Quebec does its own thing with grades, and it’s not just the French. Most of the province’s universities — UQAM, Université de Montréal, Laval, Sherbrooke, and English-language Concordia — share one consistent 4.3 scale where an A+ earns 4.3 and a plain A earns 4.0. McGill sits apart on a 4.0 scale. Add each course as a percentage with its credits and this calculator converts the way the rest of the province does.
Quebec grades on percentages and then reports a cote — a letter on a 4.3 scale that most French-league universities (UQAM, UdeM, Laval, Sherbrooke) and Concordia share. McGill is the odd one out, grading on a 4.0 scale. Add each course with its percentage and credits and this maps every mark to its Quebec letter and 4.3 GPA points.
How the Quebec GPA scale works
Quebec’s French-league grading table looks like this:
- 90–100 = A+ (4.3)
- 85–89 = A (4.0)
- 80–84 = A− (3.7)
- 77–79 = B+ (3.3)
- 73–76 = B (3.0)
- 70–72 = B− (2.7)
- 65–69 = C+ (2.3)
- 60–64 = C (2.0)
- 55–59 = C− (1.7)
- 50–54 = D (1.0)
- Below 50 = F
Quebec’s tell is the C range: it sits a notch lower than Ontario’s, opening at 65 instead of 67. It’s a small thing, but it adds up when your marks hover around 62–66 and you’re trying to work out whether you’re a C or a C−. And like the other provinces west of it, there’s no D− — 50 to 54 is a clean D.
The formula
GPA = Σ(grade points × credits) ÷ Σcredits
Each percentage becomes a letter, each letter pulls its points off the 4.3 scale, and you weight by credits. Because an A+ is worth more than an A here, a transcript of 90s posts a number above 4.0 — that’s the Quebec system working as designed, not a rounding bug.
Worked example
Say your fall term comes out like this:
- Français 92% (A+) × 4.3, worth 3 credits = 12.9 points
- Calcul 87% (A) × 4.0, worth 3 credits = 12.0 points
- Stats 62% (C) × 2.0, worth 3 credits = 6.0 points
Add the points: 12.9 + 12.0 + 6.0 = 30.9. Divide by the 9 total credits: 3.43 GPA. The 92 and 87 both land top-of-scale, but the 62 drags the average down a full scale point — that weight is the whole game.
Wait — what about McGill?
McGill really is the outlier in Quebec. It grades on the same 4.0 scale you’d see in the US: an 85 or higher is an A at 4.0, an A− is 3.7, and so on, with no A+ bonus above it. If you’re at McGill, this calculator’s results won’t match your transcript — the US-style GPA calculator is the one to use.
CEGEP and the R-score
Quebec high schoolers go through CEGEP before university, and CEGEP grades use a different mechanism entirely: the R-score (or cote de rendement), which measures you against your cohort. University admission runs on the R-score, not on a GPA, so if you’re a CEGEP student converting your marks, you’re looking at the wrong tool — your transcript’s R-score is the number that matters.
Frequently asked questions
Can my GPA go above 4.0 in Quebec?
Yes, on the 4.3 scale used across UQAM, UdeM, Laval, Sherbrooke and Concordia. An A+ is worth 4.3, so students with a run of 90s land between 4.0 and 4.3. McGill’s 4.0 scale has no such headroom.
Is a 50 a pass in Quebec?
Yes — 50% clears the bar and counts as a D. Some programs and prerequisite courses hold core subjects to a higher minimum, so always check the course outline before assuming a line at 50 gets you through.
Why is Quebec’s C range lower than Ontario’s?
Just a province-by-province difference. Quebec splits the C band as C+ (65–69), C (60–64) and C− (55–59), where Ontario uses 67/63/60. The number on your Quebec transcript is produced by Quebec’s table — that’s why a province-specific tool beats a generic one.
Does McGill use the same scale as the rest of Quebec?
No. McGill grades on a 4.0 scale with no A+ bonus, so the same marks produce a different GPA there than at Concordia or UQAM. If your letter grades are already on your transcript, use the letter-to-GPA tool with McGill’s 4.0 in mind.
What about CEGEP grades?
CEGEP doesn’t report a GPA — it reports an R-score that ranks you against your cohort. Universities read that number, not a grade point average, so CEGEP students converting to a 4.3 GPA are usually doing it for an out-of-province application, not for admission in Quebec.
Other tools
- Ontario GPA Calculator — the 4.0/4.3 neighbour province with a slightly higher C range
- British Columbia GPA Calculator — the west-coast 4.33 scale where a 90 is an A+
- USA GPA Calculator — the 4.0 scale McGill matches, where an A is any 90-100
- Alberta GPA Calculator — the 4.0-capped scale, no A+ bonus
- GPA Calculator — the US-style 4.0 tool McGill matches
- Cumulative GPA Calculator — semesters into an overall GPA
Or browse everything on the student GPA tools page.