Australian university
grading scales
What each university’s grades actually mean — verified against its own grading policy.
Read this first: Australian universities do not publish a CGPA→percentage formula, so there is nothing to convert. A WAM is already a percentage, and a GPA is a band collapse that cannot be reversed. What varies between universities is the grade bands and the scale — and it varies a lot.
Of the 27 universities below whose grade bands we have read directly, 16 start High Distinction at 85% and 9 start it at 80%. 21 use a 7-point GPA and 5 use a 4-point GPA. 10 report a WAM or CWA — a percentage average — rather than a GPA as their main measure. See the Australia grading scale overview for how the bands compare.
Two universities have no band table because they do not use one. The University of Queensland grades against criterion-referenced descriptors and publishes no percentage cut-offs at all — the “UQ 7 = 85–100%” table circulating on other sites is in fact QUT’s, reprinted under the wrong university’s name. Curtin University records numeric grades 5–10 by decile and uses no letter grades.
Why there is no conversion formula here
Every other country page on this site gives a CGPA→percentage formula. Australia does not have one. Macquarie University publishes the clearest demonstration in its own material: two students, one with marks of 58, 74, 64, 59, 64, 74, 73 and 56, the other with 52, 70, 61, 53, 62, 71, 72 and 50. Both have a GPA of 4.375. Their WAMs are 65.25 and 61.375. The grade band throws away the information a conversion would need.
Bond University makes the same point about overseas equivalence on its own grades page: “There is no single guaranteed equivalency between Australian grades and overseas grading systems. Published equivalency tables should be treated as general guidance only, not as official outcomes.” If you need an official equivalence, a credential evaluation (WES, ECE, ICES) is the only authoritative route.
Australia · 38 universities
Universities with a details link have a full page — grade bands, grade points, how the GPA or WAM is calculated, honours classes, official identifiers and every source we read. The rest are listed for completeness but have no page yet.
- Adelaide University details → HD from 85% · 7-point GPA · + WAM SA source
- Australian National University details → HD from 80% ACT source
- Avondale University details → HD from 85% · 7-point GPA · + WAM NSW source
- Bond University details → HD from 85% · 4-point GPA QLD source
- CQUniversity details → HD from 84.5% · 7-point GPA QLD source
- Charles Darwin University details → HD from 85% · 7-point GPA NT source
- Charles Sturt University details → HD from 85% NSW source
- Curtin University details → numeric grades 5–10 by decile — no letter grades · CWA · no GPA WA source
- Federation University Australia details → HD from 80% · 7-point GPA VIC source
- Flinders University details → HD from 85% · 7-point GPA SA source
- Griffith University details → 7 from 85% · 7-point GPA QLD source
- James Cook University details → HD from 85% · 7-point GPA QLD source
- Monash University details → HD from 80% · 4-point GPA · WAM VIC source
- Queensland University of Technology details → 7 from 85% · 7-point GPA QLD source
- RMIT University details → HD from 80% · 4-point GPA · + WAM VIC source
- Southern Cross University details → HD from 85% · 7-point GPA NSW source
- Torrens University Australia details → HD from 85% · 7-point GPA SA source
- UNSW Sydney details → HD from 85% · WAM NSW source
- University of Melbourne details → H1 from 80% · WAM VIC source
- University of New England details → HD from 85% · 7-point GPA NSW source
- University of Notre Dame Australia details → HD from 80% · 4-point GPA · + WAM WA source
- University of Queensland details → publishes no percentage bands — criterion-referenced · 7-point GPA QLD source
- University of Sydney details → HD from 85% · WAM NSW source
- University of Tasmania details → HD from 80% · 7-point GPA TAS source
- University of Technology Sydney details → HD from 85% · 7-point GPA · + WAM NSW source
- University of Western Australia details → HD from 80% · 7-point GPA · WAM WA source
- University of the Sunshine Coast details → HD from 85% · 7-point GPA QLD source
- Victoria University details → HD from 80% · 7-point GPA VIC source
- Australian Catholic University not yet verified band table pending verification NSW/VIC/QLD/ACT source
- Edith Cowan University not yet verified band table pending verification WA source
- La Trobe University not yet verified band table pending verification · WAM VIC source
- Macquarie University not yet verified band table pending verification · WAM NSW source
- Murdoch University not yet verified band table pending verification WA source
- Swinburne University of Technology not yet verified band table pending verification · 4-point GPA VIC source
- University of Canberra not yet verified band table pending verification · 7-point GPA · + WAM ACT source
- University of Newcastle not yet verified band table pending verification · 7-point GPA · WAM NSW source
- University of Wollongong not yet verified band table pending verification · WAM NSW source
- Western Sydney University not yet verified band table pending verification · 7-point GPA NSW source
10 of 38 are marked not yet verified and have no page. Those are universities whose grade bands we have not confirmed from a primary source — we would rather show nothing than an estimate copied from another site. Pages are added as each one is verified.
Check your own university
Band cut-offs are set by each university and change over time. The figures here are read from each university’s published grading policy or official grading page, linked beside each entry. The grade printed on your academic transcript is always the authoritative figure.