|
Academic grading in Finland
|
This is an article on the grading that is currently being used in the country of Finland. Several systems are in use in different educational institutions in Finland.
Comprehensive school
The "school grade" system has historically been a scale of 0 to 10, but all grades lower than 4 were discarded. Thus, it is divided between 4, the failing grade, and 5–10, the succeeding grades. This is similar to the grading scale used in Romania.
- 10 (excellent), represents about 5% of the top
- 9 (very good)
- 8 (good)
- 7 (satisfactory), the mode
- 6 (satisfactory)
- 5 (mediocre)
- 4 (fail)
In the individual exams, but not in the final results, it is also possible to divide the scale further with '½', which represents a half grade, and '+' and '–', which represent one-fourth a grade better or inferior. For example, the order is "9 < 9+ < 9½ < 10– < 10". The grade '10+' can also be awarded to represent perfect performance added with extra effort by the student.
Gymnasium
Gymnasium has same grades for courses and course exams as comprehensive school but matriculation examination grades are in Latin.
Matriculation examination grades
| Grade |
Abbrv. |
Gloss |
Translation |
Percentage of grades |
| laudatur |
L |
excellent |
praised |
Top 5% |
| eximia cum laude approbatur |
E |
excellent |
accepted, with extraordinary commendations |
15% |
| magna cum laude approbatur |
M |
good |
accepted, with many commendations |
20% |
| cum laude approbatur |
C |
satisfactory |
accepted, with commendations |
24% |
| lubenter approbatur |
B |
satisfactory |
readily accepted |
20% |
| approbatur |
A |
mediocre |
accepted |
11% |
| improbatur |
I |
fail |
disapproved |
bottom 5% |
Tertiary education and vocational school
Universities and vocational institutions use a scale of 0 (fail) and 1-5 (pass), or fail/pass. The professor selects which grading scheme is used; short, compulsory courses typically have pass/fail grades.
|
