Vietnam GPA
& grading scale
Quick answer: Check your transcript first. If it already shows a 4-point GPA, that is usually the figure to use — Vietnamese universities on the credit system calculate it per course under MOET Circular 08/2021. A few, FPT University among them, treat the 10-point average as the official scale instead. If your transcript shows only a 10-point average, converting that single number is unreliable, and the US Embassy in Hanoi says so explicitly.
Vietnam → US GPA
Vietnam GPA calculator (per course)
Enter each course separately. This is the method Circular 08/2021 actually prescribes — converting one cumulative average instead gives a different, unreliable answer.
Some Vietnamese universities record contact hours. Decision 43/2007 (Article 3 §3) defines one credit as 15 periods of theory, so divide by 15 — a 45-hour course is 3 credits. Tick this and we do it for you.
Check your transcript before you convert anything
Most guides start by converting a 10-point average into a 4-point GPA. For many Vietnamese students that step is unnecessary — and doing it can produce a number that contradicts your own transcript.
Under MOET Circular 08/2021, universities on the credit system (tín chỉ) calculate the 4-point GPA themselves: each course mark becomes a letter grade, the letter becomes a point value, and those are averaged by credit. That figure is used for academic classification and graduation eligibility. If it appears on your transcript, use it.
One qualification, because it is not a universal rule. Some universities treat the 10-point average as the official scale and the 4-point figure as a reference conversion. FPT University states this in Article 19 of its own quy chế đào tạo: marks are given on the 10-point scale, and the letter and 4-point scales are for reference, converted when necessary. German universities read it the same way — DHBW converts FPT results from the 10-point average. If the two readings would give a different answer for you, check your own university’s quy chế.
Which rules apply to you depends on when you enrolled
Circular 08/2021 was signed on 18 March 2021 by Deputy Minister Hoàng Minh Sơn and took effect on 3 May 2021. Its Article 2 states that it applies to student intakes admitted after that date.
So there are three situations, and they are not interchangeable:
- Enrolled after 3 May 2021, credit system — Circular 08/2021 governs. An official 4-point GPA exists.
- Year-based system (niên chế) — the circular provides that these institutions calculate averages on the 10-point scale and do not convert letter grades to the 4-point scale. No official 4-point GPA exists for you at all.
- Enrolled before 3 May 2021 — your studies fall under the superseded regulations, principally Decision 43/2007/QĐ-BGDĐT (credit system). Good news: we have read it, and its grade bands are the same — A from 8.5, B from 7.0, C from 5.5, D from 4.0, F below 4.0 — with the same A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0 conversion and the same graduation classifications. The tables below apply to your transcript too.
Why converting a single cumulative number goes wrong
The lawful method works course by course. Converting your overall 10-point average in one step is a different calculation, and it does not give the same answer.
The reason is that a single conversion collapses your whole transcript into one band, so it can only ever return a whole number — 3.00 or 4.00, never 3.58. We simulated full degree transcripts: the error does not shrink as you add more courses. Across 40-course transcripts, more than 90% of results were off by more than 0.25 grade points, in both directions.
The US Embassy in Hanoi, through EducationUSA, puts it more bluntly. Describing the direct conversion students are usually asked to make — 10 becomes 4.0, 7.5 becomes 3.0 — it writes: “In reality, however, it is completely inaccurate.”
Its reason is different from ours and just as important. A score of 10 is rarely awarded in Vietnam even to the strongest students, while a 4.0 is unremarkable in a US classroom. The Embassy cites Vietnam’s Research Center for Vocational, Technical and Higher Education: a student with a 7.5 average is likely in the top 10–15% of their class — yet a direct conversion turns that into a 3.0. The Embassy recommends that American institutions weigh class rank and the rest of the application rather than the converted GPA.
The grade tables
Three separate tables do three different jobs. Confusing them is the single most common error in Vietnamese grade conversion — including in at least one widely-circulated official-looking document.
1. Course mark → letter grade
Applied to each course individually. Circular 08/2021, Article 9 — and unchanged from Decision 43/2007, Article 22 §2, so these bands have applied since 2007.
| Mark (0–10) | Letter | Counts toward the average? |
|---|---|---|
| 8.50 – 10.0 | A | yes |
| 7.00 – 8.49 | B | yes |
| 5.50 – 6.99 | C | yes |
| 4.00 – 5.49 | D | yes |
| 5.00 and above | P (ungraded pass) | no |
| below 4.00 | F | yes |
Notations I (deferred), X (incomplete data) and R (credited or exempt) are excluded from every average, as are any courses outside your programme requirements.
2. Letter grade → 4-point value
Circular 08/2021, Article 10 §2. Universities may define additional letters such as B+ or C+; those must also map onto the 0–4 range.
| Letter | 4-point value |
|---|---|
| A | 4 |
| B | 3 |
| C | 2 |
| D | 1 |
| F | 0 |
Your GPA is then the credit-weighted average of these values — Σ(4-point value × credits) ÷ Σ(credits).
3. Cumulative average → academic classification
Article 10 §5. This applies to your overall average, not to individual courses, and it is published in both scales.
| Classification | 4-point | 10-point |
|---|---|---|
| Xuất sắc — Outstanding | 3.60 – 4.00 | 9.00 – 10.0 |
| Giỏi — Very good | 3.20 – 3.59 | 8.00 – 8.99 |
| Khá — Good | 2.50 – 3.19 | 7.00 – 7.99 |
| Trung bình — Average | 2.00 – 2.49 | 5.00 – 6.99 |
| Yếu — Weak | 1.00 – 1.99 | 4.00 – 4.99 |
| Kém — Poor | below 1.00 | below 4.00 |
Watch for this one. A grade conversion table circulated by EducationUSA Vietnam, headed “according to MOET Circular 08/2021”, reproduces these figures — the classification bands above — and presents them as a per-course grade conversion, with letters (A+, A, B+, B, C, D+) attached that the regulation does not assign to them. Tested against Article 9, seven of eight sample marks convert differently. If you are asked to convert individual course marks, use table 1, not table 3. See the two tables compared →
What changes for 2026 intakes
The Ministry of Education and Training has published a draft replacement regulation for public consultation. Its transitional article applies it to intakes from 2026 and teaching from the 2026–27 academic year, with earlier intakes continuing under Circular 08/2021.
The grade bands and the 4-point values are unchanged in the draft. What does change: marks are rounded to two decimals rather than one; a re-sit that turns a fail into a pass is capped at D or C; the graduation-rank downgrade threshold moves from 5% to 10% of repeated credits and adds a breach of academic integrity as a ground; and a new article governs the use of AI in teaching and assessment. This is a draft, not law — but it is worth knowing if you enrol from 2026.
Sources
Every figure on this page is read from one of the following. Where a document could not be obtained, we say so rather than filling the gap from elsewhere.
- Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDĐT — the current regulation. Signed 18 March 2021 by Deputy Minister Hoàng Minh Sơn, effective 3 May 2021. Read: the covering circular. The annexed Quy chế containing Articles 9, 10 and 14 is not in the government archive’s attachment — its bands are corroborated by the two documents below, which agree exactly.
- Decision 43/2007/QĐ-BGDĐT — the predecessor, in force 2007 to 2021 and still governing anyone who enrolled before May 2021. Signed 15 August 2007 by Deputy Minister Bành Tiến Long. Read in full. Source of the Article 22 grade bands, the Article 23 point values and the Article 3 §3 definition of a credit as 15 teaching periods.
- Draft replacement regulation (2026) — published in full on the Government Portal for public consultation, June 2026. Read in full. Its Articles 13 and 14 carry the same bands and the same classification table. Still a draft, not law.
- EducationUSA Vietnam — Basic Information on Grading in Vietnam (US Embassy Hanoi, 2025 edition). Read in full. Source of the “completely inaccurate” statement, the top 10–15% class-rank point and the transcript certification process. Note the caution about its conversion table above.
Grade bands are set by regulation and by each university’s own quy chế. The figures on your official transcript are always the authoritative ones.
Getting your transcript
The Embassy also notes a practical point worth planning for: most Vietnamese institutions do not send transcripts to other universities on a student’s behalf. You request one signed and stamped original from your institution, then have copies certified with a red stamp at a government office, where translation services are usually available too.
For an official equivalence, a credential evaluation (WES, ECE, ICES) is the only authoritative route. The Embassy refers enquiries to AACRAO.