What is a good grade out of 20 in France?

French grading is strict: 10/20 is a pass, 12+ earns Assez Bien, 14+ Bien, and 16+ Très Bien. Marks above 16 are rare, so a 14 is already a strong result that often maps to a US A-.

How does a French 12/20 convert to US GPA?

A 12/20 (Assez Bien) typically converts to roughly a 3.0–3.3 US GPA and a B grade. Because French scoring is harsher, equivalent US grades are higher than a naive percentage would suggest.

What are the French mentions?

Mentions are honour bands: Passable (10–11.99), Assez Bien (12–13.99), Bien (14–15.99), and Très Bien (16+). Below 10 is Insuffisant (fail). They appear on diplomas and matter for further study.

Why isn't this a simple percentage?

Multiplying by 5 to get a percentage ignores that French markers rarely award above 16. Admissions tables instead map mention bands onto US/UK scales, which this tool follows.

What ECTS grade does my mark get?

ECTS grades depend on cohort rank, but this tool gives an approximate band from your numeric mark. A Très Bien typically lands in ECTS A, while a bare pass is around D–E.

French 20-Point Grade Scale Converter

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Convert French 0–20 marks to US GPA, UK class, and ECTS

French universities and grandes écoles grade on a 0 to 20 scale that is notoriously strict — full marks are almost never given and even top students rarely exceed 16. A naive “multiply by 5 for a percentage” badly understates a French transcript. This tool maps your mark onto the mention system and converts it to a US 4.0 GPA, US letter grade, UK degree class, and ECTS band using standard admissions equivalences.

How it works

French marks are grouped into honour mentions:

16–20 → Très Bien (with distinction)
14–15.99 → Bien
12–13.99 → Assez Bien
10–11.99 → Passable (lowest pass)
below 10 → Insuffisant (fail)

Each band maps onto a US GPA window that reflects the harshness of French marking — for example, a 14/20 (Bien) corresponds to roughly a 3.7 US GPA / A-, far higher than 14 × 5 = 70% would suggest. The tool reports the mention, US letter grade and GPA, UK class, and an approximate ECTS grade.

Tips and notes

Use your overall average (moyenne générale), not a single course, for diploma-level comparisons.
A French 16+ is genuinely exceptional and reliably maps to a US 4.0 and a UK First.
ECTS letter grades officially depend on your rank within the cohort; the band here is a numeric approximation.
10/20 is the universal passing line in France; below it a module must be retaken or compensated.