Grading System of Russia

Five Point Scale: The grading system in the Russian secondary schools and higher education institutions is based on a five point scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being “Unsatisfactory”, 2 – “Pass”, 3 – “Satisfactory”, 4 – “Good”  and 5 – “Excellent”.

Subjective Basis of Grading:

Each university applies its own understanding of the appropriate level of knowledge a student must have to pass each subject. Different schools and universities follow a grading system which is subjective even for courses such as mathematics and applied sciences. Students are permitted to enroll in the next year of study and to be rewarded a diploma only if they have passing grades in each subject of the curriculum. Recently, the higher education programs have been certified to reserve a section of their seats for the fee-paying students and for these seats competition is not very high as compared to the non fee paying section.

Zachet: In higher education institutes, most of the subjects are credited as Pass/No Pass while the rest of the subjects are graded according to points 5 to 1.

No more than five set examinations are usually “graded” each semester. The remaining courses of the semester are marked  zachet (meaning "credit" or "pass"). Exams for university-level higher education courses are held in August. Students can progress to another level only if they pass each subject. They permitted to repeat a failed exam only twice.

Unified State Exams: Being with 2001, secondary school graduates are admitted to universities on the basis of the Unified State Exams which aims to improve the transparency and equity of the admission process. A student has to take exams in at least 3 subjects to be enrolled into any university program.

Admission Rules for Foreign Students: Foreign students have to take an entrance test on the basis of test materials provided by the Uuniversity. They are obliged to take the Test of Russian as a Foreign Language (TORFL).