Grading System in Nepal: NEB, TU, KU, PU & CTEVT Compared

There is no single national grading scale in Nepal. School-level examinations run by the National Examinations Board (NEB) use one letter-grading system, while each university - Tribhuvan (TU), Kathmandu (KU) and Pokhara (PU) - operates its own grade-point scheme under its own controller-of-examinations bylaws, and the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) retains a percentage-and-division model for many technical courses. As a result, the same letter (for example an 'A' or a 'B+') can mean different marks and carry a different grade point depending on which body issued the transcript.

The Netherlands-based credential evaluator Nuffic notes the same point in its Nepal country profile: at school level the NEB uses a common letter-grading scale, but 'in higher education, educational institutions have their own grading systems to assess study results.' This is why a Nepali student, employer or foreign university must always read which board or university awarded a result before converting it. A '3.6 GPA' from the NEB, a '3.6 CGPA' from TU and a '3.6' from KU are anchored to different percentage bands.

This hub sets out each of the five major systems in turn, then compares the two features people most often get wrong: the percentage-to-GPA divisor each body implies, and the meaning of the two 'non-pass' codes - NG (Not Graded) at school level and F (Fail) at university level. Wherever a number is programme-specific, that is flagged, because faculty and school bylaws can shift a cut-off by a few marks.

The NEB grades the Secondary Education Examination (SEE, Grade 10) and the Class 11 and Class 12 board examinations on a single eight-band letter scale, formalised in the board's Letter Grading Directive (Letter Grading Nirdeshika), 2078 BS. Marks are first combined - for most subjects theory carries 75 percent weight and the internal or practical component 25 percent, though a few subjects such as Computer Science split the two equally at 50:50 - and the combined mark is then mapped to a letter and a grade point on a 4.0 scale.

The eight bands are: A+ for 90-100 marks (4.0, Outstanding); A for 80-89.9 (3.6, Excellent); B+ for 70-79.9 (3.2, Very Good); B for 60-69.9 (2.8, Good); C+ for 50-59.9 (2.4, Satisfactory); C for 40-49.9 (2.0, Acceptable); D for 35-39.9 (1.6, the lowest passing grade); and NG (Not Graded) for below 35. Note the uneven step: A+ is a full 4.0 but every band below drops by 0.4, so the scale is not a simple percent-divided-by-25.

The overall GPA is the simple average of the subject grade points (add the grade points of all subjects and divide by the number of subjects, weighting by credit where the board assigns credits). There is no aggregate pass mark that can rescue a weak subject: a candidate must reach at least D (35 marks) in every individual subject to be considered to have passed that subject. The older SLC-era 'first division / second division' labels no longer appear on NEB grade sheets.

NG stands for 'Not Graded'. On an NEB grade sheet it is used instead of the old 'fail', and it appears when a candidate scores below 35 in the external theory examination of a subject, or below 40 percent in that subject's internal assessment. Because grading is subject-by-subject, a student can hold strong grades in most subjects and still carry NG in one; the transcript then shows NG against that subject rather than declaring the whole result failed.

The practical effect is that an NG must be cleared - through the grade-increment (grade-upgrade) examination the NEB conducts - before the subject counts toward the GPA, and many colleges require all subjects graded (no NG) for admission to the next level. Treat NG as 'this subject has not yet reached the passing standard', not as a permanent fail.

At university level the equivalent code is F (Fail), which carries a 0.0 grade point and, unlike NG, is a numeric zero that pulls down the grade-point average until the paper is repeated and passed. The distinction matters when converting or explaining a Nepali transcript abroad.

Tribhuvan University's semester system uses an absolute 4.0 letter scale with performance remarks that echo the old division names. In the widely used TU grading policy the bands are: A (90 and above, 4.0, Distinction); A- (80-89.9, 3.7, Very Good); B+ (70-79.9, 3.3, First Division); B (60-69.9, 3.0, Second Division); B- (50-59.9, 2.7, pass in an individual subject); and F (below 50, 0.0, Fail). To pass a semester a student must generally secure at least grade B / a CGPA of 3.0, and B- is the floor for passing a single paper. Note that TU's F line sits at below 50 percent, higher than the school-level or CTEVT pass mark.

Kathmandu University runs an absolute 4.0 scale of its own, commonly published as: A (90-100, 4.0); A- (80-89, 3.7); B+ (70-79, 3.3); B (60-69, 3.0); B- (55-59, 2.7); C+ (50-54, 2.3); C (45-49, 2.0); C- (40-44, 1.7); and F (below 40, 0.0). KU uses a C- band where TU would write 'D', and it splits assessment 40:60 between continuous internal evaluation and the end-semester examination. Importantly, the marks band for grade A is school-dependent: several KU undergraduate schools (for example Engineering and Management) begin A at 80 percent, whereas medical and some science programmes keep A starting at 90 percent, so always check the specific school's bylaw.

Pokhara University also uses a 4.0 letter scale, with a fuller ladder at undergraduate level: A (4.0, Excellent), A- (3.7), B+ (3.3), B (3.0, Good), B- (2.7), C+ (2.3), C (2.0, Fair), C- (1.7), D+ (1.3), D (1.0, the minimum credit-bearing grade) and F (0.0, Fail). Graduate programmes omit the lower rungs (no D+/D). PU weights undergraduate marks 50:50 internal-to-external and graduate marks 60:40, and expects a continuing CGPA of about 2.0 at undergraduate and 3.0 at graduate level.

The Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) - which oversees TSLC/Pre-Diploma, Diploma and PCL-level technical courses - has historically reported results as an overall percentage sorted into divisions, closer to the pre-2010s SLC model than to a letter-grade GPA. A common CTEVT division scheme is: Distinction for 75 percent and above; First Division for 60-74.9 percent; Second Division for 45-59.9 percent; and Pass for 35-44.9 percent, below which a candidate does not pass.

Two features distinguish CTEVT from the NEB. First, CTEVT typically classifies on aggregate marks across the whole programme rather than grading each subject to a separate letter, so a strong subject can lift the overall division. Second, CTEVT transcripts traditionally state a percentage and division rather than a GPA, which is why application forms that demand a GPA can be awkward for CTEVT graduates. Where a rough GPA is unavoidable, institutions often accept an indicative conversion (for example percentage divided by about 25), but this is an approximation, not an official CTEVT figure.

Because CTEVT curricula and regulations are periodically revised and some newer programmes have moved toward semester grading, always confirm the exact division cut-offs and any GPA policy against the CTEVT examination regulations current for the batch in question.

The single biggest source of confusion is that Nepali bodies do not share one percentage-to-GPA rule. A naive 'percentage divided by 25' (so 100% = 4.0, 80% = 3.2) roughly matches KU's absolute idea that GPA equals percentage over 100 times 4, but it does not fit the NEB scale, where the bands step down by 0.4 and an 80% earns exactly 3.6 rather than 3.2. TU and PU are different again: their letter bands are defined directly on marks ranges, and TU in particular sets its Fail line at below 50 percent, so a mark that passes at the NEB or CTEVT can fail a TU semester paper.

For this reason, converting between systems should be done band-by-band using each body's own table rather than with a universal formula. When a foreign university or employer asks for a GPA from a percentage-only transcript (as with many CTEVT and older TU results), the safest approach is to present the original percentage and division alongside any indicative GPA, clearly labelled as approximate.

For quick, system-specific calculations, use the dedicated tools on this site: the [SEE GPA calculator](/tools/see-gpa-calculator) and the [Class 12 GPA calculator](/tools/class-12-gpa-calculator) for NEB results, the [TU CGPA calculator](/tools/tu-cgpa-calculator) for Tribhuvan University semesters, the [GPA-to-percentage converter](/tools/gpa-to-percentage-converter) for cross-checking a grade point against marks, and the general-purpose [percentage calculator](/tools/percentage-calculator). Each applies the correct scale so you do not have to remember the divisor.