A transferee brings a transcript in 1.00 to 5.00. A scholarship form asks for a percentage. A graduate program abroad wants a GPA on a 4.0 scale. Each time, someone converts a grade, and each time the conversion can quietly change a student’s standing. A careless conversion has cost students honours, scholarships, and admissions.
This guide explains how grade scales relate, how to convert correctly using an official table, and what to do when no table exists. The core rule is simple and often ignored: use the issuing institution’s own conversion table. Scales that look alike are not the same scale.
The 10-second answer: Every conversion needs the issuing school’s official table, because the same number means different things at different schools. Convert from the original grade, never from an already-converted one, and state on the document which table you used. If there is no official table, interpolate linearly between the passing and top anchors and say so.
The scales you will meet
| Scale | Best | Passing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage (0–100) | 100 | Usually 75 | DepEd and many colleges; basic education reports whole numbers |
| 1.00–5.00 | 1.00 | Usually 3.00 | Many Philippine colleges and universities; 5.00 is failing; steps and cut-offs vary by school |
| 4.0 GPA | 4.0 | Varies | Common in the United States and in some Philippine schools |
| Letter grades | A | Varies | Often mapped to 4.0 points |
| DepEd descriptors | Advancing | Connecting (75–79) | From DO 15, s. 2026: Advancing 90–100, Benchmarking 80–89, Connecting 75–79, Developing 65–74, Emerging below 65 |
Why the same number is not the same grade
Two colleges can both use 1.00 to 5.00 and still disagree about what 1.75 means. One maps 1.75 to 88–90%, another to 86–88%. Some schools use 1.25 steps, some 0.25 steps, and some have a 4.00 conditional grade. Converting a 1.75 from one school with another school’s table can move a student across an honours cut-off. So the first question is never “what is 1.75 in percent?” but “what does the issuing school say 1.75 is?”
Step 1 · Get the official table
Look for the grading system printed on the back of the transcript or on the school’s registrar page. For basic education, the grading system is set by DepEd orders; for SY 2026–2027, see our guide to the MATATAG grading system.
Step 2 · Convert from the original, once
Always convert from the grade as issued. Converting 1.75 to a percentage and then that percentage to a 4.0 GPA compounds rounding errors twice. If the target scale needs a different table, find the table that goes directly from the original scale.
Step 3 · When there is no table, interpolate and disclose
If the issuing school publishes no table, a linear conversion between two anchors is the most defensible method. Use the top and the passing grade of each scale as the anchors.
Example: converting a 1.00 to 5.00 grade, with 1.00 = 100 and 3.00 = 75, to a percentage.
Percentage = 100 − (grade − 1.00) × (25 ÷ 2.00)
| 1.00–5.00 grade | Linear percentage |
|---|---|
| 1.00 | 100.0 |
| 1.50 | 93.8 |
| 2.00 | 87.5 |
| 2.50 | 81.3 |
| 3.00 | 75.0 |
This is an example of the method, not any school’s official table. Many schools’ tables are not linear. Write on the document: “Converted by linear interpolation; no official conversion table was available.”
Step 4 · Watch the cut-offs
Conversions matter most near thresholds: passing, honours, and scholarship minimums. When a converted grade lands within a point of a cut-off, check it against the official table again, and if the decision is significant, ask the issuing registrar to confirm.
Converting a rubric score to a grade
A rubric total out of 100 is already a percentage and converts with the course’s own scale. A rubric scored in levels, such as 3 of 4, first becomes a percentage by (points earned ÷ points possible) × 100 before any scale conversion. Our capstone defense rubric shows this with weighted criteria.
Where Skoolari helps
Skoolari lets each subject use its own grade scale, including A to F, the university 1.00 to 5.00 scale, DepEd descriptors, or a custom scale you define, and grade labels update everywhere when you change it. The final grade stays computed from the raw components, so switching the display scale does not compound rounding. See the plans, and read how final grades are computed in college.
Related reading: building a course portfolio for accreditation, and the DepEd descriptors on the report card.