	Highest 10%
3	Sobresaliente	A	Highest 10%
2	Notable	B	Next 25%
1	Aprobado	C	Next 30%
	Suspenso	D-E-FX-F	Next 35%