Brazilian Grade to GPA
Convert a Brazilian nota or coeficiente de rendimento on the 0–10 scale to a US 4.0 GPA.
8.2 falls in the 7.0–8.9 band — Bom — which maps to 3.0 on the 4.0 scale.
Brazilian universities do not issue letter grades or a GPA of their own — the numeric nota and the CR are the official record. Passing marks range from 5.0 to 7.0 depending on the institution.
On the credential-evaluation bands for Brazil’s 0–10 scale, 9.0–10.0 converts to a 4.0 GPA (A), 7.0–8.9 to 3.0 (B), 5.0–6.9 to 2.0 (C), and 3.0–4.9 to 1.0 (D); below 3.0 is 0.0 (F). So a nota of 8.2 becomes a 3.0.
Brazil grades from 0 to 10, and nothing else
Brazilian universities record results as a nota from 0 to 10, usually to one decimal place. There are no letter grades and no grade-point system: the number is the official record, and the transcript — the histórico escolar — lists a cumulative figure called the coeficiente de rendimento (CR), a credit-weighted average of those notas.
The CR is the closest Brazilian equivalent to a US GPA, and it is the number to quote on an application. Because it lives on a 0–10 scale rather than 0–4, it needs restating before a US admissions office can read it against domestic transcripts.
The passing mark moves
Unlike the fixed 60% that many systems use, Brazil’s minimum passing nota varies by institution and sometimes by course — commonly 5.0, 6.0, or 7.0. A 6.5 can therefore be a comfortable pass at one university and a fail at another, which is worth explaining in an application where the distinction matters.
Worked example
Converting a nota of 8.2 to the US 4.0 scale.
- 1 Take the nota or the CR. Use the course nota, or the coeficiente de rendimento for an overall figure — 8.2 here.
- 2 Find the band. 8.2 falls in the 7.0–8.9 range, described as Bom (good).
- 3 Read the US grade point. That band maps to 3.0 on the 4.0 scale, a letter grade of B.
- 4 Convert course by course for an average. For a full transcript, convert each nota and take the credit-weighted average rather than converting the CR directly.
Brazilian nota → US GPA
The bands used in credential evaluation for the Brazilian 0–10 scale. Individual universities may read your original notas instead.
| Nota | Description | US letter | US 4.0 GPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9.0–10.0 | Excelente | A | 4.0 |
| 7.0–8.9 | Bom | B | 3.0 |
| 5.0–6.9 | Aceitável | C | 2.0 |
| 3.0–4.9 | Suficiente | D | 1.0 |
| Below 3.0 | Deficiente | F | 0.0 |
Why the bands are coarse
Each band covers roughly two points of the Brazilian scale, so a 7.1 and an 8.9 both land on 3.0. That flattening is deliberate in credential evaluation, which aims for a defensible comparison rather than a precise re-scoring — but it does mean a strong record can lose some of its distinction in translation.
For that reason, quote the original CR alongside the converted figure wherever the form allows: “CR 8.2 / 10 (≈ 3.0 / 4.0)”. Graduate programmes in the US commonly require a formal evaluation from a service such as WES or an AACRAO member, which will apply its own reading of the transcript.